Lufthansa is taking extraordinary measures in order to respond to a significant increase in booking demand for flights to Palma de Mallorca from both Frankfurt and Munich. The booking figures for the destination “PMI” have increased 25 times between April and the beginning of June 2021: The airline will be operating a Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental from Frankfurt to Palma de Mallorca four Saturdays in a row during the upcoming summer vacation in Hesse. Additionally, the airline also plans to operate an Airbus A350 from Munich to the Balearic Island at the start of the summer vacation in Bavaria. Although these routes are normally operated by an Airbus A321, on 31 July, two wide-body Lufthansa aircraft will be arriving on Palma de Mallorca.
Departing Frankfurt with the “Jumbo”
The Boeing 747-8 is the largest aircraft that Lufthansa is currently operating, offering up to 364 seats instead of the usual 215, which are normally available on this route. This wide-body aircraft offers passengers 88 Business Class seats (including First Class) as well as 276 seats in Economy Class (including Premium Economy).
The first “Jumbo” flight, LH1152, will be departing the Rhine Main metropolis on Saturday 17July at 10:20 a.m., just in time for the start of the Hessian summer vacation, and arrive at Palma de Mallorca airport at 12:25 p.m. The return flight, LH1153 will take place the same day at 14:25 p.m., arriving in Frankfurt at 16:45 p.m.
The modern and kerosene-efficient Boeing 747-8, also known as the “Queen of the Skies”, will operate for an addition three weekends, specifically on 24 July, 31 July and 7 August.
Departing Munich with the Airbus A350
The Airbus A350 is the most sustainable long-haul aircraft in the Lufthansa fleet. It consumes 20 percent less kerosene and is 50 percent quieter than previous models. Those who want to experience the Lufthansa Airbus A350 along with its multi-award-winning cabin now have the chance to do so now. The aircraft offers 293 seats, including 48 in Business Class and 245 in Economy Class (including Premium Economy).
The A350 flight to Palma de Mallorca will take place at the start of the Bavarian summer vacations on Saturday 31 July. Departure from Munich is planned for 9:50 a.m. under flight number LH2658, arriving in Palma de Mallorca at 12:00 a.m. The return flight, LH2659, will take place the same day at 13:30 a.m. arriving in Munich at 15:35 p.m.
Top Copyright Photo: Lufthansa Boeing 747-8 D-ABYA (msn 37827) FRA (Marcelo F. De Biasi). Image: 944222.
On September 30, 1968 Boeing displayed to the public for the first time the first prototype of the Boeing 747-100 when it was rolled out of the new Paine Field facility at Everett, WA (above). Photo: Boeing.
The first flight was successfully conducted on February 9, 1969.
On January 15, 1970, Pat Nixon, the First Lady of the United States, christened Pan Am’s first Boeing 747-100.
The first Pan Am Boeing 747-100 entered revenue service on January 22, 1970, on the New York (JFK) – London (Heathrow) route. The flight had been scheduled for the previous evening on January 21, but engine overheating cancelled the originally scheduled inaugural flight.
Above Copyright Photo: Pan Am (1st) Boeing 747-121 N748PA (msn 19652) JFK (Bruce Drum). Image: 102101.
Pan Am aircraft slide show:
Joe Sutter was recognized by Boeing as the “Father of the 747”. On his passing in 2016, Boeing issued this tribute:
We lost one of the giants of aerospace and a beloved member of the Boeing family. Joe Sutter, the “Father of the 747,” passed away at the age of 95.
Joe lived an amazing life and was an inspiration – not just to those of us at Boeing, but to the entire aerospace industry. He personified the ingenuity and passion for excellence that made Boeing airplanes synonymous with quality the world over.
Early in Joe’s career, he had a hand in many iconic commercial airplane projects, including the Dash 80, its cousin the 707 and the 737. But it was the 747 – the world’s first jumbo jet – that secured his place in history.
Joe led the engineering team that developed the 747 in the mid-1960s, opening up affordable international travel and helping connect the world. His team, along with thousands of other Boeing employees involved in the project, became known as the Incredibles for producing what was then the world’s largest airplane in record time – 29 months from conception to rollout. It remains a staggering achievement and a testament to Joe’s “incredible” determination.
