Lufthansa to operate 13,304 flights per week in summer 2011 schedule

From Sunday, 27 March through Saturday, 29 October 2011, Lufthansa will operate 13,304 flights per week, on average an increase of 3.5% over 2010, offering flights to 211 Lufthansa destinations in 84 countries, up from 204 destinations in 81 countries last year.

 “In terms of destinations and routes, we have never offered our passengers such a wide choice of flights,” said Thierry Antinori, Chief Marketing Officer on the Lufthansa German Airlines Board. “We are expanding in all our traffic areas, not just on longhaul routes, but in Europe, too.”

This summer, passengers will be able to fly with the A380, the most modern aircraft in the Lufthansa fleet, to five destinations: Johannesburg, New York (J. F. Kennedy), Beijing and San Francisco (from 10 May) and Tokyo (Narita). A sixth destination, which has yet to be announced, will be included in the A380 schedule by the middle of the year.

 “Despite a significant increase in available capacity, on many flights we will be able to achieve our former seat occupancy levels,” said Antinori. “That means we will be able to welcome more passengers aboard our aircraft. The A380 is very popular and, from a commercial point of view, we are also very happy with current booking levels.”

The 2011 summer timetable includes four new summer destinations/holiday resorts: Antalya, Ibiza (from Munich), Palermo (from Frankfurt and Munich) and Trondheim (from Frankfurt). Lufthansa is also expanding its offering for leisure travellers by adding eleven new flights to existing, attractive holiday destinations. This summer, non-stop flights will also be offered from Frankfurt to Westerland/Sylt, Rostock, Bastia/Corsica, Olbia/Sardinia, Genoa/Liguria and Split/Dalmatia. In the summer months, popular holiday destinations such as Bastia/Corsica, Bergen/Norway, Dubrovnik/Croatia, Inverness/Scotland, Jersey/Channel Islands, Keflavik/Iceland, Naples/Italy, Newquay/Cornwall and Olbia/Sardinia are only a few hours away by air from Düsseldorf or Hamburg.

Lufthansa to order 30 Airbus and 5 Boeings

The Lufthansa Supervisory Board has approved orders for 35 new aircraft.

Thirty of the aircraft are from the Airbus A320neo family and the other five for Boeing 777 freighters. Besides greater fuel efficiency, all the models on order will help lower operating costs as well as noise levels and emissions.

The total orders will include twenty five A320neo and five A321neo aircraft destined for continental European traffic. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2016. The aircraft come with improved aerodynamics and new engines. They burn around 15% less fuel than today’s comparable models. Moreover, their noise emissions lie cumulatively between 10 to 15 dB below current noise limits and further improve noise reduction compared with the present fleet.

The business segment Logistics will receive five new Boeing 777 freighters, which are slated to join the fleet from 2013.