German Airlines Look At Raising Ticket Prices

German airliners Lufthansa and Deutsche BA say they won’t rule out jacking ticket prices in the coming year following the damage the Sept. 11 attacks did to the airline industry.

Both airlines say they will most likely raise prices further following a year in which most of the world’s major airlines have reported losses. And since the terrorist attacks, airlines have had to raise prices further to cover the costs of new security measures on airplanes. Lufthansa tacked on $16 per round trip ticket.

"In keeping with the pattern, airline prices will climb again in the coming year," Rudolf Hengefled, the commercial director of Deutsche BA, told the Berliner Zeitung Monday.

Experts estimate Deutsche BA’s losses for 2001 to be in the millions. Lufthansa’s revenue has dropped 20 percent since the Sept. 11 attacks.

In order to keep it from slipping futher, the airline has been forced cut back on employee work schedules and freeze hiring. The airline has also dropped marginal routes and idled 43 aircraft.

Though Germany’s flag carrier plans price increases, Lufthansa’s Christian Tillmans also said the airline was looking for ways, like seasonal specials, to keep tickets from costing even more. Both airlines plan cheap routes, with Lufthansa offering a round-trip ticket, include taxes, for all routes within Germany for 143 Euro in the coming year.