by Lufthansa Flyer | Aug 18, 2013 | Airlines |
Last weekend, I was invited to join a Lufthansa press luncheon in Seattle but have had a very busy week since returning and only now have had a chance to decipher my notes.
The event brought together representatives from Lufthansa to discuss recent and future events within the airline as well as representatives from Boeing who provided insights into the 747-8i and 747-8F programs. I’ll take this opportunity to highlight some of the key points made during the lunch.
LUFTHANSA:
1. Airline Consolidation In Europe: Lufthansa projects continued consolidation in the European Airline market. Lufthansa has suggested that they may be active in consolidation, but are not actively seeking opportunities. A major driver behind the consolidation according to Lufthansa is the fragmentation of the airline market in Europe. In Europe, 48 airlines comprise 90% of the marketplace, whereas 90% of the US airline market is made up of only 6 airlines. Accordingly, representatives from Lufthansa feel that the European airline market is ripe for consolidation, either through merger or attrition.
2. Fuel Costs: Lufthansa took the luncheon as an opportunity to highlight the impact of fuel costs on its operations. Over the last 15 years, fuel prices have increased 170% and today represent 35% of the airline’s operating expense. Prior to this spike over the last decade and a half, fuel comprised 10-15% of total operating expenses, suggesting an obvious squeeze on margins. LH listed their 3 highest operating expenses: 1. Fuel 2. Air Traffic Control and Airport Fees and 3. Staffing.
3. Fleet Management: Lufthansa briefly covered their plans for fleet renewal and aircraft orders. Currently, LH has 168 aircraft on order. Highlighting this list of orders are 5 Boeing 777 Freighters for Lufthansa Cargo, 30 Bombardier C-Series aircraft for SWISS and in addition, LH plans to announce a “significant” double digit order in the coming weeks that may include Boeing 787s, the 777X and Airbus A350. No indication has been given in terms of the exact models, except that it will be comprised of these 3. I suspect the order to be in the 40-60 aircraft area.
4. Fleet/Cabin Modernization: According to their presentation, Lufthansa will be spending an average of 1 million dollars a DAY over the next 3 years as it retrofits new business class seats into its long haul fleet. PREMIUM ECONOMY SEATS are being finalized and will be debuted in BERLIN in March 2014 at the annual ITB Convention/Show. The Premium Economy seats will begin to appear in aircraft in October 2014. Discussing Flynet (Lufthansa’s inflight WiFi product), 90% of long haul aircraft are equipped with Flynet, the 10% lacking Flynet are the Airbus 380 aircraft in the fleet and plans are to have them retrofitted within the next 12 months. Lufthansa also has indicated that they are looking into the concept of removing monitors from Inflight Entertainment Systems at a point in the future. The driver behind this idea is the fact that most passengers are now traveling with laptops, tablets and smartphones and can view IFE content directly on their own devices.
5. Network Expansion Plans: Lufthansa sees South America as a growth market and is investigating potential route expansion to the continent. They are also looking at increasing capacity on existing routes to meet an expected rise in demand. Speaking about North American destinations, Lufthansa does not plan to announce any new North American routes in the next 12 months.
BOEING:
1. The 747-8i and 747-8F program: Representatives from Boeing provided a brief update on the status of the 747-8 platform including recent orders from Korean Air and Air China. Boeing seems to be encouraged at the additional take-up on the 747-8i but I sensed very little enthusiasm when they were asked about future orders. They suggested that they are seeing additional interest develop around the 747-8i, but I was not convinced that the interest is significant based on their comments. Based on comments made during the lunch, it appears that LH was the driving force behind the development of the 747-8i for passenger service whereas Boeing had originally intended the 747-8 platform to be strictly a Cargo aircraft. With the advent of the 777X and 787 platforms, the 747-8i may become a victim of the success of its siblings.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Aug 13, 2013 | Airlines |
Lufthansa took delivery of their latest 747-8i, D-ABYK, earlier this afternoon and is now enroute to Germany to join the fleet.
I was in Everett last weekend and saw her parked on the ramp going through final delivery preparation. Of course with the luck that I had, I was a few days too early.
D-ABYK going through final preparations ahead of delivery. Unfortunately she was parked far away from the observation area making it tough even for a 500mm lens!
Fortunately, Sandy and Christina from Future Of Flight, Boeing’s public aviation center located at Paine Field, were gracious enough to offer to take photos as D-ABYK left Everett after being delivered to Lufthansa.
Here are the pictures that they emailed me earlier today showing D-ABYK departing Paine Field:
D-ABYK departing Paine Field on August 13
If all goes well, D-ABYK will enter service on September 2 when it begins flying between Frankfurt and Mexico City.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Aug 11, 2013 | Airlines |
75 years ago today (August 11), Lufthansa completed its first non-stop transatlantic flight when a Focke-Wulf FW200 Condor landed in front of thousands of onlookers at New York’s Floyd Bennett Field after departing Berlin’s Staaken airport the previous day.
The aircraft completed the the non-stop flight in 24 hours 36 minutes, setting a new record for a transatlantic crossing. It would break its own record on August 13 when it returned to Berlin in only 19 hours 55 minutes. The aircraft, D-ACON and nicknamed “Brandenburg”, was piloted by Captain Alfred Wenke and Captain von Moreau.
