Lufthansa faces fine for refusing to give up appropriate slots to Germania
21.03.2002
In its clearance of the Lufthansa/Eurowings merger in September 2001 the Bundeskartellamt ordered Lufthansa to, among others, provide upon request and on all German domestic air routes where a new competitor intends to operate scheduled flight services, up to a total of three take-off and landing slots from their own allocation at Düsseldorf, Munich or Frankfurt/Main Airport, if slots are not available from another source.
In November 2001 Germania started operating flight services on the Frankfurt/Main-Berlin route but was given slots for essential fringe times which were in some cases unfavourable and only for a limited period. As a consequence Germania requested Lufthansa to give up a number of suitable slots in accordance with the condition set by the Bundeskartellamt.
Lufthansa refused to offer Germania the slots it requested which it needed to operate an attractive scheduled flight service. This is in violation of the conditions imposed in the Lufthansa/Eurowings merger control proceedings. The President of the Bundeskartellamt, Dr. Ulf Böge, stresses that the non-observation of conditions could not be accepted. It was therefore necessary to urge Lufthansa to implement these, if need be by imposing a fine.