by Lufthansa Flyer | Dec 21, 2016 | A350, Featured, Lufthansa |
Avgeeks rejoice!
Only a few hours before Lufthansa’s first A350 heads for home to Munich, Lufthansa has announced the initial schedule of training flights that are set to take place around Germany during the next week. The flights will be used to certify cockpit crew ahead of the aircraft entering service on February 10. The flights will also take place prior to LH Technik getting their hands on the plane in order to install the interior, including cabins, galleys, etc.
The first draft of the schedule is as follows below. More flights will be added over the coming days, but for now here is where you can go to catch a glimpse of the new bird:
December 22, 2016:
11:00a Departure from Munich with a landing in Stuttgart at 11:30a.
11:30a departure from Stuttgart with a landing in Ingolstadt at 12:00p. The A350 will execute a series of take offs and landings until 2:00p.
2:30p Arrival back in Munich.
December 23, 2016:
11:00 a departure from Munich with a landing in Nurnberg at 11:30a. Touch and go landing at Nurnberg.
11:30 departure from Nurnberg with a landing at Karlsruhe / Baden-Baden at 12:00. The A350 will execute a series of take offs and landings until 3:00p.
3:00p departure from Karlsruhe / Baden-Baden with a touch and go at Nurnberg at 3:30p
3:30 departure from Nurnberg, arriving in Munich at 4:00p
Keep in mind this is a very fluid schedule and can change with little or no notice. I’ll post updates as they become available.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 29, 2016 | A350, Featured, Lufthansa, Passenger Experience |
Lufthansa has announced that their first A350 successfully completed her maiden flight in Toulouse today.
The maiden flight allowed for flight engineers to test the various systems of the aircraft during the flight to ensure that everything is functioning as designed. If all goes well with a few more flights, Lufthansa will get the ‘keys’ to the plane on December 19. Once in Lufthansa’s hands, the plane will be flown to Munich where it will have the interior installed along with some other Lufthansa-specific customizations.
Plans call for the bird to enter service on Lufthansa’s Munich – Delhi route on February 10, 2017.
Lufthansa’s first A350 completes her maiden flight……
by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 18, 2016 | A350, Featured, Lufthansa, Munich, Technik |
Lufthansa has announced that their first Airbus A350 aircraft will be delivered on December 19.
The aircraft will be delivered directly to Munich where Lufthansa Technik will install the cabin interior and other proprietary enhancements. During this time, the aircraft will also be used for cabin and ground crew training.
Lufthansa’s First A350. It’s currently carrying an Airbus tail number, which will be changed to D-AIXA once LH accepts the aircraft.
Munich will be the hub where the ‘initial’ A350 fleet will be based. Lufthansa plans to assign the first 10 A350s to Munich as it begins replacing A340 aircraft. Current plans call for up to 25 A350s to join the fleet over the coming months and years. The tail number protocol for the A350 will be D-AIX_, with the first first A350 being registered as D-AIXA.
Once delivered, the aircraft will not enter passenger service until February 10, when the A350 will take over on the daily flight between Munich and Delhi. Boston will follow shortly thereafter but based on Lufthansa’s past history with new aircraft, expect the A350 to be put on ‘tour’ and flown to several destinations during its first months in service.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Apr 1, 2016 | A320neo, Featured, Fleet Update, Lufthansa |
Airbus delivered to Lufthansa their 2nd A320neo (New Engine Option) on March 31 and it will immediately be put into service from its base in Frankfurt today, April 1, 2016. This delivery now allows for the ‘NEO’ to be deployed between Frankfurt and Dusseldorf. The tail number for this bird is D-AINB.
The 2 ‘NEOS’ in the fleet now serve Frankfurt, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, and Munich.
LH has 116 A32x NEOs coming to the fleet over the coming years. 45 of of them will be A321s while the rest of them will be A320s. Five A320s will delivered to LH in 2016 and will all be based in Frankfurt. These airplanes are destined to replace the current and less efficient A320 and A321s in the fleet.
Related:
Engine issues delay A320neo deliveries
by Lufthansa Flyer | Dec 13, 2015 | Fleet Update, Lufthansa |
Late last week, details began to emerge from Airbus that Lufthansa, not Qatar, would become the launch operator for the much-anticipated A320neo (New Engine Option). The anticipation for the ‘neo’ revolves around the fact that it is expected to be 15% more efficient than its predecessor due to the new engines developed for the aircraft.
The reason that led to Qatar no longer being the launch customer had to do with the final tweaks to the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines that are being used as one of the power plant options for the ‘neo’. Qatar had raised concerns that a few minor software and hardware modifications would potentially create operational restrictions until the issues were resolved.
Lufthansa however was comfortable with the work that needed to be done in order to confidently put the A320neo into service so it now becomes the launch customer for the new model. The modifications are performance-enhancing and do not create safety concerns.
The latest information from LH suggests that the delivery of their first ‘neo’ will take place on December 22 and it will enter service on January 6 when it flies from Frankfurt to Hamburg.
LH has 116 ‘neos’ on order of which 61 will fly for Lufthansa mainline while the remaining will be distributed among other LH Group carriers.