Long after he retired, Joe remained very active within the company. He continued to serve as a consultant on the Commercial Airplanes Senior Advisory Group, and he was still a familiar sight to many of us working here. By then his hair was white and he moved a little slower, but he always had a twinkle in his eye, a sharp mind and an unwavering devotion to aerospace innovation and The Boeing Company. Fittingly, he was on hand to celebrate our centennial at the Founders Day weekend. He was one of a kind.
Joe was loved. He made a difference in the world. He made a difference to us. We will miss him and cherish our time with him.
Ray
Boeing issued this historical snapshot of the Boeing 747:
The 747 was the result of the work of some 50,000 Boeing people. Called “the Incredibles,” these were the construction workers, mechanics, engineers, secretaries and administrators who made aviation history by building the 747 — the largest civilian airplane in the world — in less than 16 months during the late 1960s.
The incentive for creating the giant 747 came from reductions in airfares, a surge in air-passenger traffic and increasingly crowded skies. Following the loss of the competition for a gigantic military transport, the C-5A, Boeing set out to develop a large advanced commercial airplane to take advantage of the high-bypass engine technology developed for the C-5A. The design philosophy behind the 747 was to develop a completely new plane, and other than the engines, the designers purposefully avoided using any hardware developed for the C-5.
The 747’s final design was offered in three configurations: all passenger, all cargo and a convertible passenger/freighter model. The freighter and convertible models loaded 8- by 8-foot (2.4- by 2.4-meter) cargo containers through the huge hinged nose.
The 747 was truly monumental in size. The massive airplane required construction of the 200 million-cubic-foot (5.6 million-cubic-meter) 747 assembly plant in Everett, Wash., the world’s largest building (by volume). The fuselage of the original 747 was 225 feet (68.5 meters) long; the tail as tall as a six-story building. Pressurized, it carried a ton of air. The cargo hold had room for 3,400 pieces of baggage and could be unloaded in seven minutes. The total wing area was larger than a basketball court. Yet, the entire global navigation system weighed less than a modern laptop computer.
Pilots prepared for the 747 at Boeing training school. The experience of taxiing such a large plane was acquired in a contraption called “Waddell’s Wagon,” named after Jack Waddell, the company’s chief test pilot. The pilot sat in a mockup of the 747 flight deck built atop three-story-high stilts on a moving truck. The pilot learned how to maneuver from such a height by directing the truck driver below him by radio.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration later modified two 747-100s into Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The next version, the 747-200, holds approximately 440 passengers and has a range of about 5,600 nautical miles (10,371 kilometers). In 1990, two 747-200Bs were modified to serve as Air Force One and replaced the VC-137s (707s) that served as the presidential airplane for nearly 30 years. The 747-300 has an extended upper deck and carries even more passengers than the -200.
Video: Boeing.
The 747-400 rolled out in 1988. Its wingspan is 212 feet (64 meters), and it has 6-foot-high (1.8-meter-high) “winglets” on the wingtips. The 747-400 also is produced as a freighter, as a combination freighter and passenger model, and as a special domestic version, without the winglets, for shorter range flights.
In August 1999, major assembly began on a militarized 747-400 Freighter to be used as a platform for the U.S. Air Force’s Airborne Laser (ABL) program. It rolled out on Oct. 27, 2006, and was eventually designated YAL-1. Boeing was the prime contractor for ABL, which was designed to provide a speed-of-light capability to destroy all classes of ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight. Boeing provided the modified aircraft and the battle management system and is the overall systems integrator. ABL partners were Northrop Grumman, which supplied the chemical oxygen iodine, or COIL, high-energy laser associated lasers, and Lockheed Martin, which provided the nose-mounted turret in addition to the beam control/fire control system. On Feb. 11, 2010, the flying test bed destroyed a ballistic missile off the coast of Southern California. The program was canceled in 2011, and in 2012, YAL-1 was flown to the U.S. Air Force “bone yard” near Pima, Ariz., to be scrapped.
Another variant is the Dreamlifter — a specially modified 747-400 — that transports the large composite structures, including huge fuselage sections of the 787 Dreamliner, from partners around the world to Everett, Wash., and Charleston, S.C., for final assembly. The massive cargo is loaded and unloaded from a hinged rear fuselage. The last of the series four was delivered Feb. 16, 2010.
