In the aviation industry, it was a mystery to many why Skytrax had awarded Lufthansa the five-star rating a few years ago. The announcement of a new business class, which has not yet been introduced, made a significant contribution to this. Now the crane is rid of the fifth star and is not at all happy about it.

In aviation, there is an award for just about anything and everyone. The Skytrax ratings once enjoyed great prestige, but the agency lost quite a bit of trust after Lufthansa was given a five-star rating. Since then, a lot has happened at the Kranich, because the on-board product has been brought into line with that of low-cost airlines, especially on short and medium-haul routes, and even on the long haul you sometimes have to dig deep into your pocket for many services. Of course things are different in First Class, but this is not really relevant for the general public.

In any case, Lufthansa has lost its fifth Skytrax star and if you look closely at the rating, you only rank slightly above the low-cost airline Ryanair in economy class on short and medium-haul routes. The fact that many elements of the competitor's product were copied and modified may also have contributed to this. Example: Paid catering.

“The Lufthansa Group is currently investing several billions in an even better travel experience. That is more than at any time in the history of the group. These unprecedented investments are aimed at completely renewing the onboard and ground product. We are about to launch a new top-of-the-range product on long-haul routes in all four travel classes (Economy, Premium Economy, Business, First) at the same time,” said the company, which sees the downgrade in official communications as “temporary”.