The Focke-Wolf pictured at Floyd Bennett Field (courtesy WWIIvehicles.com)
Keep in mind that this was the pre-war version of Lufthansa. During WWII, Lufthansa was liquidated by the government and assets were seized for service in the Luftwaffe. The second iteration of Lufthansa emerged shortly after the end of the war and became the Lufthansa we know today.
For the record setting flight from Berlin, the aircraft averaged an altitude of only 2000 meters (6500 feet) and average speed was approximately 255km/hr or 158 miles per hour. The low altitude was required since pressurized cabins had not yet been introduced and 6500 feet above ground level is known as the maximum height that most people can withstand without experiencing altitude sickness.
This feat confirmed the viability of long-haul airline operations and created the impetus for aircraft manufacturers to develop and deliver aircraft that could reach all corners of the globe in unprecedented fashion.
“Brandenburg” would go on to set yet another record when it completed an amazing non-stop flight from Berlin to TOKYO in 46 hours 18 minutes on November 28, 1938 piloted by the same crew. Unfortunately during the return flight the aircraft was lost when it performed an emergency landing in the Pacific near Manila, Philippines.
For you Lufthansa fans, you may recognize that the ‘Brandenburg’ name flies proudly today. It is the nickname that was bestowed upon Lufthansa’s first 747-8i, D-ABYA that entered service on June 1, 2012.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Aug 6, 2013 | Airlines |
The past several days have seen a fair amount of route updates from Star Alliance members. Avianca appeared to be most active as it announced a variety of service increases between San Salvador and various USA destinations. Even the normally ‘quiet’ Croatia had a few announcements regarding several of their routes. Otherwise the only other significant announcement was Lufthansa’s when they announced the cancellation of their Dusseldorf – Miami route beginning with the Winter timetable.
AEGEAN:
Athens-Moscow (DME) effective October 27 will increase from 2x/week to 3x/week.
Kalamata – Kiev effective September 26 is CANCELED.
AIR CANADA:
Halifax- Ft. Lauderdale effective December 14 will BEGIN 1x/week service (Saturdays).
AVIANCA:
San Salvador – Cali effective September 15 will increase from 5x/week to 1x/DAY.
San Salvador – Los Angeles effective November 15 will increase from 24x/week to 26x/week.
San Salvador – Mexico City effective November 15 will increase from 7x/week to 11x/week.
San Salvador – Mexico City effective December 1 will increase from 11x/week to 14x/week.
San Salvador – Miami effective November 15 will increase from 1x/day to 2x/day.
San Salvador – Washington DC (IAD) effective November 15 will increase from 17x/week to 21x/week.
CROATIA:
Pula – Zadar effective October 27 will be reduced from 1x/day to 6x/WEEK.
Zagreb – Brussels effective October 27 will increase from 7x/week to 10x/week.
Dubrovnik – Frankfurt effective October 27 is CANCELED.
Dubrovnik – Paris effective October 27 is CANCELED.
Zagreb – London (LGW) effective October 27 is CANCELED.
ETHIOPIAN:
Addis Ababa – Enugu effective August 24 will BEGIN 4x/week service.
EVA:
Taichung – Macau effective August 1 will be reduced from 1x/day to 6x/WEEK.
LUFTHANSA:
Dusseldorf – Miami effective with the Winter timetable is CANCELED.
SWISS:
Basel – Rome effective between December 13 and January 6 will be reduced from 1x/day to 4x/WEEK.
Basel – Barcelona effective for the Winter timetable will be reduced from 7x/week to 6x/week.
Basel – Prague effective for the Winter timetable will be reduced from 5x/week to 4x/week.
THAI:
Bangkok – Sapporo will increase to from 3x/week 1x/DAY on October 1 instead of October 27 as previously planned.
TURKISH:
Istanbul – Kano – N’Djamena effective December 12 will BEGIN 4x/week service.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Aug 4, 2013 | Airlines |
Since Lufthansa launched BLUE LEGENDS, I’ve had many USA based Blue Legend users email me voicing their disappointment that they could not participate actively when flying on non-Lufthansa operated flights in the USA. In order to “Check In” for a flight on Blue Legends, a Lufthansa flight number is required. This included codeshare flight numbers for flights operated by United and US Airways.
To that end, I’ve been able to assemble a complete list of codeshare flight numbers that Lufthansa uses for flights operated by United and US Airways. I’ve made these lists available as dedicated pages on my website.
For United Operated Flights: “BLUE LEGENDS: Lufthansa Codeshare Flight Numbers For United Flights”
For US Airways Operated Flights: “BLUE LEGENDS: Lufthansa Codeshare Flight Numbers For US Airway Flights”
If you are unfamiliar with Blue Legends, I encourage you to visit the app’s website or read my post on Blue Legends.
There are a few things to keep in mind with these lists:
Lufthansa does not have a codeshare flight number for every United or US Airways operated flight.
Lufthansa updates their codeshare flight numbers monthly and I’ll update my list to reflect the changes (I’ll let you know when I’ve updated the pages).
The list only contains the LH codeshare flight number, origin and destination and does not contain departure or arrival time information. You’ll need to cross reference your own itinerary and match it up to the appropriate LH code share flight number.
If you have any questions or need help with Blue Legends, feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment on this post.
