by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 30, 2016 | Featured, Lufthansa, Route Announcements, Star Alliance, Swiss |
AIR CANADA:
Toronto – Delhi effective October 30 increases from 4x/week to 1x/day.
AIR CHINA:
Wenzhou – Seoul effective April 27 BEGINS 3x/week service.
AIR INDIA:
Delhi – Abu Dhabi effective May 15 is CANCELLED.
AIR NEW ZEALAND:
Auckland – Houston effective December 5 increases from 5x/week to 1x/DAY.
COPA:
Panama City – Chiclayo effective June 28 BEGINS 2x/week service.
EGYPTAIR:
Cairo – Damman effective May 15 increases from 3x/day to 4x/day.
LUFTHANSA:
Munich – Geneva effective April 4 is CANCELLED. Existing 4x/day service will be operated by SWISS.
SWISS:
Geneva – Munich effective April 4 BEGINS 4x/day service. Previously operated by Lufthansa.
TURKISH:
Antalya – Kuwait City effective July 3 BEGINS 2x/week service.
Bursa – Kuwait City effective July 1 BEGINS 1x/week service.
Istanbul – Entebbe – Juba effective March 29 is CANCELLED. 1x/day service continues between Istanbul and Entebbe.
Istanbul – Manila effective July 3 increases from 6x/week to 1x/DAY.
Istanbul – Bilbao – Santiago de Compostela effective June 3 is CANCELLED. 3x/week service will continue between Istanbul and Bilbao.
Istanbul (SAW) – Riyadh effective March 27 BEGINS 1x/day service.
Izmir – Kuwait City effective June 30 BEGINS 1x/week service..
Trabzon – Kuwait City effective June 28 BEGINS 3x/week service.
Trabzon – Riyadh effective March 29 BEGINS 2x/week service, increasing to 3x/week on July 17.
UNITED:
San Francisco – Hangzhou effective July 13 BEGINS 3x/week service.
PREVIOUS STAR ALLIANCE ROUTE ANNOUNCEMENTS
H/T: AirlineRoute.net
by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 26, 2016 | 60th Anniversary, 747-8i, Featured, History, Lufthansa, Yankee Tango |
A year ago today, one of Lufthansa’s most popular aircraft was officially delivered by Boeing and I was there to experience what is perhaps the highlight of my ‘Avgeek’ hobby.
On March 25, 2015 Boeing literally handed over the keys to Lufthansa’s 18th 747 and a small group of us took off from Paine Field in Everett, Washington and brought her home to Frankfurt. Since entering service she has been a huge favorite of passengers and avgeeks alike due to her unique paint scheme. To honor their 60th Anniversary, LH had ‘Yankee Tango’ painted in a livery that resembled what the 747 fleet looked like in the 1970s when LH began flying 747-100 and -200 variants. Later in the 1990s, the -400 model would begin to replace the previous version. In all, LH had at one time or another operated 4 747-100, 26 747-200, 31 747-400 (13 still in use), and now 19 747-8i model aircraft.
The delivery event had been overshadowed by the Germanwings crash they day before and it was even discussed that the delivery be postponed. Ultimately it was decided that the aircraft should go home as scheduled if for nothing else than to demonstrate some level of normalcy and to keep to the schedule that had been months in the planning.
Not exactly a routing that one sees often…..
Having a 747-8i to share with only a few people and having the ability to roam anywhere in the aircraft including hours spent with the pilots in the cockpit was certainly a one-off experience. In addition, since the Economy Class cabin was not installed since the seats were in Frankfurt, it gave the 748 a cavernous feeling. As a bonus, since we were flying a very northern route from Everett, I finally got to experience the Northern Lights as well. It was certainly a once in a lifetime event for me. Until of course LH starts to take delivery of their 777s…….
I share below the stories I posted that covered the delivery event in case you’d like to see what’s behind a Delivery Flight. I’ll also include links to my dedicated ‘Yankee Tango’ gallery on my Aero-Shots.com plane-spotting website that has ton of photos of the aircraft going through her very first test flights. Enjoy!
‘Yankee Tango’ Delivery Coverage:
by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 24, 2016 | Brussels, Featured, LCC, Lufthansa, Passenger Experience |
Back in 2009 when Lufthansa completed the purchase of a 45% stake in Brussels Airlines, it also retained the option to purchase the remaining 55%. This option is set to expire in 2017, however the decision from Lufthansa is due in the next several weeks according to Lufthansa’s CFO, Simone Menne, who suggested this timeline during Lufthansa’s earnings conference last week. The major stipulation for the exercise of the option was that Brussels needed to demonstrate profitability on its own before LH would acquire the rest of the carrier. In 2015, Brussels finally did demonstrate a profitable year which has now put in motion the process for Lufthansa to potentially acquire the rest of ‘SN’.
What doe this mean for Brussels Airlines?? A lot……
Should LH acquire the balance of ‘SN’, it is widely speculated that Lufthansa would fold Brussels into its Eurowings ‘low cost carrier (LCC)’ and literally would jump to the number 3rd largest ‘LCC’ in Europe, behind only Ryanair and Easyjet which have been a perennial fly in the ointment for Lufthansa. It would also mean that Eurowings would grow exponentially overnight with routes throughout Europe, gain additional routes in North America and inherit a strong presence in Africa where Brussels has spent considerable effort growing its network.
Should this come to pass as I’ve described, I believe it would would have an accretive impact on Lufthansa Group. It’s no secret that Eurowings has had its share of growing pains recently due to small size of its long haul fleet. Adding SN’s existing fleet, staff, and timetable would go a long way in stabilizing Eurowings and make it an important hedge in Lufthansa’s portfolio as LH continues to battle the ‘LCCs’ in Europe. However, anytime consolidation is discussed, there is always the risk of overlap of staff and resources which could result in a re-sizing of SN so that it fits better into the Eurowings template.
The next 90 days could prove interesting…….
