Lufthansa Group is implementing some major changes to how it does business, in order to both increase profitability and improve customer satisfaction. That combination always makes me a bit skeptical, especially when it’s coming from Lufthansa Group.
I first covered these changes when they were rumored a few weeks ago, but they’re now official, as Lufthansa Group has made an announcement about this. Frankly, I’m not sure I fully understand what exactly this is supposed to accomplish, but…
Lufthansa’s controversial “Matrix Next Level” strategy
Europe has three major global airline groups. One of those is Lufthansa Group, which includes Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, Brussels, ITA, Eurowings, Discover, etc. While the airline group is based in Frankfurt, the individual airlines have a fair bit of autonomy in terms of their strategy. At least that has been the case up until now.
However, as of January 1, 2026, Lufthansa Group will be implementing a new strategy intended to bring the airlines closer together, known as “Matrix Next Level” (lol?). The idea is for Lufthansa Group to increasingly make decision for individual airlines centrally, in Frankfurt. Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr believes that this realignment is needed in order to improve profitability and customer satisfaction.
As the company describes it, the changes affect not only the structure of the organization, but even more so the processes, the financial management framework, and cross-group collaboration. The aim is for the airlines to work more closely together to strengthen and expand market position of the various hubs.
The airlines will continue to make their own decisions about the customer experience, including for the inflight product, catering, lounges in home markets, and passenger service. Hub airlines will also remain responsible for the management of their respective flight operations and operational flight services.
But in areas that are less visible to passengers, cooperation between airlines within the group will be even more integrated and connected, as is already the case with the Miles & More loyalty program (where it’s one program, but with branding for individual airlines).
In the future, network management for short and medium haul flights will also be managed centrally. Lufthansa Group claims this model has already been established for 10 years for long haul routes. Lufthansa Group claims that guests who already use more than one group company for their travel will benefit from a more coordinated experience.
Obviously the individual airlines largely aren’t too jazzed about this concept. SWISS is probably the least happy about this, as it’s one of the group’s best performing airlines, and currently most aspects of the company are managed in Zurich.
My take on Lufthansa Group’s management strategy shift
In theory, there’s nothing wrong with centralizing more management functions within an airline group, given the potential synergies. That being said, I have a few thoughts…
First of all, I’m always a little skeptical when the claimed motivation for something is to both increase profits and customer satisfaction. It’s rare that those two things go hand-in-hand, especially at an airline like Lufthansa.
Second of all, purely in terms of track record, I can’t help but be a little skeptical of centralizing more functions in Frankfurt. It honestly amazes me that we haven’t seen an overhaul of Lufthansa Group management, given the repeated shortcomings we’ve seen over the years. Based on what record is it believed that decisions could be better made in Frankfurt than at other bases?
Next, there’s a certain irony to Lufthansa Group claiming that individual airlines will maintain control over their inflight products, while SWISS also introduces the new SWISS Senses product, which is a direct copy of Lufthansa Allegris. This product makes little sense for the airline, to the point that SWISS has to install a 3,000-pound weight on its A330s in order to accommodate the new first class.
For that matter, I’m just downright confused by what will actually be changing. It’s emphasized how short and medium haul flights will increasingly be planned centrally. Fair enough, but… isn’t that already the case? Just look at schedules between hubs of group airlines (like between Zurich and Frankfurt), and you’ll see that schedules and flights are already mostly coordinated.
So I guess we’ll find out in the coming months if this centralized management causes any changes that guests notice. Or is this just all about efficiency and eliminating redundant roles?
Bottom line
Lufthansa Group plans to centralize more management functions in Frankfurt as of the beginning of 2026. The idea is to leave less control with individual airlines of the group, like SWISS, and increasingly have decisions made at the airline group level.
In theory, there are no doubt synergies there, and I can see upside. The challenge is that it’s hard to have much faith in Lufthansa Group management, given its track record with so many things in recent years. While the claim is that the goal is to increase profits and customer satisfaction, I would speculate that this development might help more with one of those than the other.
What do you make of Lufthansa Group’s management centralization plans?
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