Summary
- Lufthansa is upgrading its aircraft on the Frankfurt-Mumbai route, replacing the older Airbus A340s with more fuel-efficient Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.
- The brand new aircraft will increase passenger capability on the route from roughly 1,953 to 2,058 passengers per week.
- Lufthansa is placing a greater emphasis on India, with greater plans for the long run.
German flag carrier Lufthansa appears to be focused on expanding its footprint within the Indian subcontinent with an upgraded aircraft deployment for flight services from Frankfurt to Mumbai. While the route currently utilizes the airline’s older Airbus A340s, they’ll soon get replaced with the much newer Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners from late October until mid-January next yr.
Lufthansa’s Dreamliner heads to Mumbai
At present, Lufthansa currently operates a once-daily non-stop flight from Frankfurt Airport to Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport with flight LH 756, with the return leg operating as LH 757. The airline deploys the older and fewer fuel-efficient long-haul Airbus A340-300s for this route, allowing it to ferry an estimated 1,953 passengers to Mumbai weekly.
But starting from October twenty ninth, the flag carrier will deploy the larger and more fuel-efficient Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners on this route, further allowing the airline to move roughly 2,058 passengers to Mumbai weekly. Besides a capability difference, the Boeing widebody doesn’t feature any first-class cabins, as an alternative boasting 26 seats in business class, 21 in premium economy, and 247 in economy class.
Photo: Simlinger | Shutterstock
While passengers still won’t get to experience Lufthansa’s recent and upcoming Allegris business class cabins yet, an aircraft upgrade remains to be warmly welcomed. Albeit it’s pretty temporary, because the Boeing 787-9s will operate the day by day rotation of the Frankfurt-Mumbai route until January 14th next yr, before Lufthansa re-deploys the jumbo Boeing 747-400s.
A much bigger emphasis on India
The flag carrier’s decision to deploy the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners for the Frankfurt-Mumbai route comes just a few months after it announced a well-anticipated return to Hyderab Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on January sixteenth next yr. For that thrice weekly route, Lufthansa will even deploy the Boeing widebody. And along with these adjustments, the German carrier will even revive its Munich-Bengaluru route for this winter, which the Airbus A350-900s will operate.
Suppose all these still don’t show how clear Lufthansa’s renewed deal with India is; there’s also the upgrade on the Frankfurt-Bengaluru route from the Boeing 747-400 to the 747-8 aircraft. The airline’s footprint in India will eventually total five destinations, including Recent Delhi from Frankfurt, Mumbai and Bengaluru from Frankfurt and Munich, Chennai from Frankfurt, and the upcoming Hyderabad from Frankfurt.
Photo: Lufthansa
And since there is a greater emphasis on India now, given the way it’s one in all the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets, the potential of recent routes is undoubtedly in the long run cards for Lufthansa. Since each are Star Alliance members, the airline might soon begin enhancing its partnership with Air India to work on further connections inside India for Lufthansa, Germany, and the remaining of Europe for Air India.
Bottom line
Now that the Frankfurt-Mumbai route is getting an aircraft upgrade, perhaps the subsequent path to follow suit could possibly be the Frankfurt-Chennai route, which currently utilizes the Airbus A340-300s as well. And perhaps once Lufthansa finishes the revamp and stabilization of its fleet or when an improved partnership with Air India is finished will the airline expand further in India.