Lufthansa’s 747-8i in the new livery rolling out of a hangar (Photo: LufthansaNews on Twitter)
As countries throughout the world start easing travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines have seen an increase in demand for bookings as the year continues. The Lufthansa Group announced that it has published its flight schedules for subsidiary airlines through Oct. 24, the end of the normal summer travel period.
Not only does the release of the latest schedule mean that passengers can now book farther out in advance. The new schedule also reintroduces many suspended routes back into Lufthansa’s route network. The group’s airlines will offer 40% more flying in July than in the previously released schedule.
In a press release, Harry Hohmeister, member of the executive board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said, “Little by little, the borders open again. Demand is increasing, in the short term, but also the long term. We are therefore consistently expanding our flight schedule and our global network and pushing ahead with our restart. I am pleased that we can now offer our guests even more connections to all parts of the world with all Lufthansa Group Airlines via all hubs.”
The Lufthansa Group will be serving 90% of their normal short and medium-haul destinations and about 70% of their normal long-haul destinations by the end of October. This is a vast increase not only when compared to previous months, but also when compared to other airlines across Europe.
Not only will the airline be serving more destinations with the release of the new schedule, but the increased flying will also mean the reactivation of some aircraft that are currently parked in various locations around the continent. In June, the airline only had approximately 180 aircraft flying, but by October they expect this number to increase by 200, to around 380 total. If the Lufthansa Group can have that many aircraft flying by then, it will mean that almost half of the company’s aircraft will have returned to the air.
Lufthansa specifically will be operating 150 frequencies per week to North and South America, 90 per week to Asia and 85 to Africa and the Middle East. Long-haul flights restarting from Frankfurt by October include the likes of New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, Las Vegas, Seattle, San Francisco and many other destinations in the U.S. Flights to Singapore and other popular leisure destinations will also be resumed. The airline’s Munich hub will also see an increase in long-haul flying with flights resuming to places such as Charlotte, North Carolina and Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.
On the short- and medium-haul side of the schedule, Lufthansa will operate approximately 2100 weekly frequencies and will also resume service to many destinations that have been suspended since the outbreak of the pandemic. This includes places like Seville, Spain and Basel, Switzerland from Frankfurt. Munich sees a significant increase in flights to Mediterranian destinations such as Corfu, Greece; Olbia, Italy; Malaga, Spain and Rhodes, Greece.
Lufthansa is not the only carrier in the group that sees increased flying with the new schedule release. Swiss International Air Lines will start 12 new European routes in July from Zurich and restart flights to 24 new destinations from Geneva. The airline will also serve 11 long-haul destinations from Zurich in July with the number increasing to 17 in October.
Brussels Airlines will serve 45% of its normal schedule in the early autumn while Austrian Airlines will operate to over 50 destinations starting in July.
As with all airline schedules, these flights could be subject to change and the restart of some destinations may be subject to government regulations in their respective countries. The airline group also mentioned that flight increases could happen on a week to week basis, should there be extraordinary demand for certain locations.
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