LUFTHANSA PERFORMS LONGEST PASSENGER FLIGHT IN ITS HISTORY

HAMBURG - Lufthansa will operate the longest passenger flight in its history on 1 February. On that day, a chartered Airbus A350-900 will depart from Hamburg to Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands, covering 13,700 kilometers non-stop during the journey. The flight takes fifteen hours.

There are only 92 passengers on board flight LH2574. Half of the group consists of climate scientists who must be taken to the South Pole, the other half is ship's crew. The mission had been planned for years and can continue as usual with the necessary measures.

According to Lufthansa, the preparation for the flight is intensive: the pilots receive additional training in navigation and technicians accompany them to solve any problems. The crew as well as the travelers as well as the seventeen crew members started a quarantine period of two weeks. The aircraft itself is properly cleaned and sealed.

The return flight departs on February 3 and goes to Munich. Relieved ship's crew will then travel on board.

LAX772LR wrote:

Cool to see.

Funny how it's such a big deal for a carrier (with favorable geography) versus the types (SQ, EK, NZ, etc) who do/did this sort of op on a scheduled and/or daily basis.

peterjohns wrote:

It´s to bring scientists to their ship bound to antarctica. Due to corona travel ban- the normal routes (with the RAF) taken, can´t be used.

Dutchy wrote:

Interesting route, plotted on GC Map. That is a long long time over water. Always nice to see these kinds of charters.

airbazar wrote:

Dutchy wrote:

Interesting route, plotted on GC Map. That is a long long time over water. Always nice to see these kinds of charters.

Long time over water but never too far from land.

the pilots receive additional training in navigation and technicians accompany them to solve any problems.

JibberJim wrote:

Yes, it certainly makes sense with the explanation of which mission had been planned for years, it was just my confusion that made me think the specific chartering had been planned for years.

I assume also Gonzalo that LH wouldn't have any other planes to make it non-stop, and avoiding any stopover was desired too?

eta unknown wrote:

I'm failing to see the significance of this flight unless LH is looking for a good news story. As stated many times above, a RAF flight operates all the time as does the flight from SCL.. The whole story sounds like a beat up- by the way they are promoting this flight you'd think the plane was landing in antartica, but it's not.

LAX772LR wrote:

Cool to see.

Funny how it's such a big deal for a carrier (with favorable geography) versus the types (SQ, EK, NZ, etc) who do/did this sort of op on a scheduled and/or daily basis.

c933103 wrote:

13700km is quite long for a 359

c933103 wrote:

with the SQ's flight to LAX only some 400km longer yet that was flown with a 359ULR

c933103 wrote:

LAX772LR wrote:

Cool to see.

Funny how it's such a big deal for a carrier (with favorable geography) versus the types (SQ, EK, NZ, etc) who do/did this sort of op on a scheduled and/or daily basis.

13700km is quite long for a 359, with the SQ's flight to LAX only some 400km longer yet that was flown with a 359ULR, and I believe Falkland is also relatively isolated from other alternative

eta unknown wrote:

I'm failing to see the significance of this flight unless LH is looking for a good news story. As stated many times above, a RAF flight operates all the time as does the flight from SCL.. The whole story sounds like a beat up- by the way they are promoting this flight you'd think the plane was landing in antartica, but it's not.

TC957 wrote:

LH have flown A346's MUC - HNL nonstop in the past for cruise ship charters. Is that not longer ?

Gonzalo wrote:

JibberJim wrote:

Yes, it certainly makes sense with the explanation of which mission had been planned for years, it was just my confusion that made me think the specific chartering had been planned for years.

I assume also Gonzalo that LH wouldn't have any other planes to make it non-stop, and avoiding any stopover was desired too?

Sadly, nowadays a stopover triggers a higher risk of contamination since it is almost impossible to provide any service to the aircraft with 100 per cent of sanitization ( Risk Zero doesn't exists ).
Looking at the direct route on GCM ( assuming they will fly that route ) they can easily divert to African/Brazilian/Uruguayan airports most of the time flying overwater in case of an emergency.


Rgds.

G.

TC957 wrote:

LH have flown A346's MUC - HNL nonstop in the past for cruise ship charters. Is that not longer ?

Gonzalo wrote:

Good Luck trying to come from Hamburg and find a seat to Mount Pleasant with Latam

hpff wrote:

Are they allowed to divert to Argentina for this flight?

AirbusOnly wrote:

Which A 350 was it? The registration is not mentioned anywhere.

c933103 wrote:

13700km is quite long for a 359, with the SQ's flight to LAX only some 400km longer yet that was flown with a 359ULR, and I believe Falkland is also relatively isolated from other alternative

LAX772LR wrote:

Cool to see.

Funny how it's such a big deal for a carrier (with favorable geography) versus the types (SQ, EK, NZ, etc) who do/did this sort of op on a scheduled and/or daily basis.

c933103 wrote:

13700km is quite long for a 359, with the SQ's flight to LAX only some 400km longer yet that was flown with a 359ULR, and I believe Falkland is also relatively isolated from other alternative

DylanHarvey wrote:

Only because it’s an A359 does everyone suddenly question if it can make it. At 280t and full fuel which is around 37t of payload at 135T DOw, 108.3t of usable fuel, 8t of reserve, 5.8/hr, you should be good for around 17:30 endurance, well over 300pax.

AirbusOnly wrote:

I think we can all assume that Lufthansa knows exactly what they are doing and that they calculated the distance, weight and route etc. precisely and chosed the type of aircraft quite deliberately. Lufthansa is still a highly reputable airline! So we all don't need to worry that the A 350 can't make it non-stop.