The only reason why Lufthansa bought 40 Airbus A350s and Boeing 787s last month was because it can no longer grow in Frankfurt.
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr is in the USA this week. Yesterday, he told Flight Global in Washington, DC:
The order – 20 787s and 20 Airbus A350s – wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t had those problems with Frankfurt…
Frankfurt, we believe, has reached its limit of growth.
“Those problems with Frankfurt” refer to relatively higher costs but primarily neighboring residents who strongly oppose any expansion at FRA. These residents fought bitterly against Frankfurt’s runway expansion product about a decade ago. As part of a grand compromise, noise curfews in effect at Frankfurt prohibit around-the-clock service. This limits both passenger and cargo operations.
Delivery of the additional 20 A350s and 20 787s will begin in 2022. These aircraft will be based in Munich (operated by Lufthansa), Zurich (operated by SWISS) and Vienna (operated by Austrian).
Expect the A350s out of Munich, as Lufthansa already operated a fleet of 13 from its southern base, with 12 more on order (not including the new order).
A380s Will Be Based In Frankfurt
Spohr highlighted that the A380 is no longer a leader in terms of fuel efficiency and environmental impact.
When we ordered the A380 and took delivery of it, it was the most efficient aircraft in the world. Now, with the new aircraft coming into service – the A350, 787 and especially the 777-9X – there is just more efficient aircraft in economic terms, and also in environmental terms.
Nevertheless, the A380 is not going anywhere soon. Lufthansa will retire six of 14, but the remaining eight will be based in Frankfurt.
> Read More: Lufthansa Snubs The A380
CONCLUSION
As I still consider Frankfurt a “home” airport for me, I’m sorry to hear that Lufthansa is unlikely to grow much from its main hub. But I’m happy that we will see a concentration of first class in FRA with both A380s and 747-8s. Neither the A350 nor 787 will feature a first class cabin.
> Read More: The Future Of First Class On Lufthansa
image: Lufthansa
Not sure I understand the logic here. If growth in Frankfurt would be profitable, but the number of flights is constrained by local issues, then surely if that constraint was removed they would be have ordered the same planes anyway but ran them out of Frankfurt rather than the other hubs?
The logic of this position does seem flawed.
The LH group hubs at MUC, ZRH and VIE are all preferable places to FRA if you need to connect and FRA is on my no fly list, even CDG is much better.
As for introducing the 777-9X I wish them well and hope it’s third time lucky after the 788 and the 7M8. I won’t be trying it until it’s well and truly established and somehow I doubt it’s going to beat the A350 for experience anyway.
Why don’t they look to expand in Berlin and finally open the 30 year mess of a project that is BER? Maybe if Lufthansa gets involved we will actually have a chance see it open! FRA is a nightmare to connect through and I rarely get a decent deal on a non-stop to and out of TXL on other airlines. Always stuck flying into Frankfurt.
I wish they would. I think BER will finally open one of these days/months/years/decades…
Why all the negativity?
I have transferred at FRA dozens of times and also consider it home away from Home while travelling thanks to the easily reached Hotels under one roof. FRA works better for #Alliance, of course.d
Once you know the airport (and they stop moving things around) it is likeable. I have negative feelings towards ZRH and MUC based on the oft needed underground train between terminals, involving multiple escalators or elevators up and down. Most terminal 1 transfers at FRA are at one level.
I can also state that security at FRA has never been a problem while at ZRH they seemed a bit too brusque and rude.
I also can attest to racism in ZRH being alive, well and tolerated. We arrived at ZRH during a driving rain and felt better taking a taxi to our hotel rather than train to the main station and walking from there. The first two taxis refused to accomodate us based on racism. The fact that they feel they can do this with impunity in front of video monitoring is the biggest takeaway.
Because quite honestly FRA sucks compared to either MUC or ZRH.
As for your negatice feelings towards ZRH, I can absolutely not second those. Never had an issue in ZRH.
I‘m not exactly sure what you mean with the aleged racism, but if I had to guess it was just bad luck and maybe a missubderstanding.
@Nick Art
Whether FRA sucks when compared to MUC or ZRH is subject to your opinion. My personal opinion is to rank FRA above those alternatives. Obviously there are multiple factors that change and can cause travelers to have differing experiences. Factors that can alter experiences might include transfer vs final destination, need to transfer to a nearby gate vs transfer to a further gate, and really negative, transfer at FRA from a Z gate to Terminal 2.
I have traversed ZRH for decades, with memories of seeing my beloved SR aircraft engines wrapped in plastic during their bankruptcy shutdown. I am fairly experienced, I have often seen frustrated occasional tourists blaming other for their problem. I am quite familiar with Swiss culture and behavior and I am proficient in German, Swiss German and of course, Italian. My incident was not a misunderstanding.
Frankly I can not judge about a situation I haven’t experienced myself and don‘t know enough about. I don’t doubt your experience, but what I know, however, is that my and the majoritys opinion (while not necessarily objectively correct just because of that) is that ZRH and MUC are far nicer airports than FRA on all levels, which brings me to the question of why your opinion defers. You mentioned a bad experience you once had at ZRH specifically. I hope you don‘t simply make up your mind from that one experience. Let me offer my arguments on why I think differently: My arguments would be that security is a lot better in ZRH than FRA. The layout is a lot more convenient. (Fra is an illogical mess imo, especially when transferring and arriving at a bus gate). In ZRH I can reach the other end of the airport in 10-15 min including security control and or passport control usually. Passport Control is faster. ZRH is a lot cleaner and imo appeals more to the eye design wise. The lounges are better in ZRH than FRA (Specifically SEN lounge, while comparing FCT with the FCL is a close call). Check-In in ZRH is a lot nicer, better (layout wise) and faster. the location of ZRH and reaching it with public transport is easier.
Those are just the arguments that sprang to my mind in the past few minutes. I agree that it is still a subjective matter, but I‘m still surprised your view differentiates so much.
The remaining A380 will not go to FRA, but will all be stationed in MUC.
(as per https://www.vielfliegertreff.de/attachments/lufthansa/124055d1552557035-a340-nachfolge-lufthansa-vergleicht-airbus-a350-und-boeing-787-img_20190314_104953.jpg The remaining six A380 in FRA will be given back to Airbus.)
Furthermore it is not clear where the new A350s and B787s are going. But the options also include Brussel Airlines and Eurowings.
My hopes for Swiss are that we‘ll get the A350.
@Nick Art your link requires login, here I reupload the source on another website https://i.imgur.com/i3Uriyb.jpg
Thanks!