Special Report: Lufthansa flies ahead with fleet investment programme
LUFTHANSA is increasing and improving its fleet as it looks to attract more business passengers. Ian Briggs visited Frankfurt to find out more.
I’M standing in a hangar that could almost fit two full-sized football pitches within its walls. At one end stands a Boeing 747 cargo plane; a large aircraft but in this space it looks incredibly miniature.
The facility, within the boundaries of Frankfurt Airport, is one of the biggest of its type in Europe and at 27.5m high, 160m long and 140m wide, can accommodate two of the giant Airbus A380 aeroplanes at any one time. Yet it is only half finished (the second phase has been delayed by the global economic downturn) and when completed will become the largest hangar in the world.
The A380, 239 ft long with a wingspan of 261 ft, is the flagship aeroplane for airline Lufthansa, which recently introduced its seventh craft into operation.
According to Thomas Spriesterbach, head of A380 maintenance at Lufthansa Technik, the A380 is one of the most expensive but most efficient forms of transport for passengers, burning around 15% less fuel than other comparable models.
Their size means each £270m aircraft can transport up to 420 economy class passengers, 98 in business class and eight in first class at any one time.
And for Lufthansa investment and improvement is the key to success.
Lufthansa recently approved orders for 15 A380s with deliveries set to be completed by 2015. The orders will continue Lufthansa’s drive to become the largest A380 operator in Europe. It has also ordered 20 Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental craft and has also taken out options on a further 20 of the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental type.
The first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental will be joining the fleet in early 2012.
“The orders are yet further steps in Lufthansa’s ongoing fleet modernisation and expansion policy,” Lufthansa, which flies out of Birmingham and Manchester has said.
With Lufthansa’s range of short-haul and long-haul flights ever increasing, and prices to Germany from the UK starting at £89 (these rise dramatically for business and first class passengers (first class returns on the A380 are priced at £8,000)), the airline, which took over UK carrier BMI in 2008, believes it is in a strong position for growth.
And it is at Frankfurt, one of Lufthansa’s major hubs which saw 31.6m Lufthansa passengers depart and arrive from there in 2010, where much of its work to spearhead further growth takes place.
In a non-descript warehouse compound within the Frankfurt complex, Hans-Joerg Baumgarten, manager product management in-flight intercontinental, shows our party one of Lufthansa’s best kept secrets.
Through a doorway lie a number of mock aircraft cabins in which the technical team test out different configurations for flight facilities for economy, business and first class customers.
Much of the development is carried out following customer feedback, including how the bathroom should look in the £8,000 return first class facilities on an A380.
“This gives the customers chance to talk about what they think and feel,” says Baumgarten. “We can concentrate on real customer dreams.”
Lufthansa is presently carrying out a programme of “retrofitting” its fleet, including the introduction of new seating based on its work at the centre. Although only 3% of the fleet has been retrofitted at present, by the end of the year the project will have been completed for short-haul aircraft and the task will be completed on the entire fleet by 2015.
For first class passengers, 10 Boeing 747-400s will be completely revamped from April to November this year and Lufthansa is to ensure that there are only eight first class seats in each craft, a step already made in its A380 fleet.
Work begun in the Frankfurt complex will also see window seats converted into full-length, lie-flat beds in addition to a traditional seat on the Boeing aircraft.
The business and economy class cabins on the Boeing 747-400 are also being refurbished.
Baumgarten is also keen to point out the reintroduction of FlyNet, Lufthansa’s on-board broadband internet service, and points to plans for the launch of the ability to use smart phones on flights as a sign that the airline is continually innovating.
And for its customers, Lufthansa believes that can only be a good thing.
Taking to the skies: flight training the Lufthansa way
NOT surprisingly, I’ve never been in a cockpit to experience a plane landing at New York’s JFK airport.
But that was the opportunity given during a trip to Lufthansa’s multi-million pound simulator flight training centre in Frankfurt.
Aboard the 15-tonne Airbus A380 cockpit simulator, trainee pilots can experience realistic flight conditions on screen, including fog and rain and are able to practice landing at some of the world’s biggest airports.
It is equipped with original aircraft systems, high-resolution projectors and a hybrid aircraft system, which allows pilots to experience conditions such as turbulence.
I left the flying to a colleague from another publication (ably assisted by a qualified instructor) who made a decent job of landing our plane at JFK.
But I think he has a fair way to go before taking to the skies proper.
