AIRLINES: Prices Down over the Atlantic

"Lufthansa thinks it is time to end the confusion and give the traveling public what it wants—low and simple fares." With that explanation, Guenter Eser, Lufthansa's manager for North and Central America, unfurled a fare package that may well touch off a new round of price cutting over the North Atlantic.

The West German carrier had already rejected a compromise fare proposal worked out this past summer in Montreal by other members of the International Air Transport Association. The proposal, which included special advance-purchase excursion (Apex) fares for passengers who buy their tickets three months ahead of departure, could not go into effect without Lufthansa's approval, since all such IATA decisions must be unanimous. Lufthansa, the only holdout, stalled past the final deadline last week, then announced its own, even lower round-trip fares between New York and Frankfurt. They are:

· A 14-to 45-day excursion fare of $210.

· A 1-to 21-day fare of $180 for groups of five or more who book through a travel agent.

· A $195 youth fare for passengers aged 12 to 21.

· A regular economy-class fare of $420.

The new fares, which will be slightly higher in the summer, are to take effect Feb. 1, 1972, when the present IATA agreement expires. As welcome as its prices is Lufthansa's decision to pare the bewildering array of 52 different fares between New York and Frankfurt down to eight.

It is high time for the airlines to do something to fill their half-empty seats, to meet fierce price competition from nonscheduled charter airlines and to pass on to the passenger some of the new jumbo jets' tremendous economies of scale. But as the drawn-out negotiations last summer in Montreal showed, few airline managements could agree on what should be done. Now they may have little choice but to follow Lufthansa's lead.

TWA took out full-page newspaper ads promising that "TWA will not be undersold." Air Canada filed a request with its government for Apex fares similar to those in the IATA package. And IATA itself announced that after Feb. 1 members would be free to set their own "experimental" fares for at least a year. The probability is that more airlines will announce lower fares in the next few weeks, and most will probably match Lufthansa.