Company Watch - Lufthansa.

Nov 27, 2006

Lufthansa said on Friday foreign shareholders now owned more than 45 percent of its stock but that it had no plans for a capital increase. In order to retain its operating license under European law and air traffic rights to international destinations outside Europe, an airline's foreign ownership may not exceed 50 percent of the share capital. The carrier has the right to issue new shares to domestic investors if foreign ownership breaches the 45 percent level. Nov 24, 2006

Lufthansa spokeswoman said the company had no plans for such a step. The firm was confident that even without counter-measures, the foreign-owned stake would not reach 50 percent. The company is able to take a number of measures to ensure that its shareholder structure remains predominantly German. It is entitled to buy back its own shares once more than 40 percent are foreign-owned. Foreign holdings in the firm breached that level in August, but Lufthansa at the time welcomed the mainly US and British investors and said it had no plans to buy back any stock. Lufthansa is obliged to issue a statement when certain levels of foreign ownership are exceeded. If foreign holdings were to breach the 50 percent mark, Lufthansa can intervene, for example by denying foreign investors the right to enter their stock into its shareholder register, the spokeswoman said. Nov 24, 2006

Lufthansa will launch daily Munich-Denver service on March 31 aboard an A340-300 and add a second daily Frankfurt-Detroit flight on March 25 aboard an A330-300. It also will offer thrice-weekly Munich-Seoul-Busan service beginning March 27 aboard an A340-300. It already flies daily to Seoul. Nov 22, 2006

Lufthansa Systems will implement the Sirax revenue accounting system at EgyptAir over the next nine months. Nov 23, 2006

Lufthansa Technik is offering an Oil Smell Detection Service to eliminate unconfirmed engine or APU removals following oil smells in the cabin. The tool, for which a patent is pending, allows rapid on-wing diagnosis and spares a carrier the associated costs of removing an intact engine. "Every engine dismantled costs the operator at least $350,000 in expenses for C check, transport, capital cost and minor shop visit. If the wrong engine is removed, this is wasted money," Engine Services Director-Customer Support Wolfgang Weynell said, noting that LHT workshop experience shows that a fleet of 100 aircraft could be affected by 20 oil smell events per year, leading to 3-4 incorrect engine removals. The tool is connected to the compressor of the engine in which the fault is suspected. Bleed air is analyzed in the device and compared with a database built on measurements taken from the engine test rig. LHT initially is offering the service for the CFM56-5A/5B and V2500-A1/A5 engines and the APS 3200 APU. Nov 21, 2006

Editor: Aram Gesar, eMail: [e-mail]

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Nov 13, 2006