Lufthansa Airlines Expand Non-stop Flight to Tokyo

Lufthansa continues to expand successfully and will soon also start offering long-haul flights to Asia from Dusseldorf. As of summer 2012, Lufthansa will be offering its passengers the first non-stop flight from North Rhine-Westphalia to the Japanese capital of Tokyo. The new route will be launched on 1 June 2012 and shall be offered six times per week with an Airbus A 340-300. The launch represents the next step as the airline continues to consistently expand the offer at its Dusseldorf hub.

“Following the introduction of intercontinental routes to the major North American cities of New York, Chicago, Miami and Toronto, we are now expanding our offer towards Asia with a direct flight to Tokyo,” commented Oliver Wagner, Senior Vice President Direct Services at Deutsche Lufthansa. “As one of the most important economic nations, Japan is of major significance to Lufthansa and at the same time, Dusseldorf’s central location in Europe’s most important conurbation makes its “Japan’s capital on the Rhine”. In addition, the integration of Tokyo will help to develop and strengthen our route network at Lufthansa’s Dusseldorf hub and will offer passengers attractive connecting flights to over 50 direct destinations in Germany and Europe.”

“A direct connection between Dusseldorf and Tokyo is the culmination of the many years of hard work that we have invested in consolidating and expanding Dusseldorf as a hub of Japanese trade and industry. It has been a long-standing wish of the Japanese community and the city itself to have a direct flight to Japan. The economic power of our region, our business relations with Japan and the many Japanese companies here, make such a connection more than worthwhile. Lufthansa has now brought Dusseldorf and Japan even closer together,” commented Dirk Elbers, Lord Mayor of Dusseldorf, the State capital of North-Rhine Westphalia.

“The new Tokyo route again shows what an important role Dusseldorf Airport plays in making North-Rhine Westphalia internationally accessible,” said Christoph Blume, Spokesperson of the Airport Management. Blume went on to add: “We are very pleased to be able to offer yet another attractive long-haul route from the Dusseldorf hub in cooperation with our partner Lufthansa. The launch of this route represents a further milestone within the framework of our strategy to establish interesting intercontinental offers, and one from which the economy and tourism shall also greatly benefit.” Dusseldorf Airport is already offering about 90 weekly departures for long-haul routes this winter.

The new connection between Dusseldorf and Tokyo will see Lufthansa open yet another chapter of its 50-year partnership with the Asian country. The first scheduled Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Tokyo already took off in 1961. From 1968 until the 1980s, with a few interruptions, Lufthansa flew from Dusseldorf to Tokyo with a technical stop in Anchorage/USA. Together with SWISS and Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa now offers 80 connections per week between Japan and Europe, making Lufthansa one of the leading European airlines in Japan.

The Dusseldorf region is the number one Japanese hub in Germany — with over 500 Japanese companies located in the region. A quarter of all Japanese citizens in living in Germany live in the North Rhine-Westphalian capital, making it the third largest Japanese community in Europe, behind London and Paris. In May 2011, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and its capital Dusseldorf celebrated the 150-year anniversary of their trade relations with Japan. The highlight of the ‘Japanese Year’ will be the 10th edition of the ‘Japan Day’ in Dusseldorf on 15 October 2011. The ‘Japan Day’ is a German-Japanese cultural festival of encounter and one of the most popular events in North Rhine-Westphalia’s capital.

The return flight from Dusseldorf to Tokyo and back will be available from 849 euros. The price applies for Economy Class tickets booked online at www.lufthansa.com and includes all taxes, fees and the Lufthansa Ticket Service Charge. Miles & More passengers can collect up to 37.600 miles on these flights — depending on booking class and status. Information on the new direct connection and bookings are available online, through the Lufthansa Call Center at 01805 805 805 (EUR0.14 per minute), at Lufthansa travel agency partners and at the Lufthansa ticket desks in the airports.

Lufthansa Airlines Increases Flight Capacity on Frankfurt-Abu Dhabi Route

Lufthansa German Airlines said that starting by the end of October, the carrier would increase flight capacity on the Frankfurt-Abu Dhabi route, reported Gulf News.

The carrier added that the service would be operated with an Airbus A330-300 plane with non-stop flights to Frankfurt, which would depart from Abu Dhabi daily at 1:15am local time.

It also said that in October, the airline increased its flights to the emirate from 6 weekly flights to daily flights.

It is worth noting that through the new service, the carrier’s flights to Abu Dhabi will no longer resume onwards to Muscat, giving full capacity of the plane to Abu Dhabi-Frankfurt travelers.

Lufthansa Announce New Cheap Flights to Frankfurt from Aberdeen Airport

German flag carrier Lufthansa has recently announced plans for new cheap flights to Frankfurt from Aberdeen Airport this autumn.

Starting on 30 October, Lufthansa will begin flying three times a day between Aberdeen and Frankfurt. This is part of the airline’s plans to expand the number of services that it offers to the UK and the number of cheap flights to Germany’s cities from British airports.

