Story ID: 
Lufthansa-NetJets Europe Split Gets Messy
By: Thierry Dubois
Caption: Germany-based airline Lufthansa and NetJets Europe (NJE) are embroiled in a disagreement over the recently announced termination of their partnership of Lu
Word Count: 165
Germany-based airline Lufthansa and NetJets Europe (NJE) are embroiled in a disagreement over the recently announced termination of their partnership of Lufthansa Private Jet. Specifically, the clash is about when the actual date of the termination becomes effective. Lufthansa insists the agreement is valid until February, but NJE is asserting Lufthansa has already used all of its share-allocated flight hours. Lufthansa, which has been offering the combined airline-business jet product since 2005, on December 7 announced it will buy its own jets–between five and 10 airplanes–to cope with rising demand. The airline claims these jets will enter service next spring. As a consequence, Lufthansa said, cooperation with NJE will end in February. However, an NJE spokesman told AIN that his company had canceled the contract in August. “The agreement was about providing mostly connection flights, but we ended up providing mostly point-to-point flights,” he explained. This move has sparked a six-month wind-down period, but the number of allocated flight hours dried up prematurely, according to NJE.