Lufthansa claims its vision for a radically overhauled new distribution strategy for the group could be in place by 2019.

The airline is currently one year into what it says is a step-by-step approach to achieving “customer-interactive distribution”.

The project was launched in June 2015, with the first and highly controversial phase to add a €16 surcharge to all bookings made via Global Distribution Systems introduced from September that year.

Speaking at the Aviation Festival in London last week, Johannes Walter, who recently became head of distribution and global market management after moving over from a senior sales role at group member Austrian Airlines, says this was the part where the group attained “distributive freedom”.

Whilst there are still no official numbers on the performance of that particular strategy (decrease in segment volumes via GDS channels, impact on financial bottom-line of Lufthansa Group, etc), Walter says a number of key milestones have been achieved.

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