The FINANCIAL -- Number of flights and destinations in summer timetable 2010 virtually unchanged – Fleet renewal marginally increases seat capacities.

In the coming summer Flight Schedule s, Lufthansa is serving an almost unchanged number of destinations with virtually the same number of flights as in the previous year. Seating capacity will be slightly higher. On average, Lufthansa will be operating 12,853 flights weekly in the  summer schedules compared with 12,860 last time round. Despite a smaller fleet, available seating capacity is higher than the year-earlier level following successive fleet renewal and the replacement of older aircraft by larger types. This effect is evident in both the continental and InterContinental fleet. Capacity overall (available seat-kilometres) is up year-on-year by 3.6 per cent. Included in the calculation are the planned services with the Airbus A380 , which is to begin scheduled flights with Lufthansa from June this year. “More seats with roughly the same number of flights – we are achieving that and better productivity with larger, more modern aircraft. Simultaneously, we are moving a step nearer our goal of improving our results sustainably by one billion Euros by the end of 2011,“ said Lufthansa Executive Vice President Marketing and Sales Thierry Antinori. The summer timetable is valid from Sunday, 28 March, to  Saturday, 30 October 2010.

Lufthansa is serving 204 destinations in 81 countries in the summer timetable (prior year: 206 destinations in 78 countries). Six newcomers in the Flight Schedule s are Rostock-Laage, Bari, Palermo, Zadar, Chisinau and Tashkent. Services in Europe have been marginally reduced to 11,445 flights weekly to German and European destinations (previous year: 11,519 flights). In contrast, flights in the long-haul, InterContinental network have been increased to a weekly 1,408 flights (previous year: 1,341 flights weekly). 

“With more than 200 destinations this summer, including six newcomers, we are offering passengers an attractive timetable of outstanding quality in respect of flight connections,“ said Thierry Antinori.  “We have adapted Flight Schedule s to demand, notably on European routes. However, customers affected by the cuts can in most cases fall back on alternative connections, which we offer with partners.  We are also laying on more than a dozen new connections in Europe enabling our passengers to profit from more non-stop flights.“

Tashkent new long-haul destination

Lufthansa has included a new destination in a virtually unchanged timetable of flights in the long-haul network.  Starting on 28 March, the airline will be operating thrice-weekly flights with its PrivatAir partner ex Munich to Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. Furthermore, thrice-weekly flights with an Airbus A330 are to be resumed ex Munich to Miami in addition to the existing connections from Frankfurt and Dusseldorf.  Non-stop flights from Munich to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia will be increased from two to three weekly, alongside the daily flight from Frankfurt.  Lufthansa is also considering several new flight connections to Iraq (Baghdad, Erbil). More details on flight times and fares together with the start of bookings for the new  connections will be disclosed at a later date.

One of the highlights in the summer Flight Schedule s are Lufthansa ’s inaugural services with the Airbus A380. According to current planning, the world’s biggest passenger aircraft will commence scheduled flights in the airline’s InterContinental route network from June 2010. The first A380 destinations will be named at the beginning of April. Bookings can then commence for the first flights with the new Lufthansa flagship. 

15 new connections in Europe

Lufthansa has optimised its timetable in Germany and Europe with four new destinations and 15 additional connections.  Daily flights from the Munich hub to Chisinau, the capital of Moldowa in south-eastern Europe, will be available from 22 April. Also new in the timetable are Rostock/Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as Zadar/Croatia and Bari/Italy on the Adriatic. These destinations will be served non-stop from Munich – Bari with daily flights, Zadar with flights on Saturdays, Rostock with flights on Saturdays and Sundays.  

Some European destinations will  be served in summer with flights from further German Airport s in addition to the existing connections. Tallinn, capital of Estonia, for example, will be served for the first time non-stop from  Munich. The number of non-stop connections ex Dusseldorf has been raised by a further six: Athens/Greece, Edinburgh/Great Britain, Gdansk/Poland, Dubrovnik/Croatia, Lisbon/Portugal and Naples/Italy. In the summer timetable, passengers can fly non-stop from Stuttgart to Athens and Manchester/UK. Daily flights are also available  between Dresden and Milan/Malpensa in northern Italy. Naples, Italy’s third largest city, will be served daily from Frankfurt alongside connections from Dusseldorf, Munich and Milan.

Lufthansa Italia is expanding its route network out of Milan/-Malpensa with flights in summer to  Warsaw and Stockholm as well as the Italian destinations of Palermo (new in the timetable) and Olbia. All in all, the Milan-based carrier will then be offering 172 flights weekly to 13 destinations in Italy and Europe.

For economic reasons, Lufthansa has in recent months discontinued connections to  Balaton/Hungary, Berne/Switzerland (henceforth as code-share destination), Hof-Plauen (henceforth as code-share destination), Rønne/Denmark as well as the intra-Asian tag-flight from Seoul to Shenyang/China.

The Lufthansa Group airlines – Austrian Airlines, bmi, Brussels Airlines and SWISS – will also be commencing their summer Flight Schedule s on 28 March. Together with Lufthansa , all five airlines will be serving 274 destinations in 104 countries on four continents from their hubs at Brussels, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, London-Heathrow, Munich and Zurich with their own as well as numerous code-share flights. 

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