The new Aberdeen-Frankfurt route will link the major oil port on Scotland’s east coast with the Frankfurt transport hub – and thus to the rest of the extensive global Lufthansa network, the carrier pointed out. The service will be operated by its regional subsidiary Lufthansa CityLine, which will utilise up-to-date Embraer 190 aircraft, which have the capacity to seat 100 passengers in business and economy-class cabins.

Lufthansa said it was particularly pleased to be opening up a route to Aberdeen, due to its status as a centre of the international oil industry, close as it is to the offshore North Sea oil fields.

“With this new connection to the Scottish port and ‘Europe’s oil capital’, we are incorporating a new Oil & Energy destination in the array of cities we serve, which are highly important in the energy industry,” said Lufthansa German Airlines Board Member Kay Kratky. “The Scottish city is also an attractive destination for leisure travellers and Scotland fans. With Aberdeen, we are additionally expanding our services between Germany and Great Britain.”

After 30 October, Lufthansa will operate some 434 cheap flights a week, serving Heathrow, London City, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh airports.

Lufthansa to Increase Flight Services Between Mumbai – Munich Route

Lufthansa, with the start of the next summer schedule, will be offering daily flights on its Mumbai – Munich route, up from five weekly flights now. As a result of the flight increase between Mumbai and Munich, the Lufthansa Group, including SWISS and Austrian, will be operating 77 weekly frequencies from seven Indian destinations to Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich and Vienna in the next summer schedule.

Lufthansa’s Mumbai-Munich route is currently served by an Airbus 330-300 with eight First Class, 48 Business Class and 159 Economy Class seats. The flight departs at 01: 50 hours and arrives in Munich at 05: 50 hours, giving travellers a wide option of convenient onward connections to Europe and the US.

Axel Hilgers, Director, South Asia, Lufthansa said, “This increase further strengthens our position as Europe’s leading connectivity provider to and from India. By bringing in more business travellers, investors and tourists, the frequency addition will support India’s economic growth. Indian customer will get the choice of daily flights to Lufthansa’s world class hubs at Munich and Frankfurt, both offering outstanding global connectivity.”

As per the company release, with its latest flight increase, Lufthansa responds to an encouraging demand pick up in the strategic market that is India. The two additional flights to Munich follow the recent addition of Mumbai as a new destination for Group affiliate Austrian Airlines, which introduced five weekly frequencies to Vienna in November this year. Together with SWISS’ daily service to Zurich, three Lufthansa Group airlines now serve India’s commercial capital Mumbai with an unparalleled choice of connectivity via four world class hubs.

Routes Europe Show for Airlines and Airports Next Week

The fifth annual Routes Europe event for airlines and airports is taking place next week.

This year’s event in Toulouse on May 9–11 has had a record number of airlines signing up.

Routes managing director Nigel Mayes said: “The number of airlines interested in this year’s Routes Europe is far higher than in previous years.

“We are expecting nearly 80 airlines to be present, with over 150 airline delegates.

“The airlines range from start-up carriers such as AIS and Eurojet Air to network carriers like Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines, low-cost carriers such Wizz Air and easyJet, as well as charter carriers such as Thomas Cook and TUI.
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European Airline Industry Threatened Pilots Strike Union Before Tourist Season

European aviation industry threatened by chaos as more strikes planned before tourist season

Lufthansa and TAP Air Portugal moved closer Tuesday to facing strike action by their pilots’ unions, as British Airways braced for the second work stoppage in just over a week by thousands of its cabin crew.

If the wave of airline strikes spreads or continues into the summer, it could undermine the upcoming tourist season that nations in southern Europe — which have been hit the hardest by the financial crisis — are counting on to boost their recovery.

Portuguese Economy Minister Jose Vieira da Silva warned that a strike by TAP Air Portugal pilots would hurt the tourist industry badly.
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Luthansa Airline Pilots Plan Strike Action

Pilots at Europe’s biggest airline, Lufthansa, will stage a new four-day strike from 13 April, following the breakdown of talks with management.

Pilot union, Vereinigung Cockpit, says it cannot accept a proposed pay freeze unless bosses stick to what it says was an “agreed deal” on job security.

A similar strike in late February was called off after one day after both sides agreed to new negotiations.

That strike was set to cost the airline around $25m a day.

The Cockpit union said Lufthansa was offering a 21-month pay freeze combined with worsening conditions.

It said in a statement: “We can only agree to a pay freeze or even reducing salaries if Lufthansa sticks to an already-agreed deal on safeguarding jobs.”
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Air France-KLM Agreed to Pay $432 million for Alitalia

Air France-KLM Group, Europe’s biggest airline, agreed to pay 323 million euros ($432 million) for 25 percent of Alitalia SpA, beating Deutsche Lufthansa AG for a stake in the reorganized Italian carrier.
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