The longer range 747-400 airplanes (also known as 747-400ERs) were launched in late 2000. The 747-400ER (Extended Range) family is available in both passenger and freighter versions. The airplanes are the same size as current 747-400s and have a range of 7,670 nautical miles (14,205 kilometers) as opposed to the 747-400 range of 7,260 nautical miles (13,450 kilometers). It incorporates the strengthened -400 Freighter wing, strengthened body and landing gear, and an auxiliary fuel tank in the forward cargo hold, with an option for a second tank. When the 747-400ER’s full-range capability is not needed, operators can remove the tank (or tanks), freeing up additional space for cargo.
In November 2005, Boeing launched the 747-8 family — the 747-8 Intercontinental passenger airplane and the 747-8 Freighter. These airplanes incorporate innovative technologies from the 787 Dreamliner. In fact, the designation 747-8 was chosen to show the technology connection between the 787 Dreamliner and the new 747-8, including the General Electric GEnx-2B engines, raked wingtips and other improvements that allow for a 30 percent smaller noise footprint, 15 percent reduction in-service carbon emissions, better performance retention, lower weight, less fuel consumption, fewer parts and less maintenance.
The 747-8 Freighter first flew on February 8, 2010. The airplane is 250 feet, 2 inches (76.3 meters) long, which is 18 feet, 4 inches (5.6 meters) longer than the 747-400 Freighter. The stretch provides customers with 16 percent more revenue cargo volume compared with its predecessor. That translates to an additional four main-deck pallets and three lower hold pallets.
The passenger version, the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, serves the 400- to 500-seat market and took its first flight on March 20, 2011. The cabin’s sculpted ceilings, bigger overhead and side stowbins, a redesigned staircase and dynamic LED lighting all add to an overall more comfortable passenger experience. With 51 additional seats and 26 percent more revenue cargo volume than the 747-400, Boeing delivered the first 747-8 Intercontinental to an undisclosed Boeing Business Jet customer on Feb. 28, 2012. Launch customer Lufthansa took delivery of the first airline Intercontinental April 25, 2012.
On June 28, 2014, Boeing delivered the 1,500th 747 to come off the production line to Frankfurt, Germany-based Lufthansa. The 747 is the first wide-body airplane in history to reach the 1,500 milestone.
Lufthansa joined the celebrations and issued this statement:
It’s been 50 years since the first Boeing 747-100 took off over Seattle on its official maiden flight on February 9, 1969 – to the cheers of thousands of spectators. The Boeing 747-100 was the largest jet airliner the world had ever seen.
The success story of the Boeing 747 aircraft family started in the mid-60s, when Boeing developed a wide-body jet as an answer to the growing aviation needs. After less than four years of planning and development, in which Lufthansa engineers also took part, the jet, built from around six million individual parts, was ready to take to the skies.
The first Boeing 747-130 with the Lufthansa registration “D-ABYA” carried the production number 12. The “Yankee Alpha”, as it was called within the company, was handed over to Lufthansa on March 9, 1970 and was deployed on the Frankfurt-New York route for the first time on April 26, 1970. Lufthansa was the first European airline to provide its passenger the opportunity to fly by Jumbo Jet, being the second international airline following Pan American World Airways (PanAm).
The excitement of the passengers and crew on board was immense. Right from the entrance point to the jet, one gets into a “celebrative champagne mood”, a journalist wrote at that time. Hardly surprising, when considering that there was a bar in the First Class Lounge on the upper deck of the aircraft. To this day, the “hump” of the Boeing 747, which houses the cockpit and upper deck, remains the distinguishing feature of the Jumbo Jet in comparison to all other types of aircraft. The silhouette of the Boeing 747 has shaped the jet age and is still a style icon for many aviation enthusiasts.
The Boeing 747, with almost 70 meters in length and a span of nearly 60 meters, was christened by the American press as “Jumbo Jet”, offering space for 365 passengers at Lufthansa. The height of the tail unit, approximately 19 meters, was higher than a five-story building. The aircraft had a four-engine wide-body. These engines achieved more than twice the performance of a Boeing 707, which had previously been used on long-haul flights in intercontinental air traffic, but could only accommodate about 150 passengers.
