Se
ABSTRACT
Jn 1991 Lufthansa was almost bankrupt, Bight years late, at
the general business meeting on the 16th of June 1999 Jrgen
Weber (CEO) announced record results in Lufthansa’ ore
‘han 70-year history. in eight yeas, the company had gone
‘from the brink of bankruptcy to becoming one of the world’s
leading airline companies, a founding member of the STAR
ALLIANCE —the airline industry's most comprehensive net
work—aspiring to become the leading aviation group in the
world,
Lufthansa had undergone some radical changes that
reversed a record loss of DM 730 milion in 1992 10a record
re-tax profit of DM 2:5 billion in 1998 (an increase of 4256
compared to 1997 when the pre-tax profit was DM 1.75 bil.
lion). Revenues increased by 4.896, from DM 21.6 billion in
1997, to DM 22.7 billion in 1998, The Seat Load Factor
{SLF-—proportion of seats filed) reached 73%, a record per
formance in Lfthansa’s history (1.5 percentage points
increase compared to 1997 and 9 percentage points increase
compared to 1991).
After the first step of the turnaround it was apparent
hat transformation had just Begun and that a much
‘more fundamental change had to follow to assure the
company’s future. The Lufthansa Bxecutive Board
( Yorstand) and the Supervisory Byurd tAnyfsichsrat)
decide t fallow a concepr of sustuiting reuetsul tree
124 CASE 13 LUFTHANSA 2000
Lufthansa 2000: Maintain
the Change Momentum _
velopment) at 3 levels, operational, structural, and strates
‘ic. In 1999, none ofthese processes were fully completed
In fact, sustaining the change pracess was seen as the key
‘management challenge.
In 1991 Lufthansa was almost bankrupt, It was the national
airline carrier of the Federal Republic of Germany, state
‘owned, monolithic, and unprofitable,
Eight yeas later, in 1999, it was a privately owned, prof
itable company, core element of the strongest world-wide
alliance in the airline industry, aspiring to become the
leading aviation group in the world. During the years of
1992-1999, Lufthansa went from a record loss of DM 730
million o a record profit of DM 2.5 billion (Appendix 1)
‘The number of passengers increased from 33.7 milion in
1992 to 40.5 million in 1998, while the nurnber of employ-
ces decreased from about 64,000 in 1992 to about $5,000
in 1998,
This cave was writen in co-operation beteen LBS and Luhons School
of osines by Dr Heke Bruch, Visiting Scho a Litem the Uncen
1 St allen (Switzerland, undsr the supervchatuf Pr Seno
{walt isin wo be ava bax dntssen rat toe
i inthe hang ots Iunes stn
MAINTAINING THE CHANGE MOMENTUMeee
RECENT HISTORY
fl BEFORE WEBER
{os'ed in 1926, liquidated in 1945 and reborn in 1953,
julilwnsd historically represented the characteristic
uhs of German industry: a strong focus on reliability,
grder aied technical excellence, Majority owned by the
ean amalgam ofa strong technical orientation, dom-
“jpn by engineers, together with the bureaucratic values
i pulic administration Its role as an organ of the state
reflected in its values and belief: formal, rule-driven
dn inleibte, the yellow badges of Lathansa symbolized
igedence, permanence and sovereign dignity.
Inthe second half of the 1980s, under the leadership of
f Higioz Rulinan, Lofthansa pursued « policy of “growth
ihronsh own strength Based on the belief that only the
rg airlines wil survive in an era of global competition,
P Gunn had committed the asine to a rapid fleet expan:
siowin order to capture marketshare, When Jrgen Weber
BBP! asappoirted as CEO in 1991, Lufthansa had enlarged its
Hier by some 120 aircrafts to 27
‘SULF WAR AND THE BREAKDOWN
OF THE AVIATION MARKET
the tate 80s, deregulation triggered intensive price com-
fltion, This process, coupled with the steep fall in air
fei during the Gulf War and the subsequent recession,
lid to.» serious over-capacity for the airline industry on a
bal basis, and severe market slump in Europe. In 1991,
B te Seat Load Factor (SLF-—proportion of available seats
bps) went down to about 57% in Europe, compared to a
Worldwide average of about 65%,
The problem was aggravated because of a remarkable
ffx wlosibility concerning capacities and services offered.
