Lufthansa will concentrate more Airbus A380s at its Munich hub in 2020.
Lufthansa currently has 14 A380s in its fleet, with nine operating from Frankfurt (FRA) and five from Munich (MUC). Next year, Lufthansa will even the split to seven per hub, as it seeks to increase connecting traffic through its southern hub.
Per Flight Global, Boston will receive A380 service from Munich and San Francisco will become year-around A380 service.
This summer, Lufthansa is flying the A380 from Munich to:
- Los Angeles
- Beijing
- Hong Kong
This November, Lufthansa will transition to the following A380 Munich destinations:
- Miami
- San Francisco
- Hong Kong
- Shanghai
The date for Boston’s new A380 service has not been announced.
As recently as 2017, all 14 of Lufthansa’s A380s were based in Frankfurt. But ongoing bickering with Frankfurt over noise pollution, capacity constraints, and fees pushed growth to Munich, where Lufthansa is even a part-owner of Franz Josef Strauss International Airport.
Recall that as part of its latest A350-900 order, Lufthansa secured the right to return six of its 14 A380s to Airbus. This will occur between 2022 and 2023.
> Read More: Lufthansa Snubs The A380
Left with just eight A380s in the fleet, there’s a chance that all A380s will be based in Munich. While Lufthansa’s A350 fleet is also based in Munich, the incoming 777s will be based in Frankfurt. But with the 777X set to replace the 747-400s and A340s, it seems unlikely that the A380s would just dissapear from Frankfurt.
CONCLUSION
Lufthansa is still struggling with the greater issue of what to do with its A380s. A fleet of eight aircraft becomes less economical to operate than 14. There’s a chance that Lufthansa may accelerate the retirement of its remaining A380s, as both Air France and Qatar Airways have announced. But for now, look for more A380 service in Munich.
image: Lufthansa
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