Richey66

DJN: *WSJ: Lufthansa To Launch A380 On Frankfurt-NYC Route - CEO

By Scott McCartney
Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones--The head of Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) said Friday
that the German carrier will inaugurate its Airbus A380 super jumbo on
service between Frankfurt and New York next year.
Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber said the German airline had evaluated 12
markets from its Frankfurt hub for the new aircraft -- including Tokyo,
Shanghai, Johannesburg and Los Angeles -- before opting for New York.
Lufthansa is the second European customer for the A380, following Air
France-KLM, which will start service with the aircraft from Paris to New
York later this month.
(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall
Street Journal Web site, WSJ.com.)
The launches come as A380 customers, including Lufthansa and British Airways
PLC (BAIRY, BAY.LN), examine ways to defer some deliveries of the A380 and
other aircraft because of the global downturn in passenger and freight
traffic.
Emirates Airline, the Dubai-based launch customer for the A380, dropped the
large-capacity aircraft from its Dubai-New York service earlier this year
because of weak traffic, particularly high-yielding business passengers.
Mayrhuber, speaking to a group of frequent fliers from the online community
FlyerTalk.com, said Lufthansa will take delivery of its first A380 next
spring and have the double-deck aircraft in service beginning with its
summer schedule.
Mayrhuber said the A380, which carries about 500 passengers when outfitted
with three classes of service, will replace one 330-passenger Boeing 747
trip between New York´s Kennedy International Airport and Frankfurt.
Passenger feed from JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU), in which Lufthansa now
owns a 20% stake, may help Lufthansa grow in New York, "but this was not the
reason" to start the A380 in the New York market, he said.

JiangsuLu2002

So which flights will the A380 be used on, LH400/401 or LH404/405?

I'm curious because I currently have F award seats on LH405 in July.

divjan

there were some posts earlier were people said that 400/401 might the first candidate since that route was the first one to see the new business class, i do have some flights booked for summer also on 404/405 so i wouldnt mind to see a380 on those flights

supermasterphil

Wow, Flyertalkers met the Wolf

Rambuster

Antinori also confirmed that New F will have 8 seats.

cricketrun

Yes, it would be useful to know if it will be 401 or 405 as I al booking F awards as well for late May...

SleepOverGreenland

Any word about the rollout plan for existing fleet?

Rambuster

747 fleet will be refitted progressively (whatever that means?) too but not with the A380 F seat.

TT-Jones

The thread title is awfully wrong.

supermasterphil

True. It made me assume that the FRA-CDG route would be the trial route for testing the A380 until it will be put on a permanent route (JFK). Basically instead of sending it between MUC and FRA (rumor)

D-AIPD

And that would have made it TWO of its kind at Roissy T1 Amazing for a terminal which sees way toooo much LH Régional.

NewbieRunner

He also said 744 would have PTV in Economy if he could persuade others in the company. (Sorry, wrong thead but I can't find the correct one easily.)

I was there and also found the title confusing.

gleff

Time to speculatively book a bunch of F awards towards the end of the schedule JFK-FRA...

DownUnderFlyer

This would be bad new for awards.

NA-Flyer

Not surprising news. Everyone was expecting JFK to be the first LH destination to recieve the A380.

What is important now is to know which date the service will start and what flight number ?