by Lufthansa Flyer | Dec 18, 2013 | Airlines |
Lufthansa has confirmed what has been widely expected. Beginning on March 30, 2014 Lufthansa will begin DAILY service to Tokyo-Haneda from Frankfurt AND Munich. With the change, Lufthansa will no longer fly from Munich to Narita (effective March 30, 2014), however service between Frankfurt and Narita will continue.
This is a major step forward for Lufthansa in Asia since Haneda is ANA’s hub which in turn will make it very easy for passengers to connect to and from ANA for travel to a wide variety of Asian destination. Additionally, Haneda is far more convenient to Tokyo which is only a short 15-20 minute train ride away.
This is has been made possible thanks to the Japanese government loosening restrictions on Haneda that involve the amount of international traffic that is allowed to use Haneda.
The new flight details:
Frankfurt – Tokyo Haneda: LH 716 departing FRA at 6:20pm arriving in Haneda at 12:15p the next day. Route will be served by a 747-400.
Tokyo Haneda – Frankfurt: LH 717 departing HND at 2:05p arriving in Frankfurt at 6:45p. Obviously the 747 will make the return flight! 🙂
Munich – Tokyo Haneda: LH 714 departing MUC at 3:45p arriving in Haneda at 10:05a the next day. Route will be served by an A340-600.
Tokyo Haneda – Munich: LH715 will depart Haneda at 11:50a arriving in Munich at 4:55p.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Dec 8, 2013 | Airlines |
Over the Thanksgiving Weekend, I flew to Frankfurt to attend Lufthansa Group’s annual internal Social Media conference which brings together all of LH Group’s divisions. The day-long conference lets each division share their experiences with Social Media marketing for the current year as well as to present their strategies for the upcoming year. It’s a great forum for ideas and suggestions to be exchanged and based on what was discussed there are several great initiatives that will be introduced next year….sorry I can say nothing more! 🙂
Anyway, whenever I travel to Frankfurt, I make sure to build in enough time to visit different divisions of the Airline Group to gain further insights into what is happening within the company. This trip was bit more intensive than previous trips as I spent quite a bit of time with the Social Media Group, LH Technik and a fantastic tour with Austrian Technik in Vienna which I’ll go into more detail in a post early next week.
For my visit with LH Technik, I was given full access to tour the various hangars and flight lines and observe aircraft in various states of maintenance; everything from aircraft being prepared for their next flight to seeing their cabins in complete tear-down as seat upholstery was being removed for cleaning. It’s amazing to watch a small army of technicians work, the choreography is impressive! But as they say, a plane sitting on the ground for any amount of time is not earning the airline any revenue, so things have to happen quickly, safely and accurately.
When I arrived at the hangar, I knew at least 1 747-8i would be there as it was undergoing routine servicing of its cabin. I had the ability to go into the cabin, but chose not to since there was a team of techs in the aircraft and I did not want to get in the way. Instead I chose to spend quality time walking around the aircraft and appreciate the engineering marvel.
D-ABYG, one of Lufthansa’s newest 747-8i aircraft.
Part of D-ABYG’s main landing gear
Looking towards the front of the aircraft
Looking towards the rear of the aircraft
D-ABYG – The 6th 747-8i in the fleet
D-ABYG’s Starboard GE90 Engines
A closer view…..EACH blade carries a €30,000 price tag!
Art in Engineering…..
The port-side GE90s
From the top of the stairway
The wing as seen from an open emergency exit
It’s no secret that the 747-8i is my favorite aircraft, both inside and out. My fascination for the aircraft began well before Lufthansa received their first 747-8i, D-ABYA, and put it into service on June 1, 2012.
To fuel my addiction, I was able to attend the inaugural event for D-ABYA in Frankfurt on May 31 and was fortunate enough to be her only passenger in First Class on my flight home on June 3, 2012, giving me an experience that few will ever have. For obvious reasons it is and will be for the rest of my days my most favorite flight!
by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 19, 2013 | Airlines |
After a brief delay, Lufthansa Cargo is finally going to welcome its first 777F to the fleet in a ceremony in Frankfurt today, November 19. The event was scheduled for approximately 2 weeks ago but was delayed to a minor manufacturing issue that Boeing needed to resolve.
Lufthansa Cargo will share the event with followers on Facebook tomorrow so if you are interested you can keep up with the latest updates throughout the unveiling event. Additionally, Lufthansa Cargo will reveal the ‘nickname’ of the aircraft and announce the winner of their contest that was held to name the aircraft.
To follow the events as they happen, please visit Lufthansa Cargo’s Facebook Page. The event will take place between 11:30 and 1:30 UTC (12:30 to 2:30p Local German Time).
by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 6, 2013 | Airlines |
Just a quick note to let you know that Lufthansa has added Frankfurt – Montreal to it’s 2014 Summer timetable that will operate between May 16 and October 12. It is a 5 day a week service and will be flown by 2-class cabin A340 and A330 aircraft.
Flight 478 will leave Frankfurt in the early afternoon arriving in Montreal at 3:35p. The return flight will be flight # 479 departing Montreal at 5:10p and arriving in Frankfurt at 6:25a the following morning.
This is in addition to Lufthansa’s Munich – Montreal route.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 1, 2013 | Airlines |
Towards the end of November, I will be going back to Germany to attend Lufthansa’s annual Social Media meeting attended by Social Media Managers and Staff within Lufthansa Group. It is an opportunity for LH Group colleagues to share best practices and discuss plans and concepts for the following year as far as Social Media Programs are concerned.
I was invited to attend the meeting last year for the first time and found it to be an invaluable experience. For me to be a part of such a meeting provided me with insights into LH Group that I would otherwise never have had an opportunity to gain. They even included me in the agenda and asked me to speak to the group regarding my work with LufthansaFlyer and what my vision is for it. Needless to say it was a fantastic experience.
Over the course of the last year several programs and products were launched by this group. Blue Legends, SceneSpotter, MySkyStatus and others are a few examples of their work. In addition, the LH Group of Airlines is very active on Twitter and Facebook; helping to keep as many fans and passengers informed as possible.
To this end, I would like to ask for your feedback on your experiences with Lufthansa Group’s various Social Media channels. This meeting gives me the opportunity to sit down with the teams responsible for LH Group Social Media and share with them feedback that they may normally not receive.
The feedback can include your experiences with the various ‘Apps’ that are offered, experiences with Twitter and Facebook interaction and marketing in general.
Let me know what you liked, didn’t like and what you would like to see in the future from LH group. I’ll take this feedback with me to Frankfurt and share with them what’s on your mind. The information will be kept confidential – I will not share your name or contact information.
If you are interested, please send me an email with your thoughts to DennisG@First2Board.com.