Hii Ueregulavion of the airline industry started in 1978 in the
ff Ss Gurope, in contrast, while there was some relaxation
HEL uregilnvions, over the 1980s most airlines continued to be
‘owned by their respective national governments who con:
\inued to maintain strict control over both routes and
Hiring slots at airports
REUNIFICATION AND PLANS FOR GROWTH
\ifibaiss noticed the crisis later than other companies.
Tscaws: of the German reunification, Lufthansa enjoyed a
lWoous a6 a time when the rest of the industry faced this
vevere mack downturn,
|i 191, while overall traffic dropped by 996 in Europe,
‘tthonva had an inerease of passenger numbers by 11%
because of the German reunification. But despite this
growth, Lufthansa reported an after-tax loss of DM 444
million in 1991. This result was largely attributed to unique
nnon-influenceable factors like the Gulf Wer. But results in
the second half of 1991 and in the beginning of 1992 also
fell below expectations. Although an awareness of a serious
crisis began to spread in early 1992, Lufthansa was so pro-
grammed on growth and success that employment contin-
ued to rise during the frst six months. Being a state-owned
company, immortality was taken for granted.
“Even when the crisis became very obvious people sll
‘thought: We are the German Airline Company, state
‘owned and a prestige organisation. They will never let
sd?”
— Jochen Hoffnann, Senior Vice President
& Executive Vice President Personnel and
Labour Relations, Deutsche Lufthansa AG
LS
‘THE TURNAROUND
BANKRUPTCY
Outsiders were not so sure about the survival of Laflhansa,
In 1992, with only 14 days of operating cash requirements
in hand, jargen Weber went to all the major German banks
asking them for money to pay employee salaries, No pri-
vate bank believed in the survival of Lufthansa: only
2 single state-owned institution—the Kreditanstalt fr
Wiederaufoau—agreed to give Lufthansa the money it
needed to pay its people
REDEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS
The starting point of the redevelopment concept was a
four-week management program about change manage-
ment, which atthe same time was also the birthplace of a
group called the "Samurai of Change.” The members of
this group discussed the results ofthe program with Jtugen,
Weber and convinced him of the urgency of a redevelop-
ment process
On a weekend in June 1992, asa result, Weber invited
about 20 senior managers to the training centre at
Secheim! fora mectng that was orginally entitled “Mental
Change: It was aimed at building a network of change
‘minded managers who would drive the redevelopment
process within the company. Shortly before the workshop
Jurgen Weber got a deeper insight into the acuteness ofthe
crisis and changed the ile from “mental change” to “crisis
‘management meeting” The turnaround began,
The process ofthis meeting was as important asthe out
come, For some managers this Saheim crisis management
CASE 12 LUFTHANSA 7000: MAINTAINING THE CHANGE MOMENTUM 125‘meeting was one of their first experiences with interdepart
‘mental co-operation and non-bureaucratic problem solv-
ing. The opinions concerning the necessity of drastic
actions and the directions of change did not differ much
Facts were too obvious.
“Noone had an idea of the gravity andthe brutality of the
crisis After a long phase of denial ot “not wanting to
believe there was a next phase of ‘searching forthe guilty
people’ which was followed by an awareness that there
was a massive pressure 1 act. After this everything went
very fst. The goals we committed oureelves to at Secheim
were very antbitious and nobody believed that we could
‘ever meet them, but aftr this proces we coninited our
selves to them, The critical question was how to win over
‘other managers and employes for these ‘stretching’ goals
and activities”
— Wolfgang Mayrhuber, CEO Lufthansa
Technik AG and former member
of the Operations Team
One way to involve a larger group of managers was to
repeat the Secheim workshop three times with different
groups of 50 people. This was done in order to let them live
through the same proces, et them fel the threat and the
turgency and not just inform them of the facts and the
appropriate strategy which they had to implement. After
the meetings the majority of senior managers within the
company were convinced ofthe necesiy for drastic change
and committed toa set of extremely ambitions goals,
“In the tumaround ve have consciously tried to win the
commitment of people through workshops, Town
Meetings, ec. With everything Ido, I ty t demonstrate
that at first we have 0 reach the emotional mobilisation
before a rational mobilisation becomes possible at all.
