According to a Gulf News report, Lufthansa wants the German government to block the expansion of Emirates into Germany. ThierryAntinori, Lufthansa’s Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales, was reported saying that there was an “imbalance” in competition because his airline could only have “limited” market access because of the UAE’s smaller size while Gulf airlines can serve several German routes.

“We have to make the situation clear to politicians,” Antinori told Gulf News, declaring that the company would oppose “wild expansion and new traffic rights” for Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways.

Emirates reportedly responded to Lufthansa’s resistance to its expansion, saying it “always welcomes competition”. An airline spokesperson added that Emirates had “boosted the German economy by billions of euros, not least because we have bought a large number of German-built Airbus aircraft”.At present, Emirates has 49 flights to Frankfurt, Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Munich and is looking to add Berlin and Stuttgart to its German network.