Lufthansa chairman calls for closer integration and better performance

Johannes Teyssen, who became chairman of Lufthansa Group's supervisory board in May, has argued that the group's airlines must work more closely together. In an interview with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, he said closer cooperation among Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways, and Lufthansa is the only viable path given the scale of the aviation industry.

The former E.ON chief executive rejected debates about greater independence for individual carriers. Swiss, he said, is autonomous but still part of the group, and a carrier with around 100 aircraft could hardly survive independently in Europe or North America. Flying is a scale business, he added.

Teyssen also acknowledged weaknesses at the group. He said Lufthansa must become clearly better in terms of profitability, quality, and customer loyalty, and that nobody denies the group has clear weak points. Those are areas he plans to address.