Briefly one could sey: Hard success through soft
roceses”
—Dr. Heiko Lange, Chief Executive
Personnel, Deutsche Lufthansa AG
“The most important decision was downsizing the fet,
hich meant putting aeroplanes into the desert. Ths was
4 completely unconventional step, Jt was necessary for
the second important decision: the reduction of staff
wich also demanded a complete change in mentality
because it was simply the opposite of what we had
planned”
~ Dr Peter Hach, Senior Vice President
Corporate Controlling
‘The output of the Seeheimn meetings was a set of 131
projects or key actions concerning drastic cuts in staff
numbers (8000 positions), lower non-personnel casts
including downsizing of the feet (savings of DM 400 mil
lion), and increasing revenues (DM. 700 million) in order
126 CASE 13 LUFTHANSA 2000: MAINTAINING THE
to reduce the loses of DM 13 billon.oimplmesedige
actions Lufthansa adopted the idea of Town Meetings ant,
Fargen Weber decided to hold as many such meetings :
selfs possible when visting diferent Lathan unis
the summer of 1999 he had personally participated ison
200 Town Meetings
Other senior managers also held Town Meetings i i
departments and in 1999, his pracice stil remained vt
prevalent allover the Lfthansa organisation.
Town Meetings
Lufthansa Town Meetings follow a certain strucjures
‘When they take place in a foreign country, Jirgen Weber
first gets together with key contacts (eg, transport ni,
ters) and then meets key customers. After this he tala i &
the local Lufthansa management about their situation,
problems plans tc. Finally the main item of the egenca i o
Along end intensive dialogue with the employees, ingen
Weber explains to them the latest plans and the staf
‘questions and present their perspectives on problems and
potential improvements
“It was decisive forthe eurnaround that we told the
‘employees openly what the situation was. It allowed uso
develop common goals herween employees, management
work councils, and unions. We could even dius iss
such as staff reduction and productivity increase open;
‘and personaly”
— Jiirgen Weber, Chairman and CEO,
Deutsche Lufthansa AG
“Jrgen Weber wins people personally by his open anc
‘authentic communication, He tells them the unvarnshe
{Figures and explains how he feels about ther, During the
‘urmaround phase he to them tha every morning when
looking nt the mirror he hud an overwhelming feng of
responsibilty knowing that Lufthansa would aguin ‘ro.
duce’ DM 4 milion of loses that day. There was a staf o
60,000 and an average of 2 ot 3 other people with them
depending on Lufthansa, so that he we responsible for
200,000 peopl. That gave hint the enormous urge to
change the situation... People are taken by his leader:
ship emotionaly and wing to go the way frgen Weber
points them because they simply understand what he
says. 18 ingenious because i sso simple, However, i
— Ursel Reininger, Staff Manager,
Chairman's Office
“With an almost superhuman involvement Jirgen Weber
‘was getting in contact with people in onder to make cent
that we ere in a serious criss. The explicit articulation of
he crisis was one ofthe central eons in the turnaround
Anes importa ape wns
diesologue withsaying in those days: “Sede is
rome Weber is colting the people”
in Hans Schmitz, Chief Executive of the
Lufikansa Technik Logistik GmbH
‘A.ccond implementation measure was the installation
«1 specol “redevelopment contolling” under te divec-
igo ofthe corporate controller Dr. Peter Hach, This pro-
_agi ated at monitoring progress and results concerning
epoinel and non-personnel cost-cutting and the
Jnbancement of revenues.
last but not least, the Exceutive Board appointed @
gyrup of 12 senior managers representing the main depart-
jneuts of the company — called the San Team (Sanier-
: f uigscam = Redevelopment team). This San Team had the
suk of implementing the 131 projects of “Programm 93:
{jut the team turned out to be too large and not effective
‘ough Therefore, Jurgen Weber decided to form asmaller
‘ox! move forceful group. The so-called OPS Team
(Operations Team) became an important motor in the
i B implementation process. It consisted at first of Angelika
F likod, head of Cabin Services, Wolfgang Mayrhuber,
‘Tica Director of Lufthansa Maintenance, Matthias
flere Senin Manager Personnel anda ete con
lo. Later the OPS Team was joined by Dieter Heinen,
ht of Sas in Germany. and Dr Chraoph Fra or
{neat consultant with experience in various change pro-
1 ssThe OPS Team putin enormous effort and succeeded
‘Seiving ce Programm 93 initiatives into action by defin-
ly concrete activities and by constantly monitoring, advis-
DBs 01x! supporting the line managers who had the ulti-
Zama responstiity for implementation
Principles of OPS procedures were:
as
“We made clear that we would not accept excuses. We
weve pte, persistent and unconditional concerning the
inplementtion ofthe measures. Compared to const
‘ants and the Executive Board we had an important
sahantage: We ew the company and therefore we had
10t only personal networks but we also knew what was
‘eats. We were credible for the people. But the most
impostour factor was that we wee siting inthe same boat
them. It was obvious thar we did not want to harm
'm but that we were serious becuse we had the same
pessnial interest to survive. We did not have a formal
icnnchiol empowerment—only the power to convince
rp ofthe vital ncesty of fundamental change”
— Wolfgang Mayrhuber,
CEO Lufthansa Technik AG
‘and former member of the OPS Team
‘inser: Weber showed bis unconditional commitment to
‘he's Team and personally supported all their needs, His
‘vuensteated involvement with the change process was
accompanied by various visible actions such asthe Executive
Board's waiver of 1096 of their annual slaves in. 1992.
