New service concept in business class, pre-ordered food and a new website. We met with Lufthansa and Swiss

There is a lot happening within the Lufthansa Group right now. The new premium economy seat has just been introduced, Germanwings have taken over regional routes and the focus is now on making Lufthansa Europe's first five-star airline. We got the opportunity to meet three interesting people from Lufthansa: Nordic manager Ulrich Link, Sweden manager Hakan Bäverstrand, PR Director Martin Riecken and Swiss Nordic Manager Urs Limacher, for a chat. They brought some additional exciting news.

Scandinavia is an interesting market for Lufthansa, particularly as the Scandinavians are, in general, highly mobile and travel considerably more than those in other regions. Last year, Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss and Germanwings, flew almost exactly two million passengers from Sweden and together they have 550 weekly flights to Scandinavia. During the summer 2014 schedule, there will be an additional flight between Stockholm and Munich. With an early morning departure from Munich, at 6:30am, the flight later departs from Stockholm at 9.15am and arrives in Munich at 11:25am. This flight is in operation Monday-Friday. Most people probably know that Lufthansa and SAS have now gone their separate ways and have ended the joint venture that has existed for many years. Lufthansa itself, emphasises this break as undramatic and something that evolved quite naturally when the airlines began to pull in different directions with different goals and strategies. SAS and Lufthansa will continue to work through the Star Alliance and will continue their codeshare cooperation between Scandinavia and Germany, but they understand, at the same time, they are competitors in other areas.

Lufthansa and SAS in Frankfurt Generally, Lufthansa will continue as planned as the airline attempts to achieve the goals it has already set. Lufthansa's PR Director, Martin Riecken, took this even further and expressed it as, "Lufthansa is doing extremely well." There is some competition, of course, not least the airlines from the Middle East, which are investing heavily in Scandinavia. At the same time, Lufthansa stresses that competitors have always existed and that the situation does not significantly differ now, from the past. Lufthansa is feeling equipped to face the competition. The big difference from the past, and a potential future challenge, is a low-cost carrier that starts operating on long-haul routes. This is a situation that has not previously existed and where there is no history to learn from.

Lufthansa has set a target to become a five-star airline before next year, the first five-star airline based in Europe. This applies at all levels and in all cabin classes and not just, for example, first class, where Lufthansa points out that they are already ranked very well and have won several awards for their product. This also means that Lufthansa is more eager to promote itself as a full service. You should know what you are getting, for example, something to eat and drink on board, free checked baggage and the opportunity to receive assistance with problems. Unlike some competitors, there should not be any hidden fees, "no hidden extras". A major focus is also on premium travellers and, not least, lounges. In Frankfurt, Lufthansa now operates 15 lounges, the latest one, the old first class lounge near gate A26, has been converted into a business lounge. There has been a rumour that Senator lounges shall be limited to gold card travellers in Miles & More, while Gold Card travellers from other Star Alliance airlines will be referred to business lounges. However, none of the current members have confirmed this or have been heard to be discussing this internally.

The new business class lounge in Frankfurt We also took the opportunity to ask if there are any plans to move towards one-way ticket pricing, similar to what SAS have done. Some such plans, however, are not in place. Lufthansa believe, and hope, they will be a sufficiently attractive option both to and from the destination and that the need for single tickets should therefore be fairly small. Moreover, it is also very common to combine different airlines in the Lufthansa Group, on the same ticket, which creates additional options.

The positive news is that Lufthansa, this summer, will test and evaluate a new catering concept in business class. The traditional wagon service will disappear, as well as trays, and will be replaced by an "eat when you want" concept where you can eat what you want, when you want, during the flight. Lufthansa wants to create a signature service that will feel a bit like eating at an expensive restaurant. This will be initially implemented on the Boeing 747-8. BusinessClass had the opportunity to talk to one of a handful of people, in the team which developed the new concept. He is also a purser who normally works on one of Lufthansa's Airbus A380s. He is very enthusiastic about the change and points out that many flight attendants are expecting it to be fun and are looking forward to working with something new. The current concept has been around for a very long time and although many passengers find it acceptable, and above all reliable, it is also not very surprising or innovative. An interesting detail is that the purser often goes online and reads BusinessClass, and it is possible that some of the many tests and reviews on BusinessClass have been used as inspiration for the new service concept. Business class passengers can soon also look forward to a new toiletry bag from Samsonite, and, from April 1st, a new entertainment system for all travellers on long-haul flights. The range on the new entertainment system is twice as big as before and provides more than 100 films in eight languages​​, more regional films, a greater range of modern classics, 200 TV programs and 300 CDs.

Passengers travelling with Swiss in first class will soon also get an interesting novelty as Swiss plans to offer a free limousine transfer from Stockholm to Arlanda airport. This is currently available for passengers travelling with Lufthansa in first class from Stockholm. The details of this are not yet entirely clear, for example, the launch date, whether this also applies to bonus tickets and whether it will be introduced at other airports in Scandinavia.

In 2013, the great migration began, which means that Germanwings is gradually taking over a large number of routes previously operated by Lufthansa. It basically includes all routes that do not start or stop in Frankfurt or Munich and all long-haul routes are excluded. The relocation has progressed in stages and perhaps the biggest step was made just days ago, on March 30th, when the routes from Dusseldorf transferred to Germanwings, which now makes Dusseldorf the largest hub for Germanwings. The transfer has gone largely as planned, without any noticeable change in the volume of passengers and no particular grievances from customers. Germanwings has for many been associated with low-cost travel and holiday travel, but it is an image that Lufthansa themselves do not share. Germanwings is more about point-to-point travel and regional routes with few transfer passengers. Lufthansa itself, wants to focus on its core activities as a network company.

"New Germanwings" presented at ITB Fair 2013 Germanwings currently offers three cabin classes on board. "Basic" is the cheapest and is only sold on the Germanwings website. It contains virtually no extras, just a seat on the flight. The next step is the "Smart" class, which to some extent can be compared to Lufthansa's economy class, with free checked baggage and light snacks on board. Finally, "Best" is the premium product, with fast track, lounge entrance, better comfort and a greater choice of food and drink from a café wagon, all included in the ticket price.

Swiss will shortly introduce "Swiss Choice", a separate website that offers the opportunity to purchase additional services. These include the ability to pre-order hot food, a similar concept that Austrian has, which incidentally, has been used as inspiration. It is not yet clear exactly which dishes will be offered, but probably something inspired by Switzerland as well some international dishes from Europe and Asia. "Swiss Choice" will also offer other opportunities to purchase services in advance, such as extra baggage allowance.

A brand new website is also in the works for Swiss, with a brand new design. The website is "responsive", which means that it adapts itself to the browser and the screen that is being used. Meanwhile, a new app for the iPad is on its way. Two fun features of the web page are, an "Explore" section, where you can get tips on 77 destinations served by Swiss. As well as a feature where you will be able to see, in real-time, where all Swiss aircraft currently are.

At last, Lufthansa will implement premium economy on its long-haul flights. The first departures will be in November 2014 on Lufthansa’s Boeing 747-8, and tickets are available to book in May. Premium economy offers 50 percent more space as well as two checked bags of 23kg, a welcome drink, toiletry bag and water bottle.

Launch of the new Premium Economy seat When asked why Lufthansa began with this now, while several others have offered this service for several years, Lufthansa's PR Director, Martin Riecken, responded with the following: "We're doing it late, but right".