Lufthansa, Europe’s second-biggest airline, said Russia is still one of its key destinations even as the global recession hurts demand for flights there more than in some other markets, said Ronald Schulz, Lufthansa’s regional director for Russia.

“Russia remains one of our three top priorities, next to China and India,” Schulz said Wednesday.

The carrier’s Russian traffic, or the number of passengers multiplied by the distance flown, fell 7.5 percent in the first six months compared with a 5.7 percent decline globally, Schulz said.

Demand will “remain flat” in the country through the end of the year, he said.

Lufthansa currently operates 137 flights a week from eight Russian cities, including Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and Samara, Schulz said. The airline added a daily flight to Dusseldorf from St. Petersburg in April.