In total, about 70% of the 131 projects of Programme
93 were successfully implemented during the turnaround,
‘The remaining 30% were put into action later and imple-
‘mentation was still going on in 1999, Jargen Weber inten-
tionally did not insist on immediate implementation of
the remaining 30% in order not to risk the consensus with
the unions. The absence of strikes and a high level of con-
sensus between management and other stakeholders, in
particular the labour unions, was a remarkable feature of
the Lufthansa crisis management. And the same philoso:
phy continued to influence all the subsequent decisions
and actions as the change process continued into the
1990,
Gorisenssis as. phenomenon of Lufthansa’ sor
“Umpementation wally doesn't come eniy at Lufthansa
Fiefove pun iniplentent anptting you need @ consensus.
‘Move often an not ue vestive Rourd wuld refs to
eck sma it ecnus i dnote sufficed
of Jaeger
Web, fodtowing that paiey ww noe only achieved a zero
uy ese In 4995, tt ago the privatisation of Lufthansa,
{he restructuring of one pesian seme, the madeeisation
af ous enmpany structs ond-—Hast but not least—a dras-
of workforce resulting in a badly needed
ase in prviuctiity. These were dramatic changes.
or wonld never have occured without the consent of all
eoititnent”
sins. Ope cl wns the watzpoben pol
He dec
Implementation of staff cuts was the responsibility of
line management. For the implementation of Programm
98 it was important that line managers take responsibility
for the process in order to realise the unavoidable cuts, on
the one hand, and to motivate the remaining employees, on
the other hand,
“The mos important factor during this hard phase was
credibility. Ths is communication during the eri. The
‘Sying personnel are not only the producing staf but also
hhave direct customer contact. $0 they should be well
informed and must be loyal-even in hard tintes, This
took a lot of energy but was worth
—Jtirgen Raps, Senior Vice President
Flight Operations and Chief Pilot
Certainly the cuts of staff caused problems and some very
talented “high potentials’ left the company because of the
perceived threat to their prospects and career aspirations,
But, there were also many who concluded exactly the oppo-
site; they were attracted by the challenge to widen the existing,
scope of thinking and action in order to redevelop Lufthansa
in spite ofall the ficulties and personal sacrifices needed,
CASE 19 LUFTHANSA 2000: MAINTAINING THE CHANGE MOMENTUM 127“During the crisis it was avery importent experience that
working under pressure was aleo exciting. Nobody com:
plained. On the contrary, people accepted the challenge
‘nd really gave their est”
—Dr. Peter Jansen, General Manager
Costmanagement, Programm 15
1993 the first effects ofthe effort were noticeable,
Numbers of passengers increased, revenues increased,
and costs decreased. In November 1993, 18 months after
the crisis management meeting, the first success was
reported in press and television: “The crane has upwind
pot Lafthanse was quite aware that the super
recovery could not guarantee a sustaining success and that
4 more fundamental chenge had to follow. To secure its
future, the company had to deal with some broader issues
including strategic cost savings, privatisation, and the
organisational structure. Ssid Weber:
“We have learned our lesson: don't invest in growth
counting on ‘tomatic! economies of scale Instead, get
your costs down fist, then hit the market ready and able
fo fight price war. We have 10 ackieve cost leadership
‘and are not yet there. Tha’ why we need a second phase
inthis uarmaround: we can’t reduce personnel or salaries
Jurther or else the good people wil leave. So, we have 0
restructure Lufthansa, to create cost conscousntss to ee
‘ate transparency ana to push responsibility and entrepre
eurship tothe lowest posible level”
At the outset of the turnaround, Lufthansa hed
embarked on negotiations with the German government
to privatise the airline. One important stumbling block
for privatisation was replacing the pension fund “VBL”
(VBL—Versorgungsanstalt des Bundes und der Lander)
binding Lufthansa to the German state It was extremely
Aiffcult to untie these “golden chains.”