Before accepting its first Jumbo Jet, Lufthansa had to adapt its aircraft and passenger handling so that they could cope with the different dimensions of the aircraft. New passenger boarding bridges, special tractors, kitchen lift trucks and tanker trucks were all developed at Frankfurt Airport, including a 27,000 square meter aircraft hangar with space for up to six Jumbo Jets. In addition, further counters had to be made available in the check-in hall.
After Lufthansa had also operated its successor models (the 747-200 and 747-400), Lufthansa was the world’s first passenger airline to receive the first Jumbo Jet’s “grandson”, the Boeing 747-8, on May 2nd, 2012. The modern aircraft can accommodate up to 364 passengers in First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy Class. It consumes just over three liters of fuel per passenger over 100 kilometers and has 30 percent lower noise emissions than its predecessor. When Lufthansa unveiled its new brand look about a year ago, a Boeing 747-8 was the first aircraft to be presented in the new livery. Like the first 747 aircraft 50 years ago, this machine is called “Yankee Alpha”, too.
The Jumbo Jet did not only have a career as a passenger aircraft. In March 1972, Lufthansa took on the world’s “first smiling Boeing” – the freight version, the Boeing 747-230F. Its prow opened up horizontally, making it easy to load even bulky goods. The Jumbo Jet was nicknamed the “Beetle swallower”, as it had space for 72 VW Beetles in its fuselage.
As of summer 2018, Lufthansa Group passengers will be able to book a so-called Economy “Light” fare on routes to North America served by Lufthansa, Swiss, Brussels Airlines and Austrian Airlines.
As the basic rate, the new fare is the least expensive option for price-conscious passengers only travelling with carry-on luggage and who do not require any ticket flexibility. For an additional fee, passengers will be allowed to add one piece of luggage or request a seat reservation on an individual basis. Meals and drinks will continue to be served to passengers on board free of charge.
Lufthansa has been testing a Light fare since October 2017 on selected routes between Scandinavia and North America. Passengers can buy a basic rate with carry-on luggage on flights between Sweden, Denmark, Norway and selected North American destinations.
In 2015, the Lufthansa Group Airlines introduced a Light fare on their European routes. The various air fare options mainly differ with respect to the free baggage allowance, seat reservations as well as the possibilities to cancel or rebook flights. Standard features of all fares include the flight, carry-on luggage weighing up to 8 kg, a snack and drinks on board, a fixed seat assignment at check-in as well as bonus and status miles.
Copyright Photo: Lufthansa Boeing 747-830 D-ABYA (msn 37827) (Team D) IAD (Brian McDonough). Image: 941203.
The Verdi trade union called for a strike at Frankfurt, Munich, Cologne and Bremen airports on Tuesday, April 10, 2018. The ground handling services, the support services and also part of the airport fire brigade will be on strike between 5:00h and 18:00h. Due to this Verdi strike, Lufthansa is canceling 800 out of the 1,600 scheduled flights, including 58 long-haul flights on April 10. The cancellations will affect about 90,000 passengers. Flight operations are scheduled to resume normal services on Wednesday, April 11, 2018.
On inner-German routes, passengers can use the train, regardless of whether their flight has been cancelled. To do so, passengers can convert their ticket into a Deutsche Bahn ticket at “My Bookings” on Lufthansa.com. It is not necessary to travel to the airport.
The airline continued;
Lufthansa cannot comprehend Verdi’s threat to carry out such a massive strike. “It is completely unacceptable for the union to impose this conflict on uninvolved passengers. Lufthansa is not a part of this collective bargaining conflict, but unfortunately our customers and our company are being affected by the consequences of this dispute,” says Bettina Volkens, Member of the Executive Board for Human Resources and Legal Affairs of Deutsche Lufthansa AG.
The nature and extent of the widespread and full-day strike is inappropriate and unreasonable at this time. Strikes must be the last resort in a wage dispute. “Politicians and legislators must define clear rules for strikes and industrial actions,” demands Volkens. “We regret that the travel plans of so many customers are being affected by this Verdi strike and we are working on minimizing the impact as much as possible”.
