Lufthansa’s JU-52 Celebrates 77th Birthday With Busy Touring Season

by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 27, 2013 | Airlines | 0 comments

Lufthansa announced today the 2013 tour schedule for the beloved Junker Ju52 “Templehof”  that will celebrate her 77th year with the fleet.   This special aircraft has been maintained by Lufthansa Technik and serves as an ambassador for the airline at unique events throughout Europe.   What is so special about this is that anyone can book a ticket for a short flight to relive the nostalgia of this iconic aircraft.   Last year 7500 people were fortunate enough to have experienced this.

The aircraft, D-AQUI, was constructed and delivered in 1936 to Lufthansa (pre-war company that is different than today’s LH) and over the 77 years had served in Norway, the jungles of Ecuador and also in North America.  She was reunited with Lufthansa in the early 1980s when the airline decided to save and restore the aircraft.   With the efforts of volunteers from Lufthansa’s Technik, the Ju52 ‘re-debuted’ in 1986 and has been a favorite of aviation enthusiasts.

The aircraft continues to be serviced and maintained by Lufthansa, and is actually flown by a group 25 Lufthansa pilots who take time away from their modern aircraft and cockpits to help keep the tradition going.  Additionally 15 engineers and 23 flight attendants round out the Ju52 crew that rotate throughout the year.

Due to increasing popularity, Lufthansa has scheduled more appearances for her this year than in past years.

This year, she will make her first appearance May 9 to May 12 to help help celebrate Hamburg’s 824th Harbour Birthday.   From there she’ll will be busy until the end of October:

MAY:  Hamburg – Bremen – Hannover – Paderborn – Dortmund – Münster-Osnabrück – Essen-Mülheim – Kön/Bonn – Egelsbach – Leipzig – Schönhagen bei Berlin – Dresden – Bayreuth – Nürnberg.

JUNE:   Giebelstadt (Hessen) – Egelsbach – Speyer – Mainz – Siegerland – Hamburg – Düsseldorf (Aviation Day June 9) – Köln – Dortmund – Hannover – Lübeck – Heringsdorf – Neubrandenburg – Schönhagen bei Berlin – Braunschweig – Bremen – Kiel (Kiel Week June 29-30).

JULY:  Bremen – Hildesheim – Leipzig – Dessau – Dresden – Mainz – Speyer – Karlsruhe – Mainz – Egelsbach – Siegerland – Essen-Mülheim – Dortmund.

AUGUST: Hamburg – Braunschweig – Leipzig – Dresden – Egelsbach – Bayreuth – Nürnberg – Tannheim (August 23-25 Ground Visit Only) – Memmingen – Friedrichshafen – München-Oberschleißheim (Flight to Salzburg and return) – Ingolstadt.

SEPTEMBER:  Straubing – Stuttgart – Hahnweide (September 6 Ground Visit Only) – Egelsbach – Karlsruhe – Speyer – Köln – Mainz – Saarbrücken – Speyer – München.

OCTOBER:  Nürnberg – Dresden – Schönhagen bei Berlin – Leipzig – Hannover – Paderborn – Dortmund – Münster-Osnabrück – Bremen – Hamburg.

In addition to her Germany schedule, the Ju52 will also make cameo appearances at the Duxford Airshow (UK) in July , Sweden in August and  the ‘Goodwood Revival” Classic Car Show in Sussex (UK) in September.

If you happen to be in any of these cities when the Ju52 is in town, you can arrange to experience a 30 or 60 minute flight.   For 30 minutes, the fare is €199 and for 60 minutes it’s €372.   Booking is easy and can be done at  www.lufthansa-ju52.de or by calling 040-5070-1717.

A flight on the Ju52 is definitely on my “Aviation Bucketlist” and I hope to check it off the list later this year!

Lufthansa Considering Dedicated Airline For Asian/Mid Eastern Destinations

by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 26, 2013 | Airlines | 6 comments

Interesting comments coming from Lufthansa today during a briefing in New York.

Lufthansa’s CFO Simone Menne suggested that ‘LH’ is investigating alternatives to help it be more competitive against rival carriers from Asia and the Middle East.     As part of this strategic review, it was mentioned that Lufthansa would consider created a dedicated Low Cost Carrier (LCC) that would specialize in long haul routes.

For those of you not familiar with the concept of an “LCC”, it is basically an airline that operates with a minimum of amenities in an attempt to deliver the lowest possible fares.   Lufthansa’s ‘germanwings’ is an example of an LCC, and in the case of germanwings, it operates primarily within Europe.  Most LCC’s that offer long haul services are usually single cabin aircraft offering only economy class fares.  In addition, LCC’s tend to be ‘a-la-carte’ airlines that charge fees for additional passenger services and perks.

As part of her comments, Ms. Menne suggested that “The threat from Gulf carriers, for us, is Southeast Asia and it’s India” and “That is a concern for investors, and the answer is we look at all strategic options.  That can be partnerships, it can be joint ventures, it can be our own platform or it can be a retreat from this market.”

Lufthansa has concerns about it’s Asia presence because it is a market place that is growing twice as fast as Europe as far as passenger traffic is concerned and creates more opportunities for airlines as a result.  It’s a growth opportunity that LH needs to take advantage of AND its certainly not going to retreat from this lucrative market!

When I read these comments today, I was surprised that LH would consider such a risky proposition.   To create another airline requires capital and ‘human’ intensive investments that normally do not yield positive results initially.    With the airline business being an extremely cyclical and economically sensitive industry it seems that the risks would far outweigh the rewards especially in a low margin environment such as a low cost carrier.

In my opinion,  Lufthansa’s concerns are valid.  They should be concerned that their competitors (especially Emirates, Etihad and other non Star Alliance member airlines) have a bullseye on Lufthansa’s back and are looking to take market share away from what used to be ‘competitor free’ routes between Europe  and the Middle East or Asia.

What I think should happen here (emphasis on THINK), and a decision that I hope that ‘LH’ reaches, is to partner up with an airline with an existing presence in the Middle East and Asia.   At first glance, an ideal candidate could and should be Turkish Airlines.   A combination such as this could provide immediate impact with minimal investments.  Turkish already has an impressive route network throughout the Middle East and has substantial presence in major Asian destinations.    With Turkish’s hub being in Istanbul and talk of a new and bigger airport for the city, this would let Lufthansa move into the Mid Eastern ‘neighborhood’ efficiently and quickly.    The benefit to Turkish would be the access it would gain to Lufthansa’s route network to North and South American where Turkish currently has minimal exposure.

As a fan of the airline, I know and trust them enough to make the right decisions, the may not always be the perfect solutions, but perfection is usually unattainable regardless of the endeavor.

What would you do?  If you could play Airline CEO/CFO for a day, how would you solve this?