Lufthansa will hold its ground in short-haul price war: CEO

[August 20, 2019]  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German carrier Lufthansa <LHAG.DE> will continue to fight for market share in the hotly contested market for short-haul flights, where it is determined to compete with budget airlines such as Ryanair <RYA.L>, its chief executive said.

"We will not be chased away from our home market by those that have been used to come, see and conquer," Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr told journalists late on Monday. "We have the financial strength to counteract."

Spohr also said that Lufthansa was well positioned for keeping up with the global consolidation in the airline industry, in which only 12 global carriers would exist in the future and Lufthansa wanted play an active role.

Lufthansa in late July blamed price competition on short-haul routes and rising fuel and maintenance for a 25% drop in second-quarter adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT).

(Reporting by Sabine Wollrab; Writing by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Tassilo Hummel)

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