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...