Air France-KLM and Lufthansa CEOs Unite to Push Back Against Gulf Rivals

Frankfurter Allgemeine

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Lufthansa and Air France-KLM are actually tough competitors. Now their bosses Carsten Spohr and Ben Smith complain of a profoundly unequal competition – and not only criticise a special agreement with Qatar.

lesechos.fr

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While Brussels is studying changes to the regulatory framework, the two main rivals of the European sky, Air France-KLM's Managing Director, Benjamin Smith, and Lufthansa Group's CEO, Carsten Spohr, speak together for the first time on these issues in a double interview with the "Echos" and the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung".

epochtimes.de

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Government regulations and taxes are a problem for German aviation. Furthermore, the EU has granted a Qatari airline unrestricted access to all European markets, says the Lufthansa CEO. It is becoming increasingly difficult for European airlines to offer non-stop flights.

berliner-sonntagsblatt.de

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The CEOs of Lufthansa and Air France-KLM, Carsten Spohr and Benjamin Smith, complain about deeply unequal competition in European aviation. "On long-haul routes, we have a largely open market in Europe, and many of our competitors have advantages that we, as EU airlines, don't have," Smith told the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" and the French business newspaper "Les Echos." Some non-European airlines are not subject to the same government reg…