Lufthansa Working With Govts To Repatriate Stranded Travellers

By Kisho Kumari Sucedaram

KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 (Bernama) -- Lufthansa Group is hoping to resume flights gradually to parts of the Middle East from this weekend onwards.

Its Asia Pacific, Middle East and Joint Ventures East vice-president, Felipe Bonifatti, said that the European airline group is also working closely with governments and foreign ministries to repatriate stranded travellers, as the security situation remains fluid after war broke out in the region last Saturday.

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He told Bernama that operations to several destinations were suspended following widespread airspace disruptions and escalating geopolitical tensions, but services will progressively restart where conditions allow.

To date, the Lufthansa group operates 150 flight frequencies in the Middle East region.

According to news reports, some 27,000 flights to the Middle East have been cancelled since last Saturday, affecting thousands of passengers.

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The airline group said it is doing all it can to mount flights to help stranded passengers.

Flights to Larnaca, Cyprus, are scheduled to resume on March 7, while services to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Dammam remain suspended until March 10.

Meanwhile, flights to Amman and Erbil are also suspended until March 15, followed by Tel Aviv until March 22, Beirut until March 28, and Tehran until April 30.

Bonifatti said the airline group is closely monitoring developments before restoring services.

“The situation remains very dynamic. The question is when it is safe for our crew and customers to fly, and then we will be back,” he said recently.

He stressed that the airline’s priority was to ensure the safety of passengers, crew and staff, particularly those stationed across the Middle East where the group has a long-standing presence.

“The initial priority was to bring back all the crew members stranded around the region and also the ground staff who wanted to leave the country,” he said.

Bonifatti said the group is also working with the governments and authorities to operate special and repatriation flights to assist stranded travellers and citizens seeking to return home.

Earlier this week, the group operated a special repatriation flight from Muscat, Oman’s capital, to Frankfurt on behalf of the German government, using an Airbus A340-300 to bring German nationals home.

Separately, SWISS, another airline within the Lufthansa Group, also conducted a special flight from Muscat to Zurich on March 5, carrying 211 passengers, including stranded travellers from various countries.

“This is a people business. We connect economies, we connect cultures, but basically we connect people. In moments like this, there is a need to fly in and out of the region -- mostly out of the region these days, and we are supporting it,” he said.

Beyond evacuation and repatriation missions, the airline group has also been mounting extra flights outside the affected areas to help stranded passengers reroute through alternative hubs.

Bonifatti said additional services have been deployed from Bangkok to Vienna, allowing passengers to reconnect onwards to Europe and other global destinations through the Lufthansa Group network.

He also said the Middle East remains an important market for the group, which operates across the region through several airlines, including Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines and its low-cost subsidiary, Eurowings.

He added that the airline group remains committed to the Middle East, noting that Lufthansa marks its 50th year of operations to Dubai this year.

While the timeline for full normalisation of services remains uncertain, Bonifatti said the group will continue to assess the situation carefully before reinstating flights.

The group also assists affected passengers in rebooking their flights to a later date, free of charge, or obtaining a full refund of their ticket price.

-- BERNAMA