Copyright Photo: Lufthansa Boeing 747-830 D-ABYA (msn 37827) FRA (Marcelo F. De Bisi). Image: 940915.
Adjusted EBIT increased around 70 percent to some EUR 3 billion
Adjusted EBIT margin raised 2.9 percentage points to 8.4 percent
Earnings growth primarily driven by the Group’s airlines (including cargo)
Revenues up 12.4 percent to EUR 35.6 billion
Unit costs further reduced
60 percent higher dividend proposed at EUR 0.80 per share
Outlook for 2018
Stable unit revenue development expected
Unit costs to be further reduced by 1 to 2 percent
Higher fuel costs of some EUR 700 million expected to be largely compensated by improved operating performance
Adjusted EBIT for the year expected to be only slightly below its record in 2017
The Group continues;
“Our endeavors of the past few years are paying off. Our modernization has a sustainable impact. We have achieved the best result in the history of our company. 2017 was a very good year for our customers, our employees and our shareholders,” says Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board & CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. “Last year we were able to reduce costs again, while at the same time becoming the first – and the only – airline in Europe to be awarded a five-star rating. We are lowering our costs where this does not affect the customer, and are simultaneously further investing in our product and service quality.”
Total revenues for the Lufthansa Group in 2017 amounted to EUR 35.6 billion, a 12.4 percent increase on the previous year. The Adjusted EBIT of EUR 2.97 billion was a significant 69.7 percent year-on-year improvement. And the 8.4 percent Adjusted EBIT margin was up 2.9 percentage points compared to previous year. EBIT for the year increased more than EUR 1 billion to EUR 3.3 billion. The strong increase of EBIT includes the positive EUR 582 million one-off effect from agreeing on the collective labor agreement with the Vereinigung Cockpit union for the pilots of Lufthansa, Lufthansa Cargo and Germanwings, which was recognized in the income statement in December.
“We are particularly pleased that we were again able to lower our passenger airlines’ unit costs excluding fuel and currency factors last year. This is in particular as passenger related costs were actually up due to higher load factors, the variable remuneration was higher in light of strong result development, and additional costs because of compensation paid for the flight cancellations at Air Berlin burdened our cost as well,” adds Ulrik Svensson, Chief Financial Officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. “Excluding these one-off effects, we reduced our unit costs by 1.8 percent.”
The Lufthansa Group invested some EUR 3 billion in 2017, around a third more than in the previous year. This is partly due to investments of some EUR 900 million into aircraft from the Air Berlin flight operations. “These higher investments also reflect the increased size of our Group. But investments relative to revenue remain on one level with the world’s most successful airlines’,” comments Ulrik Svensson. “Important is that the return on capital continues to increase. In 2017, our Adjusted ROCE (after tax) improved by 4.6 percentage points to 11.6 percent.”
Despite the higher capital expenditure, free cash flow almost doubled in 2017 to EUR 2.3 billion. Net financial debt rose 6.8 percent to EUR 2.9 billion. This figure includes an initial EUR 1.7 billion funding for the new defined contributions model of the flight attendants’ pension fund. Total pension provisions decreased by EUR 3.2 billion in 2017. The year-end equity ratio stood at 26.5 percent, an increase of 5.9 percentage points.
“On the basis of these very good results, we propose a dividend of EUR 0.80 per share to the Annual General Meeting,” says Ulrik Svensson. “This is a 60 percent increase of the pay-out compared to last year. This is the minimum level of dividend payment that we aim to maintain in the coming years.”
Network Airlines
The Group’s Network Airlines – Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines – increased their Adjusted EBIT by nearly 50 percent to some EUR 2.3 billion. With strong demand and a positive pricing environment, the Network Airlines raised their EBIT margin 2.6 percentage points to almost ten percent.
Point-to-Point Airlines
Despite the significant expenses in the context of acquiring capacities from Air Berlin, Eurowings reduced its unit costs excluding fuel and currency factors by 6.5 percent. On the back of this and strong market demand, Adjusted EBIT increased by some EUR 200 million. Despite adverse one-off factors related to market consolidation, the Group’s Point-to-Point Airlines improved their Adjusted EBIT margin by 7.3 percentage points and achieved a positive Adjusted EBIT of around EUR 100 million. The inorganic growth after the insolvency of Air Berlin will make a positive contribution to the Point-to-Point Airlines’ from 2019 onwards.
