News

Lufthansa A380 service to Delhi postponed

28 Oct 2014 by Alex McWhirter

Lufthansa was supposed to have launched an A380 service to Delhi at the start of the winter timetable on Sunday — but it never happened.

The German airline, which would have been the first European carrier to instigate superjumbo service to India, had to instead make do with one of its smaller, more conventional B747-8s.

The alteration is the result of Indian bureaucracy as the local authorities have not yet issued the relevant paperwork, reports aerotelegraph.com.

This is all the more surprising when you consider that this A380 service had been publicised for months both by Lufthansa itself and the global media (see news, September 1).

In truth, Lufthansa is not having the best of luck with its A380 plans for India.

As Business Traveller has reported on a number of occasions, most recently last month (see news, September 15), Lufthansa had originally intended to launch A380 flights to Mumbai months ago but lack of gate space (Mumbai has only one gate capable of taking A380/B747-8 size aircraft) meant the service there had to be postponed until this month. And then, for some reason known only to Mumbai airport officials, Lufthansa was jilted at the last minute in favour of Emirates.

There would be no such problem with Delhi, or so it was assumed. 

So while Lufthansa was forced to surrender to Emirates at Mumbai, Delhi would go ahead as planned... until the present situation arose.

What is happening now is that the German Embassy in Delhi is seeking an urgent meeting with the relevant Indian government department.

According to a Lufthansa spokesperson: "It is expected that a solution to the problem can be found in the coming days."

So where does that leave Lufthansa passengers? Well, for starters, many will be disappointed, because the A380 — which has not been purchased by any Indian carrier — is a very popular aircraft with local travellers. The A380s of both SIA and Emirates, the two foreign carriers already taking their A380s to India, report very high load factors.

But, more serious is the fact that a good number of travellers may not secure a Lufthansa seat on the day and time they want.

That is because flights to and from India are heavily booked, and one of Lufthansa's A380s can seat 526 passengers, which is just over 100 more than can be accommodated on a B747-8.

In addition, Lufthansa stands to lose much revenue. The vast majority of its passengers departing India are not destined for Germany at all; many are transferring in Frankfurt for points in the UK, mainland Europe or North America.

Let's hope a solution can be found to the current situation as soon as possible.

lufthansa.com

Alex McWhirter

Loading comments...

Search Flight

See a whole year of Reward Seat Availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Be up-to-date
Magazine Subscription
To see our latest subscription offers for Business Traveller editions worldwide, click on the Subscribe & Save link below
Polls