Lufthansa claims it has not seen any bookings going the way of rival carriers despite a survey of agencies in Germany pointing to a major switch in recent months.
The German Travel Association (DRV) says a study of 300 of its member agencies in late-November and early-December has seen 40% change their booking behaviour away from Lufthansa following the introduction of its controversial Euro 16 levy on tickets sold via Global Distribution Systems.
It claims major German corporations such as SAP and Siemens are now using other carriers to fly employees around the world.
The biggest shift is in international bookings, says the DRV survey from both online and offline agencies.
Stefan Vordran, DRV board member and the lead for the organisation on business travel issues, claims the airline has lost around 10% of its market share as a result of agencies turning their backs on the home carrier since the levy began on 1 September this year.
This is estimated to be somewhere in the region of over Euro 100 million in flight tickets going to other carriers, Vordan claims.
The airline has previously admitted to experiencing "headwinds" on its international bookings since the levy was introduced, but says there has so far been no impact on its domestic flights.
Responding to the DRV survey, a Lufthansa official says:
"We cannot see any direct action to redirect bookings towards other airlines although we have seen an increase in direct booking through Lufhansa.com.
"In Germany this is up six percentage points to 37% compared to previous years."
DRV claims some 92% of its members do not see the portal created to attract agency bookings outside of the GDS as an alternative option.
The airline was hit by what it says was the "biggest strike action in Lufthansa history" during November, but traffic figures for October - the first clean month since the levy began - saw the carrier increases passenger numbers, although some of its rivals had larger increases.
A Global Business Travel Associationreport in October claimed more than two-fifths of travel buyers had decreased their bookings with Lufthansa.
Just 2% of buyers said they would book directly with the carrier to avoid the Euro 16 charge on every bookings, the GBTA claimed.
NB:Lufthansa plane image via Shutterstock.