More than 103 million passengers flew with airlines in the Lufthansa Group last year. In total, Lufthansa, Germanwings, SWISS and Austrian Airlines carried 2.5 million or 2.4 per cent more passengers in the January to December term than in the previous year.

Lufthansa passengers travelling on long-haul flights can now once again enjoy the full freedom of online communication. Together with its long-standing partners Panasonic Avionics Corporation and Deutsche Telekom. Lufthansa will be the first airline to offer its customers broadband Internet access on intercontinental routes. The service, which will initially be provided on selected North Atlantic routes, will be available on nearly the entire Lufthansa intercontinental network by the end of 2011.

Lufthansa has taken delivery of its fourth Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental. With the registration D-ABYF, the aircraft will head to Frankfurt for final adjustments before it enters scheduled service.

Air Canada will manage its codeshare flights with SchedConnect from Lufthansa Systems. Both companies recently signed a five-year contract to this effect. The leading solution enables Air Canada to optimise its codeshare management and to lower costs and increase revenue. Lufthansa Systems will host the new system in its own data center.

Arik Air and Lufthansa Technik have sealed a new partnership deal that will maintain the safe operations and support further growth of the Nigerian airline. Arik Air is among the largest airlines in west and central Africa and is a renowned aircraft maintenance service provider.

German flag-carrier Lufthansa has been forced to cancel flights on Friday as cabin crew continue industrial action. Strikes last Friday and on Tuesday this week saw hundreds of flights grounded, mainly at Frankfurt Airport, as members of the UFO union walked out in a dispute over pay.