I’ve been away from internet connectivity most of the day, so I haven’t had a chance to share the news that you probably have heard of by now.
Lufthansa’s first 747-8i will enter service on their Frankfurt-Washington Dulles route. I’m personally a little disappointed that they did not put it to on the JFK route first as a tribute to their first ever 747 that flew over 40 years ago. I was convinced that would be the case since both of these milestone 747’s share the same registration, D-ABYA and the fact that the first 747 flew from Frankfurt to New York City.
Being that Washington DC will be the only airport in the US served by all 3 major Mideast Carriers, I wonder if that factored into Lufthansa’s decision. They have been vocal in the past about the expansion of Mid East carriers so it would not be surprising if this was a small gesture towards the Middle Eastern Airlines…..
But the good news is that it is finally entering service and we’ll see several more enter service in the coming months and years. It’s expected that Lufthansa will get “the keys” to D-ABYA on April 23 and I would expect the plane to start flying the FRA-IAD route sometime in late May or early June.
