Lufthansa and Air China strengthen partnership

   Officials with Lufthansa and Air China have agreed to enhance their commercial partnership, pledging better services and connections between Europe and China in the future.
   The carriers foresee benefits filtering to customers by October.
   “Thanks to strategic partnerships with leading airlines, the Lufthansa Group airlines now connect the world’s four largest economies even better,” Carsten Spohr, chief executive officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said in a statement.
   Lufthansa and Air China have already been partners as members of the Star Alliance, but the two carriers have decided to ramp up their association.
   Last month, Air China pledged RMB 1.02 billion ($176.36 million) to Air China Cargo as part of a RNB 2-billion cash infusion on behalf of Air China Cargo’s three shareholders.