Lufthansa Systems has established an impressive record of success during the past decade. The IT specialist provides its solutions and services to a customer base that is steadily expanding. More than 110 international airlines and 80 companies from other industries currently rely on the know-how and technologies of Lufthansa Systems.

As IT specialists for the airline and aviation industry, Lufthansa Systems has always aimed to expand its global presence. This expansion is supported by an area management system that divides responsibility into three geographical areas – EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), North and South America, and Asia Pacific. This area management places a strong emphasis on sales to international markets. Outside Germany, the IT specialist has offices in 15 cities in 14 countries. Its global focus and flexible structures enable Lufthansa Systems to provide local support where it is needed.

Partner for the Lufthansa Group

The Lufthansa Group was the IT service provider's biggest customer right from the beginning, and remains its biggest customer to this day. Lufthansa Systems supplies modern IT solutions to Group companies and continues to develop its close links with these companies. The IT specialist recently modernized the IT infrastructure of Lufthansa Passage, for example, equipping 9,500 workplaces with the very latest hardware and software within just nine months.

Two other examples of innovative projects are FlyNet and the Lido electronic Route Manual. Lufthansa Systems supplied the technology for FlyNet, the world's first Internet service on board an aircraft, as well as implementing the communications between the on-board systems and the ground.

With Lido electronic Route Manual, the IT service provider is breaking new ground in the generation of route charts. Since fall of 2004, Lufthansa has been flying with these electronically generated charts, which differ considerably from the previously used charts drawn using CAD tools because they are based on information supplied directly from a database. Thanks to their true-to-scale presentation, color coding and the use of intuitive icons, the charts provide the ideal support for the pilot's visual thought processes.

IT provider to more than 110 international airlines

An extensive knowledge of the airline business has enabled Lufthansa Systems to consistently increase its business from Star Alliance members and non-members alike.

To ensure that their IT systems fully complied with Alliance standards, Lufthansa Systems migrated the passenger-related IT systems of Austrian Airlines, British Midland and LOT Polish Airlines to its MultiHost solution in support of the Star Alliance membership applications of these airlines. In recent years, Lufthansa Systems has updated and enhanced various components of its passenger systems. This modernization program has now taken a major step with the Future Airline Core Environment (FACE) project. Lufthansa Systems' passenger system is currently used successfully by more than 40 airlines.

Lufthansa Systems has an effective, innovative portfolio for airlines that goes well beyond passenger-related IT systems. Its solutions for network planning and management, revenue management and pricing, cargo and logistics, and aircraft maintenance have been welcomed by airlines all over the world. Airlines such as Lufthansa, Finnair, Augsburg Airways as well as DHL Worldwide Express deploy the modular, integrated NetLine solution for their short- and long-term flight planning. Shanghai Airlines began using this IT solution in the summer of 2004.

Many airlines outside the Star Alliance are customers of Lufthansa Systems. Airlines such as British Airways und SWISS rely on the IT specialist's expertise to efficiently manage processes in such critical business areas as pricing.

Growth markets in Asia and in the Americas

Major contracts from TACA and Air Canada marked an important step in our expansion plans in the Americas. The South American airline TACA selected a comprehensive IT package from Lufthansa Systems to deal with all of their core processes. Air Canada is also deploying a complete integrated solution from the Kelsterbach-based company.

The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a close cooperation in 2004 represented an important step in strengthening our position in Asia. In addition, agreements with Asiana on MRO or Shanghai Airlines, Air China Cargo and Indian Airlines are further evidence of the company's growing success in the region.

IT know-how across all industries

Right from the start, the security and reliability of Lufthansa Systems' infrastructure services have enabled the company to win customers from other industries where IT standards are comparable to those applied by airlines. These customers included financial services companies, industrial companies, and international businesses with complex IT infrastructures.

Buderus AG was the first such customer. Since 1996, Lufthansa Systems has managed the entire Buderus AG IT and network infrastructure, with more than 2,000 end users throughout Germany. The IT specialist later developed SAP applications for Buderus and at the same time introduced SAP R/3 to its international subsidiaries. Buderus AG renewed its agreements after seven years of successful cooperation. Also in 1996, the Commerzbank moved its backup computer center to Lufthansa Systems.

Yet another success story came in 2003, when Thomas Cook AG transferred its entire IT operation to the IT service provider. Lufthansa Systems has managed the tour operator's complete IT infrastructure ever since. This has allowed Thomas Cook AG to concentrate on its core activities and to take advantage of improved IT service quality at a substantially lower cost. In the same year, Lufthansa Systems also signed a major IT outsourcing agreement with DekaBank in which the IT service provider assumed responsibility for the operational management and support of the bank's client/server systems. In 2004, the COMINVEST Group, one of whose subsidiaries is the European Bank for Fund Services, outsourced a major part of its IT infrastructure to Lufthansa Systems.