On October 30, 1990 Lufthansa first landed in Ho Chi Minh City. The historic inaugural flight that operated with an intermediate stop in Singapore then marked the culmination of intensive negotiations that made the Lufthansa service to Ho Chi Minh City possible. Today after 15 years of service, Lufthansa connects Ho Chi Minh City with Germany three times a week with its ultra-modern Airbus A340-600, offering convenient connections out of Munich to Europe and beyond.
15 years in Vietnam and 50 years globally, in 2005 Lufthansa can truly look back on an eventful history. It has included many glorious moments but the course of events has not always been smooth. History is always a reflection of people and their times. The challenges facing air transport have become increasingly complex, yet Lufthansa has always found the strength to learn and renew itself. That ability has gained the company its leading position in the international airline business and nothing could exemplify this better than Lufthansa’s 15 exiting years in Vietnam.
The suggestion to open the Lufthansa Ho Chi Minh City office came as a surprise to the then station manager Klaus Schmidt in October 1990, says Nico Beilharz, General Manager of Lufthansa Vietnam. In those days, Ho Chi Minh City was in the first stages of its later rapid development and very different from other Lufthansa stations such as Paris, Rome or New York.
The very first Lufthansa office, a double cabin with shower, on the ‘Floating Hotel’, was established quickly and opening business was brisk. The initial Lufthansa Vietnam team was small, just five people, but they enjoyed one real luxury: a direct line for international calls. After 15 years, two of the initial team are still onboard today.
When the uniforms finally arrived from Germany, the team was in for a surprise, a German ‘small’ was a Vietnamese ‘large’. Alterations made them fit perfectly however and the Lufthansa look had arrived in Vietnam. Vietnamese ingenuity paired with Lufthansa innovations made it all possible in those early days. Business for Lufthansa Vietnam was good; both in the passenger and cargo sectors. Soon the team had grown to 9 people and by doing so had outgrown the floating office on the Saigon River. In 1992, Lufthansa opened its new office in the Continental Hotel in the heart of the city.
Growing demand for Lufthansa’s services made yet another move necessary. In 2004, the state-of-the-art office on the 14th floor of the Bitexco Tower opened. Today, a team of thirteen people under General Manager Nico Beilharz meets the demands of Lufthansa’s customers in Vietnam. Lufthansa expects more than 35,000 passengers during 2006 on board its flights between Germany, Bangkok and Vietnam. In addition, Lufthansa’s service provides exporters with great hold capacity for their cargo. The main goods shipped to Germany and Europe on Lufthansa are textiles, shoes, fruit and vegetables, fresh fish and electronic components. In the opposite direction, construction material and pharmaceutical products are just some of the goods exported.
“Lufthansa prides itself on the long-standing ties it has with South East Asia and in particular with Ho Chi Minh City. This heritage makes us proud to be the foremost western carrier today to operate services to this major city. In this way, we will be contributing to forging closer ties of friendship and to developing economic exchanges between Vietnam, Germany and Europe.” declared Lufthansa Vietnam General Manager Nico Beilharz.
From the airline’s first flight to Vietnam 15 years ago, to all-business class Executive Jets with wireless Internet on-board; luxurious Private Jets to the first-ever First Class Terminal, innovations and firsts underline Lufthansa's long-standing commitment to offering unique, value-added products and services for its passengers. Since its foundaton, the Lufthansa name has been synonymous with almost seven decades of innovation and achievement in the world, 15 years of which have been shared in Vietnam.
Lufthansa's history is indeed full of firsts: Lufthansa aircraft made the world's first night flight (1926), the first trans-Atlantic service using catapulted "flying boats" launched from steamships (1929) and the first regular airmail runs between Europe and South America (1934). In more recent times, Lufthansa was the first customer for Boeing's 737 (1965), the first purchaser of the Boeing 747 freighter (1972), the first airline to introduce all-business class flights with its Executive Business Jet service (2002), and the first airline to offer broadband Internet access from 35,000 feet, completing its circle from airmail to email (2003).
Since 2002, Lufthansa has introduced a series of innovative products and services aimed primarily at its First and Business class travelers.
For 15 years, Lufthansa has been the airline of choice for the discerning business and leisure traveler in Vietnam. From its Frankfurt and Munich hubs, Lufthansa provides one of the most extensive global networks of any major airline, serving 355 cities in more than 90 countries and over 800 destinations worldwide in cooperation with its Star Alliance partners among them featuring prominently for 15 years now is Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Hoang Ha
Vietnamese
