Return of the super jumbo: Lufthansa will station reactivated Airbus A380 jets in Munich

June 30, 2022

The destinations of the Lufthansa Airbus A380 from the 2023 summer flight schedule have not yet been determined, but the place of departure has. The double-decker jets were previously used to destinations including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Beijing and Shanghai.

Lufthansa wants to base its reactivated Airbus A380 wide-body jets in Munich. There are four to five machines for the 2023 summer flight schedule, said company boss Carsten Spohr on Wednesday at an internal event. The company confirmed the relevant information from the aerotelegraph.com portal. The routes have not yet been determined.

In comparison to the Frankfurt hub, the staffing situation among the pilots speaks in favor of the state capital. Because currently only 14 Lufthansa employees hold a valid license for the world’s largest production passenger aircraft, pilots of the smaller A350 with double license are also to be used in the future.

The A350 also takes off and lands in Munich, while mostly Boeing machines and their pilots are stationed in Frankfurt. Lufthansa maintains the maintenance infrastructure for the A380 in Frankfurt.

Possibly more than five Airbus A380

Lufthansa still owns eight of the 14 A380s it used to have, while six more had already been returned to the manufacturer Airbus for an undisclosed price before the Corona crisis. The company wants to reactivate the giant jets, each with 509 seats, that have since been shut down because demand for long-haul routes has increased sharply and Boeing has postponed the delivery of new aircraft. If there is a corresponding demand, further A380s could even be activated, Spohr announced.

In addition to the flight destinations, it also remains unclear whether the jets will receive new cabin equipment. Compared to other airlines with 2-2-2 seats on the upper deck, Business Class is no longer up-to-date.

Lufthansa actually wanted to introduce a new business class when the Boeing 777X went into service. But their approval is still delayed. The airline does not expect to take delivery of the first example of the new long-haul jet before 2025.