Lufthansa says winter capacity to rise by 2.9 percent

BERLIN (Reuters) - Lufthansa said it will be offering 2.9 percent more seats for the 2014/2015 winter schedule, a slight increase on previous plans for a 2 percent increase. While the number of flights is going down by 2.9 percent, employing larger aircraft has resulted in the increase in capacity - as measured in available seat-kilometers - Europe's largest airline by revenue said in a statement on Wednesday. Lufthansa had initially planned to increase capacity by 4 percent for the winter, but halved those plans after an influx of capacity in the first half put pressure on prices. The new flight plan also sees the main Lufthansa brand, which traditionally serves business routes, flying to more tourist destinations than before, such as the Canary islands, Marrakesh and Split. (Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Maria Sheahan)