Lufthansa Group to roll out “Green Fares” across its networks

Lufthansa Group have announced that they are going to roll out its “Green Fares” product across the entire network (including its subsidiary airlines).

From December 4, the Green Fares will be bookable in all travel classes for more than 850,000 flights per year.

The Green Fares are available for flights operated by Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, SWISS, Edelweiss, Discover Airlines and Air Dolomiti.  The only exceptions are flights operated by other airlines and individual routings in selected traffic areas of joint venture partners. Eurowings also offers a tariff for more sustainable flying under the name PlanetBlu.

Lufthansa Group has offered Green Fares for short and medium-haul routes for about two years. With theses fares offered on selected intercontinental routes as a trial, the offering can now be booked regularly on long-haul routes, adding an additional option to the Lufthansa Group’s existing fare structure.

Green Fares offer a more sustainable way to fly according to the airline because the fare already includes the full offsetting of the individual, flight-related CO₂ emissions: through the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and a contribution to the Lufthansa Group’s high-quality climate project portfolio.

The composition of the two components differs depending on the distance of the route:

• For flights within Europe and to North Africa, the following applies: a 20 percent reduction in CO₂ emissions is achieved through SAF, while the remaining 80 percent is offset through climate protection projects.
• On intercontinental routes, 10 percent of CO₂ emissions are reduced through SAF and the remaining 90 percent are offset through contributions to climate projects.

More importantly for passengers, the Green Fare tariff also offers additional miles and points, as well as the option to rebook free of charge – providing a carrot to the stick offered.

Around four percent of the Lufthansa Group passengers use an option for more sustainable flying.

Since the launch of Green Fares in February 2023, more than two million passengers have already opted for the tariff and offset almost 190,000 tonnes of CO₂ by offsetting their flight-related CO₂ emissions. This amount corresponds to the CO₂ emissions of more than 1,300 flights from Munich to New York with an Airbus A350.

In Quotes

Dieter Vranckx, Chief Commercial Officer of the Lufthansa Group, explains:

“We have set ourselves ambitious goals to make flying more sustainable. To achieve this, we are investing billions of euros every year in new aircraft and pioneering technologies, among other things. With our innovative Green Fares, we are also involving our customers and offering them – as the first airline group worldwide – the opportunity to actively contribute to more sustainable aviation on more than 850,000 flights. Extending Green Fares to the Lufthansa Group’s global long-haul network is an enormously important and consistent step – not only for us, but for the entire aviation industry.”

Grazia Vittadini, Chief Technology Officer Lufthansa Group, says:

“The Lufthansa Group has always contributed to the progress of aviation. As the first airline group worldwide, we have been offering our own tariff for more sustainable flying already for two years. With success: demand is continuously increasing. In addition to technological solutions, we are focusing on innovative offers for our customers to make flying more sustainable. With the Green Fares, we are now offering a solution worldwide that shows that more sustainable flying is already a reality today, also through the use of SAF. We will continue to lead the way in transforming the industry.”

Some carrots, some sticks

The move by Lufthansa Group to offer Green Fares might be seen positively, with the airline trying to do some good with the purchase of Sustainable Air Fuel and “high-quality offsetting products”.

For some passengers, this might be a good option, especially with extra points and free rebooking.

For those who are cost-sensitive (and there are a lot of flyers out there), this is a nice thing to ignore in the booking engine. That’s where other things – such as Lufthansa Group’s Environmental Cost Surcharge will come into play( as we covered earlier this year) – which are due to be applied to all short-haul tickets.

Lufthansa will be seeking to improve its 4% uptake so far on short-haul routes – that’s for sure.

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