Aviationbuff From India, joined Mar 2008, 1424 posts, RR: 3 Posted (5 years 3 weeks 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 3760 times:
Lufthansa seeks Indian government approval to fly in super jumbos in summer 2010
Find Below the highlights of the article:
Europe’s largest airline by passengers, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, wants to be the first carrier to fly the “super jumbo” A380 to India in summer 2010 and has asked the civil aviation ministry to permit it to fly the double-decker aircraft to Indian cities.
If the ministry approves, the German carrier will likely beat peers Emirates Airline and Indian firm Kingfisher Airlines Ltd to deploy the world's biggest commercial passenger jet in Indian skies.
Lufthansa counts Indian cities among the first of its choices for the A380 routes. “We have shortlisted Delhi and Mumbai,” said Werner Heesen, director of South Asia for Lufthansa, referring to the more than a dozen global routes that the airline is looking to deploy the 15 A380s it is acquiring. “It will be Delhi, then Mumbai,” he said.
The Indian flights will connect Delhi and Mumbai to Frankfurt, which has been developed as a hub for A380 operations with significant investment in infrastructure, including engineering and maintenance. The current flights to the two Indian cities, Heesen said, may not be replaced, depending on the traffic in 2010.
The groundwork for starting operations is likely to face some hurdles. New Delhi and Mumbai airports, both of which contribute nearly half of the country’s air traffic, are still being modernized and will have the necessary infrastructure for commercial A380 services only by around the same time, Heesen said.
The UB Group-owned Kingfisher Airlines, the only Indian carrier to order five A380s, is slated to take delivery around 2012, according to Airbus, while Emirates and Singapore Airlines—the other two carriers with multiple flight to Indian cities—are yet to decide if they would use the super jumbos to service India.
Emirates is “currently studying the possibility of operating the A380 in India,” an airline spokesperson said from Dubai by phone, adding that the decision will depend on the capability of Indian airports to handle the plane.
Singapore Airlines has refrained from serving the Indian market with A380, preferring Sydney, London and Tokyo routes instead. “The mission for us when we acquired the A380 was for long-haul operation—something beyond 8-12 hours. So, there are no plans to deploy this batch of A380s to India,” said Foo Chai Woo, general manager of India at Singapore Airlines, which has bought 19 such aircraft with five more to come this year.
Cornish From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2005, 8187 posts, RR: 56 Reply 1, posted (5 years 3 weeks 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 3700 times:
No real surprise here - apart from they might get in before Emirates. LH were saying two years ago within the industry that they would fly the A380 to India from very early on in its service with the airline.
DEL is aiming for a 2010 opening of the first phase of the new development, for which it will be equipped to handle A380s. LH was one of the carriers that were part of the discussions back at the Masterplan stage.
Just when I thought I could see light at the end of the tunnel, it was some B*****d with a torch bringing me more work
LAXDESI From United States of America, joined May 2005, 5085 posts, RR: 48 Reply 3, posted (5 years 3 weeks 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 3580 times:
The article hints at the possibility of LH continuing the current flights to DEL/BOM when the A380 is introduced on these routes. I am sceptical that there will be such an increase in demand by that much by 2010.
Qazar From Canada, joined May 2006, 311 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (5 years 3 weeks 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 3167 times:
In Asia, the cities short-listed for the A380 are:
Delhi
Mumbai
Bangkok
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Shanghai
Beijing
Singapore
Other short listed cities around the world:
Johannesburg
Sao Paulo
New York JFK
Chicago
Los Angeles
Washington
San Fransisco
Miami
Out of the above 16 listed cities, the 15 A380 ordered can serve 13 cities... which leaves 3 cities cut out of the runnings until an add on order is made for additional A380s. I believe that LH can easily justify the order of an additional 15 A380s into its fleet. This would allow the airline to replace its B744s on a 1 for 1 basis. The B744s can then either be retired (if too old) or dispatched as capacity increases on existing routes.
GlobeEx From Germany, joined Aug 2007, 742 posts, RR: 6 Reply 5, posted (5 years 3 weeks 4 days 10 hours ago) and read 3005 times:
Quoting Qazar (Reply 4): Out of the above 16 listed cities, the 15 A380 ordered can serve 13 cities... which leaves 3 cities cut out of the runnings until an add on order is made for additional A380s. I believe that LH can easily justify the order of an additional 15 A380s into its fleet. This would allow the airline to replace its B744s on a 1 for 1 basis. The B744s can then either be retired (if too old) or dispatched as capacity increases on existing routes.
Don't forget that they also have 20 B748 on order.
GlobeEx
As you may presently yourself be fully made aware of, my grammar sucks.
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