“There ere many discussions about VBLand it was quite
obvious that it was almost imposible to get out ofthese
obligations. f someone had asked, 8056 would
"You will never achieve thi But we made it
—Jochen Hoffmann, Senior Vice President
& Executive Vice President Personnel and
Labour Relations, Deutsche Lufthansa AG
In May 1994, the problem of the pension fund was
resolved. The German government diluted its holdings to
3696 and agreed toa payment of DM 1 billion into the VBL
to cover disbursements to present retizees as well as to offer
an allowance and guarantee for constituting a separate
Lufthansa pension fund. In 1997, Lufthansa became fully
privatised.
128 CASE 13 LUFTHANSA 2000
MAINTAINING THE
STRATEGIC COST SAVINGS — PROGRAMM 15
‘Asa private company, Lufthansa experienced in egy
Pressure to be competitive and strategically cost ein
‘This pressure became even more acute because ofthe gr
tinuing decline of yields (average proceeds per tcke sh
driven by strengthening price competition within the a
line industry and a threat of substitution by other wag,
por alternatives (primarily high speed trains). Asa yrsy
gic answer to these developments Lufthansa continued,
transformation process and started “Programm 15,
Programm 15
Progeemm 15 was & wide-ranging strategic cost mate
‘ment: programy designed to mak Fatihanst more compet.
itive through cost management and cultural change "ye
propean’s goals included:
Improv
reduction
1 biternationatsation of cost stnctare and
i the competitive position through cost
BH Making, staf at every fevel highly cost-conscious sid
cost-effective in thei dally work.
The number 15 stood for 15 pfennig per KO ("sett
kilometers offered”; the cost target for transporting dnt
aircraft seat one kilometer) Lufthansa intended to rel
its costs from 17:7 pfennig in 1996 to 15 pfennig in 2001
‘This implied an overall cost reduction of 20% withia Live
years (486 annual reduction all over the Lufthansa Grou
All Lufthansa departments and companies were effected:
Like the OPS team that monitored and maintained
progress on Programm 93, a Programm 15 team wat but}
Place and it worked with certain principles that were liv
tinctively applied making use of the experiences
‘turnaround:
he rules of the game for the Program 15 team
BB Wecontron! contentions sues
We eat wey
8
BE Weweter fets not popu,
5 Welet uursetes be monitored whenever requiced
We inform continvously sid eutrentytogether si
the esponsible depaetaaent
w employees and ther repre i
tives before the external public.
a
infaree manage
We utilise informal networks to ensure inerd
‘mental and hierarehy-oveelapping communis
8 Wetry to.void catchphrase and sell-overestinns =
HANGE MOMENTUM+ 18-was based on integrated responsibility
I Fine managers had the responsibility for cost reduc
ions whieh meant that the achievement of Progeanum 15
twas Integr tt within rheit “normal” managemsent objec
tives aad was part of their performance expectations.
fxamins 15 consciously set stretching goals which were
hallenging but achievable, Concerning the goals, na com-
pvnuises were made, but the Programm 15 team con-
ste Tine management about the means of cost savings
tnd tried to solve problems through open and honest dis-
‘assion with those who were responsible for implementa-
tion. A tight monitoring and public sharing of results
{actual performance data for each individual manager
‘vere published regularly) ensured accountability and con-
tinwous feedback
‘Programm: 15 had 19 take into account some issues that
could be calle ‘ypically Lufthansa? One ofthe character=
ite features of the “Tafthansa styl’ isthe specific combi-
nation of consensus orientation and persistence. Nobody
‘aes to force certain solutions ana people axe willing 00
mmpromise but only in terms ofthe way of gol achieve-
‘mot, not concerning the goal itsele”
— Dr. Peter Jansen, General Manager
Costmanagement, Program 15
‘Wo preserve discipline and attention to strategic cost
{goals Programm 15 initiated @ number of both symbolic
‘inl substantive measures. Those included, for example, the
{ocation of its office next to the office of Jigen Weber, dis-
cisions of cost reduction measures in Town Meetings,
iwgokly reports in the “Lufthanseat” (the staf journal), and
widespread publicity for a few well-selected impressive
‘CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING
‘At the beginning of the 90s, Lufthansa was functionally
‘organised with six departments (finance, personnel, main
tenauce, sales, marketing, and flight operations) each led
bya member of the Executive Board (Appendix 2).
