Lufthansa says 2003 more difficult than 2002 BERLIN (Reuters) =97 Deutsche Lufthansa AG is experiencing a tough first=20 quarter and expects 2003 to be more difficult than 2002, a top airline=20 executive told Reuters on Sunday. "The trend of the last quarter of 2002 is= =20 continuing in 2003," said Lufthansa Executive Vice President Sales Thierry= =20 Antinori. "This year has got off to a difficult start." Lufthansa said last= =20 November that a downturn in passenger business would lead to a=20 fourth-quarter loss. In an interview at the world's biggest tourism trade=20 fair, the International Tourism Exchange (ITB), Thierry said 2003 would be= =20 a tougher year, though the airline was gaining market share despite the=20 difficult conditions. "2003 will be somewhat more difficult than 2002," he= =20 said. He said the first quarter confirmed trends seen in the closing months= =20 of 2002, with the sluggish economy and political insecurity making the=20 current year particularly difficult. As companies try to save money, there= =20 continues to be a trend of business passengers moving into the economy=20 cabin and an overall tendency toward demanding cheap fares, he said. The=20 airline, which presents full-year figures on March 20, has forecast=20 operating profit of 700 million to 750 million euros (about $828 million)=20 for 2002. Lufthansa Chief Financial Officer Karl-Ludwig Kley has said=20 previously that the airline would not beat last year's results in 2003. And= =20 in early January, Chief Executive Juergen Weber told reporters the current= =20 situation made it impossible to give a forecast for 2003. Antinori said it was still too early to forecast results for the=20 still-running first quarter as well. READY FOR CRISIS The German airline said last month it was taking an additional 10 aircraft= =20 out of service, cutting investments, and adopting a hiring freeze to help=20 it weather the weak global economy. It said then that a total of 31 planes= =20 operated by Lufthansa and 15 operated by subsidiary Lufthansa CityLine and= =20 other regional partners would be out of service within weeks. "We have=20 plans for a crisis," Antinori said, adding the airline was monitoring the=20 current situation and could take measures to address further declines or=20 other appropriate measures if the economy picks up. Lufthansa's strategy to= =20 fight off growing competition from low-fare airlines was to focus on=20 quality products, he said. Lufthansa said at the ITB it would start special= =20 business flights between Munich and Newark starting May 19 as well as=20 between Duesseldorf and Chicago from June 9, using 48-seat planes from=20 Swiss charter company PrivatAir. A regular passenger flight between Munich= =20 and Montreal would also begin from May 19, it said. Antinori said more and= =20 more clients were buying Lufthansa tickets over the Internet and that the=20 number of bookings done via Internet would pass the 10% level soon. "I=20 assume that we will break 10% in the next months," he said. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.tha.gov.tt/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************