After being grounded for over three years, Lufthansa will be bringing back some of its Airbus A380s. A few weeks ago, the airline revealed the first routes to see the return of the A380 for the summer 2023 schedule. The airline has now revealed the first routes to see the A380 for the winter 2023 schedule.
In this post:
Where Lufthansa A380s will be flying
Lufthansa will soon be resuming passenger service with its Airbus A380s. We can expect that the airline will fly these planes from Munich (MUC) to both Boston (BOS) and New York (JFK) for the summer schedule, and then to Bangkok (BKK) and Los Angeles (LAX) for the winter schedule, with more to be announced soon. Let’s go over the details.
Lufthansa Airbus A380 summer 2023 destinations
Between June 1 and October 27, 2023, Lufthansa will fly the A380 daily from Munich to Boston, with the following schedule:
LH424 Munich to Boston departing 3:35PM arriving 6:00PM
LH425 Boston to Munich departing 8:30PM arriving 9:40AM (+1 day)
The 3,851-mile flight is blocked at 8hr25min westbound and 7h10min eastbound.
Between July 4 and October 27, 2023, Lufthansa will fly the A380 daily from Munich to New York, with the following schedule:
LH410 Munich to New York departing 11:55AM arriving 2:55PM
LH411 New York to Munich departing 5:25PM arriving 7:15AM (+1 day)
The 4,038-mile flight is blocked at 9hr westbound and 7h50min eastbound.
Lufthansa Airbus A380 winter 2023 destinations
Between October 5, 2023, and March 30, 2024, Lufthansa will fly the A380 daily from Munich to Los Angeles, with the following schedule:
LH452 Munich to Los Angeles departing 12:20PM arriving 3:20PM
LH453 Los Angeles to Munich departing 5:10PM arriving 1:15PM (+1 day)
The 5,989-mile flight is blocked at 12hr westbound and 11h5min eastbound.
Between October 28 and March 30, 2023, Lufthansa will fly the A380 daily from Munich to Bangkok, with the following schedule:
LH772 Munich to Bangkok departing 10:20PM arriving 2:55PM (+1 day)
LH773 Bangkok to Munich departing 11:40PM arriving 5:50AM (+1 day)
The 5,474-mile flight is blocked at 11hr35min eastbound and 12h10min westbound.
Will Lufthansa announce more A380 routes?
In all cases, Lufthansa is scheduling A380s on routes that were previously operated by either A340-600s or A350-900s, so this aircraft swaps represent significant capacity increases. All of these routes are more or less what you’d expect, though this is the first time we’ve seen the A380 fly from Munich to Bangkok (though back in the day, Lufthansa flew the jet from Frankfurt to Bangkok).
So far Lufthansa has only announced two routes for both summer and winter. However, Lufthansa is expected to reactivate at least four Airbus A380s by the end of 2023, and more could return in 2024. Does that mean we’ll see more A380 routes announced?
- It’s possible that only a couple of A380s will be reactivated for most of the summer, in which case we might not see more A380 routes for the peak summer months
- The Los Angeles and Bangkok frequencies will require three A380s, since each rotation can’t be flown daily with one aircraft
- I think it’s possible we see one more A380 route added, though I also wouldn’t count on it; I imagine it depends on the pace at which Lufthansa can get these jets back into service
What the Airbus A380 means for passengers
Why would passengers care if their flight is operated by the Airbus A380? The plane isn’t necessarily cutting edge in terms of passenger experience, though there are some implications. The Airbus A380 is of course the world’s largest passenger jet, and Lufthansa’s Airbus A380s feature a total of 509 seats. This includes:
- Eight first class seats, in a 1-2-1 configuration
- 78 business class seats, in a 2-2-2 configuration
- 52 premium economy seats, in a 2-4-2 configuration
- 371 economy class seats, in a 3-4-3 configuration
Lufthansa’s Airbus A380s aren’t all that remarkable, at least compared to the jets flown by some other airlines, like Emirates and Singapore Airlines. However, I’d say there are a few noteworthy things:
- This represents a significant capacity increase compared to the A340-600s that were scheduled to operate most of these routes; for example, business class is going from 44 seats to 78 seats, which should be great for award availability
- Lufthansa’s A380 first class lavatories have urinals, making them the only urinals on commercial aircraft (I know, this is a real key reason to fly the jet) 😉
- Many appreciate economy on the A380, since the 3-4-3 layout offers passengers more space than you’d find on other jets
- Regardless of which cabin you’re traveling in, the A380 is a quiet and smooth ride
Bottom line
Lufthansa has formally revealed the first routes to see the return of the A380 in both summer and winter. Lufthansa will be bringing back four Airbus A380s in 2023, and they’ll all be based in Munich. For the summer schedule, Lufthansa will fly A380s to Boston and then New York, while for the winter schedule, Lufthansa will fly these planes to Los Angeles and then Bangkok.