this structural solution turned out to be inefficient
shovring symptoms such as high involvement of top man-
sgement in operational problems, slow decision processes,
luck of accountability, low transparency and, finally, an
insufficient market proximity. These problems were
‘baaced by developments in the external environment:
wilines were more and more confronted with time-based
sonipetition, price competition, and a need for trans
pareney of products and services.
Liles, realised that it could not effectively respond.
whe emerging competitive challenges with its existing
CASE 13 LUFTHANSA 2000
functional structure, The goals uf Lufthans’s restructuring
process thereto both market proximity
and transparency of costs and proceeds, and
fragmentation of decision processes. The guiding
behind the restructuring as that Lufthansa would be
ore successful asa federaive group of independent small
units than as a monolithic functional block
Lufthansa considered various organisational alterna-
tives, both in terms of how to break up the integrated oper:
ations into smaller, self-contained units and the specific
legal and administrative structures for governance ofthese
units. The key criteria for choosing among these alterna-
tives included detailed assessments ofthe strategic scope of
each business, their needs for entrepreneurial freedom,
responsibility and accountability, the role of third party
business and the nature ofthe resulting internal customer-
supplier relationships. Finally three business areas were
formally separated as legally autonomous and strategically
independent subsidiaries: LH Cargo AG (airfreight), LIT
Technik AG (technical maintenance service) and LH
Systems GmbH (IT Services). These joined the existing
subsidiaries CityLine (domestic Sights), Condor (charter
flights), and LSG Sky Chef (catering) At the same time the
tasks and responsibilities of the Executive Board were rede-
fined by strengthening their strategic focus and giving the
core business “Passenger Service” (so-called “Passage”) a
stronger weight.
Persistence with the idea of decentralisation led
Lufthansa in 1997 to further operational independence of
Lufthansa Passenger Service—the original core ofthe for-
mer airline company “Lufthansa.” With 26,000 employees.
including 12,500 flight personnel in the cockpit and cabin,
Lufthansa Passenger Service was restructured as a Profit
Centre, to be led and directed by a six member
Management Board. While tax and landing slot considers-
tions prevented the Passenger Service business area from.
becoming a separate legal entity, this restructuring clearly
separated the business from day-to-day influence of corpo.
zate top management.
In 1999 the Lufthansa Group Management Board
directed the activities of the entre Group through three cen-
tral functions: the Chairman's Office and the Finance and
Human Resource Management functions (Appendix 3).
BUILDING A STRATEGIC NETWORK—STAR
ALLIANCE
Apart frorn the focus on internal costs and structural rede-
velopment, Lufthansa constantly worked on its external
relationships. Having experienced extreme overcapacities
by following the philosophy of “growth through own
MAINTAINING THE CHANGE MOMENTUM 129strength,” it decided to choose an alternative strategy:
“growth through partnerships.
Lafthansa was one of the central founding members of
the most comprehensive and probably the most competi
tive airline network in the world, Since April 1999, when
Air New Zealand and Ansett Australian joined the STAR
ALLIANCE, the network included 8 members operating in
720 destinations in 110 countries (Appendix 4). In October
1999, ANA (All Nippon Airways) joined the STAR
ALLIANCE. This was an important step for the Asian
expansion strategy ofthe alliance (Appendix 3)
CHANGING PATTERN OF COMPETITION
IN THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY
‘The STAR ALLIANCE started functioning in May 1997. By
1999, three other global alliances had emerged: Oneworld,
Wings and Qualiflyer (Appendix 6), With the launch of
Oneworld in February 1999 competition in the airline
industry had taken on a new dimension. This new alliance
had five founding members, a common logo and shared
the STAR ALLIANCE vision of seamlessly linking the part
ner airlines’ route networks, Lufthansa believed that the
Anglo-Saxon culture binding the Oneworld partner aiz-
lines could facilitate mutual understanding end shared