Lufthansa Group has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Fliggy.com, Alibaba’s travel platform, and has launched its official flagship store on Lufthansa.fliggy.com. From now, passengers can enjoy the same price and privilege they get on LH.com also at the Fliggy store when buying tickets from Lufthansa German Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines and Austrian Airlines.
As the leading European airline group in Greater China, Lufthansa Group has been in China for 91 years and currently offers direct flights from five Chinese destinations, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Qingdao and Hong Kong to the four European hubs Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich and Vienna.
“Lufthansa Group has a long standing history in China with more than 90 years of presence. We pay close attention to the needs of our local passengers and their preferences. Fliggy.com is a very popular online travel platform among young people in China. With this co-operation, it does not only help Lufthansa Group tapping into the interests of younger generation who are more digital savvy and boost sales, but this initiative also makes travel bookings easier and more convenient. This is also the promise of Lufthansa Group especially for 2017 where we aim to incorporate digital and innovative elements into our customers’ journey, making their travel experience with us more attractive,” said Dieter Vranckx, vice president of sales – Asia Pacific, Lufthansa Group Airlines.
According to the report of China National Tourism Administration, a large part of China’s 122 million outbound tourists in 2016 is from the young generation, which is internet and digital savvy. The strategic partnership shows the deep understanding of Lufthansa Group of this young consumer group and the internet ecosystem. Currently, 88 per cent of the Fliggy.com users belong to the Generation Post-1985. The Alibaba-backed Fliggy can share the traffic of more than 500 million active users on mobile devices. Lufthansa Group is convinced that the strong market power of Fliggy.com will drive its direct connect business.
“As airlines are one of the most important elements for outbound tourism, we are delighted that Lufthansa Group along with its three airlines launches its flagship store on Fliggy.com. With the new generation of internet-savvy consumers becoming the major tourists, it is vital for airlines to expand their brand influence in the internet ecosystem and acquire the necessary competence to operate on the internet. Fliggy.com can not only provide a huge user base for airlines, helping develop direct connect between airlines and passengers, but also enhance the marketing and sales of the airlines, perfect their membership system, improve their services and continuously optimise the travel experience of consumers via data analysis,” said Chenjie Hu, vice president of Alibaba Group and Fliggy.com.
