by Lufthansa Flyer | Sep 22, 2016 | 737, Featured, Fleet Update, Lufthansa |
Earlier this week, Lufthansa took the final step to retire a long serving member of their fleet when they arranged for the sale of their last 737-300 aircraft. For those of you keeping score at home, they are:
D-ABEC Entered service on July 9, 1991
D-ABED Entered service on July 12, 1991
D-ABEE Entered service on July 18, 1991
D-ABEF Entered service on July 31, 1991
D-ABEH Entered service on August 15, 1991
D-ABEK Entered service on November 21, 1991
D-ABEN Entered service on January 16, 1992
These final 7 have been sold to Automatic LLC, a firm specializing in leasing aircraft. The aircraft will be delivered to Automatic LLC between October and December and will be refit for further sale or leasing.
To see what a Lufthansa 737 looks like along with all the other Lufthansa aircraft, please visit my Lufthansa Gallery on Aero-Shots.com.
H/T: FlyerTalk / Oliver2002
by Lufthansa Flyer | Sep 21, 2016 | Fare Sale, Featured, Lufthansa |
Lufthansa’s latest fare sale has a few attractive deals whose highlight includes New York to Stockholm for only $470 as well as Washington to Munich for $499.
Aside from these fares, there are several deals from the East Coast to Europe that run in the low to mid $500 range such as Miami to Munich or Miami to Berlin. Even Chicago sees mid-$500 range fares with Chicago to Nuremberg or Chicago to Stuttgart.
Other fares from the East Coast run in the $600-750 range, while the Mid-West and West Coast fares range between $800 and $1200.
The sale is in place until October 6.
Departing flights must take place between October 11 and 29th and return travel can take place between October 12 and April 29, 2017. Tickets need to be purchased at least 21 days prior to departure and a weekend surcharge will apply if traveling between Thursday and Sunday. A Saturday night stay is required as well.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Sep 18, 2016 | Featured, Lufthansa, Strike, Vereinigung Cockpit |
Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), the union representing the bulk of Lufthansa’s ‘mainline’ pilots, has announced that it has broken off negotiations. This comes after several months of negotiations worked to arrive at long term labor peace.
The big sticking point is VC’s demand that Lufthansa provide an outlet for pilots to choose early retirement and still receive their full retirement benefits, a concept that LH has steadfastly opposed.
Another fly in the union’s ointment is Lufthansa activity around Eurowings. With recent announcements of LH taking on Air Berlin aircraft and routes, as well as the expansion of Eurowings to Munich, the union is claiming this is being done intentionally by LH to reduce mainline demand. The union sees the risk of potential pilot layoffs from mainline which is why it feels LH is not negotiating a solution to early retirement options.
Though no strikes have been mentioned by name, VC has a history of calling ‘warning’ strikes that pop up with little or no notice, and last a few hours at a time. Just enough to disrupt operations and upset an airport full of passengers. These mini-strike are often warning shots in an attempt to force LH’s hand and they typically don’t succeed. So don’t be surprised if something isn’t announced on very short notice over the coming weeks.
Personally, I thought that VC and LH had started to warm up towards one another over the last few months after a tumultuous 2014 and 2015 that saw 13 strikes and hundreds of millions of Euro in losses for Lufthansa.
This of course is addition to the labor woes impacting Eurowings as they try to sort things out with Ver.di.
I’m afraid that history may be poised to repeat itself…….