I can’t wait to see the return of the A380, and Lufthansa’s first class footprint continue to increase!
What do you make of Lufthansa’s planned A380 routes?
Lufthansa needs to bring the A380 back on the Houston Frankfurt routes. I love the roomy business class and that’s my favorite route to take when we travel to Dubrovnik Croatia in the summer.
Lufthansa's A380 cabins suck. I flew on one from SFO-FRA in economy in the back of the lower deck before the pandemic. The A380 cabin is in a weird spot where it's old enough that a lot of things clearly feel outdated, but it's not quite old enough that they can justify the effort of renovating it either. The economy cabin and seats are still the original ones from 2009 when their first A380 was...
Lufthansa's A380 cabins suck. I flew on one from SFO-FRA in economy in the back of the lower deck before the pandemic. The A380 cabin is in a weird spot where it's old enough that a lot of things clearly feel outdated, but it's not quite old enough that they can justify the effort of renovating it either. The economy cabin and seats are still the original ones from 2009 when their first A380 was delivered, even after the addition of premium economy. I believe the IFE screens in economy on LH's A380 are the most outdated of any LH aircraft currently flying. They are tiny, laggy, and low-resolution. Worst of all, it's still a touchscreen and they don't even give you a handheld remote to help you use it. The whole system had to reboot like 3 times on my flight. While Lufthansa has a good selection of entertainment choices and the A380 has a tail camera, I couldn't really enjoy it as much as I would've liked because of that. There are no charging outlets in the A380's economy seats when other planes in the fleet like the 747-8 and A350 have it. The bathrooms are very disgusting as well. I think the only thing notable about Lufthansa's A380 is that it has an oversized bathroom with a urinal in first class. They don't even have an onboard lounge or bar or anything. They treated it like all of their other less remarkable long haul planes. I think it might be the worst A380 hard product out there from a holistic standpoint.
Flew Business Class Fra-MIA on A380 HORRIBLE experience…….lunch trays remained at least 2 hours to be collected!!! Terrible service! Never again! Food was crap too!
Not sure if there's a real reason to get too excited about this. The Lufthansa A380 is pretty disappointing, i personally find the urinals disgusting (who wants that filthy thing to stare at them when they sit on the toilet) and this just isn't worth the longer boarding time, longer disembarkation and the impact on immigration line on the other end (yes - I am looking at you BKK)
Then close the cover and you're done. Easy does it.
Prior to the pandemic, Lufthansa did fly its A380 to Bangkok (from Frankfurt): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyGzThb7Vds
I really wish they'd add it to ORD-FRA. Transatlantic capacity this summer is CRAZY utilized at the moment and we need all the capacity we can get to get people to Africa & Europe. It would be really nice if they put it on a United hub in the middle of the country so we could more easily utilize the capacity increase.
Presumably the MUC-BKK dates are 28 Oct 2023 to 30 March 2024, not 30 March 2023?
I was hoping to see MIA-MUC.
Anyone have any guesses on where the 5th new route will be?
ORD
Wish they were still making A380s
Will not see me anywhere near Onestarhansa.
Isn't 3-4-3 standard on widebodies? It was on the 747 and on many 777.
It seems like the worst layout because the average person is .8 seats away from the aisle and 4 of the 10 seats are middle seats. There is an argument that 2-5-2 is a better layout because the average person is only .67 seats away from the aisle and only 3 seats are middle seats.
It's less about the configuration and more about the fact that the A380 is wider than other widebodies. So 3-4-3 on an A380 is slightly more spacious than 3-4-3 on a 777. Otherwise I agree with what you said in theory about 3-4-3 vs 2-5-2.
While 3-4-3 is “standard”, I’m pretty sure that Ben’s point is that the 380 is wider than the “standard” wide body, creating more room. Although no mention of seat widths.
Even without measuring, the cabin width is noticably wider on the a380. If sitting at a window seat and are a broad shouldered type, on the a380 you'll have to lean towards the fuselage to have your shoulder rest against the wall. On the 777 you'll be leaning away from the wall and still touching it. I also believe the seat width per seat is 1-1.5 inches wider on the a380.
OK, I take the point about the A380 being wider than the B777, but that is generally true of every Airbus plane compared to the comparable Boeing (787 vs A350, 737 vs A320).
Also, wider is not what Ben wrote. He wrote seating configuration.
The summer A380 routes were already announced. This is nothing new.