Lufthansa partners with third-party digital channels for ticket sales
This is made possible by the Lufthansa Open API (API = Application Programming Interface), through which the company makes standardised data available to developers in a controlled manner. Lufthansa is opening the Open API for direct ticket sales.
From now on, developers will be able to use the interface to integrate direct booking links for offers from Lufthansa, Eurowings and Austrian Airlines into their web- and app-based offers. They will be able to increase the appeal of their services by incorporating Lufthansa products and will also receive compensation for the prominent display of Lufthansa products on their websites whenever the API integration generates bookings on lufthansa.com.
"Taking the importance of digital sales into account"
Heike Birlenbach, senior vice president sales Lufthansa Hub Airlines and chief commercial officer Hub Frankfurt, describes the strategy as follows: “With the introduction of the ability to book via the Lufthansa Open API, we are taking the increasing importance of digital sales platforms into account.
"More than ever before, today’s travellers expect a user experience from their preferred apps and websites that is as simple as possible. The opportunity to seamlessly integrate booking for flights with Lufthansa, Eurowings and Austrian Airlines through the Open API adds an additional channel to the sales and distribution portfolio of the Lufthansa Group. In the end, the customers, the platform providers and the Lufthansa Group will all benefit equally.”
It becomes possible to smoothly integrate flight offers for different needs and contexts into third-party channels. Which solutions will be created, depends on what the developers’ want to experiment with.
Significant increase in users
The Lufthansa Open API already recorded a significant increase in users in 2016: over 1,100 developers from 113 different countries registered in order to be able to combine their products with information from the Lufthansa world.
Andre Schulz, general manager Southern Africa for Lufthansa concludes stating that the Lufthansa Open API would be of value to South African event management and promotion businesses: “With the ever-increasing popularity of Cape Town and Johannesburg as event destinations, we are sure to see South Africa benefit from the further adoption of the API into the event booking process – making travel to this beautiful country that much easier. Further, we are confident that South African event management and ticketing companies would benefit greatly by incorporating an airline ticket service into their service.”