Aviation Services
The Group’s Aviation Services in total achieved a very good result, though the development among the business segments was quite different. A combination of cost reductions and strong demand helped Lufthansa Cargo to improve its Adjusted EBIT by almost EUR 300 million to EUR 242 million. The EUR 415 million earnings of Lufthansa Technik were broadly in line with prior-year levels. Against the background of the continuing transformation of its European operations, the LSG Group sustained a EUR 38 million decline in its earnings for the year to EUR 66 million.
Outlook
EUR 700 million higher fuel costs can be largely offset by an improved operating performance, so that for 2018 in total an Adjusted EBIT only slightly below previous year is expected. Organic capacity is expected to increase by some seven percent, as unit revenues excluding currency factors should remain broadly stable. Unit costs excluding fuel and currency factors should be further reduced by 1 to 2 percent.
“We will continue to consistently pursue our modernization,” concludes Carsten Spohr. “And in doing so, we will retain our clear focus on reducing our costs and at the same time raising our quality. This is the only way to sustainably increase our profitability. From a position of strength, we will continue to drive consolidation in Europe.”
Copyright Photo: Lufthansa Boeing 747-830 D-ABYA (msn 37827) (Team D) IAD (Brian McDonough). Image: 941203.
Lufthansa is planning to unveil its new livery on February 7 at 6:40 pm (CET) on Facebook Live. The social media unveiling will be followed the next day by a tour of a repainted Airbus A321 (D-AISP from Munich)) and a Boeing 747-8 (D-ABYA from Frankfurt) flying around Europe and Germany.
The carrier has removed its long-standing use of yellow.
The airline has issued these “sneak views”:
On February 3, 2018 Lufthansa published this photo of D-ABYA on social media:
Above Photos: Lufthansa.
Copyright Photo Above: With this new livery, Lufthansa is divorcing itself from yellow, a long-time part of its livery as the secondary color. It has even had experimental liveries (above) where yellow was the primary color with white. Lufthansa Boeing 737-230 D-ABFW (msn 22127) ZRH (Rolf Wallner). Image: 935447.
Lufthansa (Frankfurt) will soon take delivery of this brand new Boeing 747-830 D-ABYT (msn 37844) (above). The new Jumbo was rolled out of the paint shop on February 8 at Paine Field sporting a basic 1968 livery, albeit minus the traditional metal finish on the bottom of the fuselage for that period. The aircraft will soon be flying test flights and we will have more photos soon.
The retro color scheme is part of modern day Lufthansa’s 60th Anniversary celebrations. Post-war Lufthansa restarted operations on April 1, 1955.
Top Photo: Lufthansa. D-ABYT in the Boeing paint shop after the work was finished.
Bottom Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum/AirlinersGallery.com. The first LH 747, Boeing 747-130 D-ABYA (msn 19746), is pictured taxiing to the gate at New York (JFK) on April 8, 1971 in the original 1968 livery for the Boeing Jumbo. The first 747 was handed over to the airline on March 10, 1970.
Lufthansa (Frankfurt) and Boeing (Chicago and Seattle) celebrated the delivery of the German airline’s 75th 747 on Wednesday (April 30).
Lufthansa is the launch customer for the 747-8 Intercontinental jetliner and took delivery of the first one in April 2012. The airplane delivered Wednesday is Lufthansa’s 13th 747-8 Intercontinental, namely 747-830 D-ABYO (msn 37841). The airline currently flies the 747 to 22 destinations in 10 countries. Over the years, Lufthansa has ordered a total of 81 747s.
Lufthansa’s first 747 – a 747-100 – was delivered in 1970. The airline was also the first to order the 747-200 Freighter.
The 747-8 has accumulated 120 orders for passenger and cargo versions, 68 of which have been delivered.
Top Copyright Photo: Boeing. This poor-quality publicity photo shows D-ABYO departing from Paine Field.
Lufthansa:
Bottom Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum/AirlinersGallery.com. It all started with the Boeing 747-130. The pictured Boeing 747-130 D-ABYA (msn 19746) at New York (JFK) was delivered new to LH as the first 747 on March 10, 1970.
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