Lufthansa Group: Digitalization supports the green transformation

#Digital Aviation

The Lufthansa Group would like to make the travel experience even more efficient, sustainable and attractive for its passengers. For this, the Group is focusing more strongly on digital solutions and innovations. The ten-page title story of the Sustainability Report “Balance”, published today, introduces the diverse digitalization project of the Lufthansa Group and its key importance for a sustainable company management, under the title “#DigitalAviation”. 

“Our goal is a comprehensive and sustainable mobility concept, tailor-made to the customer’s individual wishes. To achieve this, digitalization along the entire travel chain plays a central role. It is not least our digitalization programs that allow optimized processes, improved services and faster communication – and they support the green transformation.,” says Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, in the foreword of the report.

Climate and environmental responsibility

Non-financial topics are becoming increasingly important and make an important contribution to the successful positioning of the company. And the Lufthansa Group is on track: Economically, ecologically and socially. Thus, the Group was listed once again on numerous sustainability indexes in the reporting period. With a Climate Scoring result of “B” in the CDP climate change reporting, the Lufthansa Group further achieved the status of “Sector Leader Transportation” in the DACH region, and is thus one of the eco-friendliest companies of the industry in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. 

The investment in new and thus especially efficient and quiet aircraft is the key lever with which to achieve further success in environmental performance. In 2016, the Lufthansa Group introduced a new aircraft into service almost every week, and celebrated to world premieres: The commissioning of the C Series fleet at SWISS and the Airbus A320neo at Lufthansa. In December 2016 furthermore, Lufthansa received the first of 25 ordered A350-900 aircraft. Now, the airline has three aircraft of this type. It is the most state-of-the-art and eco-friendly long-haul aircraft.

Since 2006, the fuel consumption of the passenger fleet per passenger and 100 kilometers has been cut by more than 12 percent to an average of 3.85 liters in 2016. The specific fuel consumption was thus on the level of the previous year. The experts at the Lufthansa Group implemented a total of 183 fuel efficiency projects in 2016, which reduce CO2 emissions by 620,000 tons a year. With the savings in kerosene, an Airbus A320 can fly once a day from Frankfurt to Berlin and back for one and a half months.

Gender and Diversity

For many years, the Lufthansa Group has reached top positions in renowned employer rankings. The diversity of the staff is a crucial factor for the corporate success: 144 nationalities are represented worldwide at Lufthansa Group. The Group would like to transport even more diversity in profiles, competencies and experience all the way to management level. A particular focus is on increasing the proportion of women in leadership positions: On the pure management level, the proportion of female executives at Lufthansa Group in the reporting period was 15.6 percent worldwide and thus 0.7 percentage points higher than in the previous year. In 2016, the project “Promoting Women in Management” was launched, with the aim of increasing the number of female executives at Lufthansa Group even more by 2021. In line with a family-conscious corporate culture, further measures to promote a work/life balance will be advanced. This includes, for example, Shared Leadership and temporary work breaks.

Corporate Citizenship

In the area of Corporate Citizenship, the focus in 2016 was on the repositioning of the engagement portfolio and the transformation of the staff charity initiative help alliance from a registered association (eingetragener Verein) to a not-for-profit organization (gemeinnützige Gesellschaft) under the umbrella of the Lufthansa Group. The Group will focus in future on the topic areas of “Education & Enabling” as well as “Life & Health”, and thereby hopes to further increase the effectiveness of its social engagement.

With “Balance”, the Lufthansa Group provides annual information in a transparent way on the diverse activities, aims and progress of the Group in the areas of economy, social issues, environment, product and society. The publication is now available on the website www.lufthansagroup.com/responsibility​.

You can find a short clip on Corporate Responsibility within the Lufthansa Group here​​.