Gearing up for an increase in air travel going forward, Lufthansa Group launched a range of initiatives to work toward ensuring safe, seamless and sustainable experiences for its passengers.

For starters, Lufthansa unveiled a pilot project on Nov. 12 where passengers on select flights between Hamburg and Munich were required to test negative for COVID-19 in order to glean more information on handling rapid tests while expanding global travel options.

“Many airline professionals will agree that testing is the key to the revitalization of international travel,” said Christoph Leffers, head of taskforce corona testing for Lufthansa Group. “Since the summer, both Munich and Hamburg have had testing centers, and therefore were natural choices for this program.”

To date, approximately 2,200 passengers have flown on COVID-19 tested flights.

“The project team, together with guests, partners and health authorities, was able to gain experience and insights into the applicability of rapid tests along the travel chain,” Leffers said.

“For example, in Munich, the processes were improved during the pilot phase so that tests were possible in individual cases – even around 35 minutes before departure.”

In other developments, Lufthansa and SWISS have become the first Star Alliance member airlines to implement a touchless customer experience at airports with a biometric identity and identification platform. “The Star Alliance has completed development of an interoperable biometric identity and identification platform that will significantly improve the travel experience for the frequent flyer program,” he said.

“Members of the Lufthansa and SWISS Miles & More Frequent Flyer Program who opt-in to biometrics will be able to pass through both security access and boarding gates in a touchless manner. In keeping with the requirement to wear masks in the airport terminal, passengers are not required to remove face masks for the biometric identity check.”

On the sustainability front, Lufthansa Group is making CO2-neutral flying easier through the use of its Miles & More customer app.

“Customers can now see the CO2 emissions of their flight in the Miles & More app, which can be downloaded from any smart phone application store,” Leffler said. “With the ‘mindfulflyer’ function, the participants can be reminded to compensate their flights regularly. The customer decides how much sustainable aviation fuel or certified reforestation projects of the myclimate climate protection foundation are used.”

The offer is available for all Lufthansa Group flights and also for travel with Star Alliance and joint venture partners.