Lufthansa suspended its Frankfurt-Pune service only a couple of months ago.
But now comes news that Germany’s national airline will restart the route on November 1.
Lufthansa itself has not announced the news in the UK. Details were spotted on India’s LivefromaLounge.com, and the flights are now open for booking on lufthansa.com.
Previously Lufthansa was leasing a B737 from upmarket Swiss carrier Privatair for the Frankfurt-Pune route, with the aircraft having to stop in Romania to take on extra fuel.
This time Lufthansa is using its own Airbus A319. The downside is that this narrow-body aircraft will retain its intra-Europe configuration. It too needs an en route refuelling stop in borh directions, which, on this occasion, will be in Baku.
The configuration will be two-class: 44 business and 72 economy seats.
But whereas Privatair’s B737 was configured with decent business class seating the ones to be found on the A319 are the convertible model found on short routes like Frankfurt-Zurich or London-Munich.
So it’s a trade-off between comfort and convenience. Travellers will have to decide whether to use their local airport or endure the lengthy drive to Mumbai (with its greater choice of flights).
Lufthansa believes passengers will prefer the former.
Why cannot Lufthansa use a proper wide-body aircraft? It’s simply because Pune cannot cope with larger aircraft.
As might be expected Lufthansa’s schedules are timed for the needs of connecting passengers and they are:
- LH768 Frankfurt-Pune departs 1030, arrives 0050 the following day
- LH769 Pune-Frankfurt departs 0210, arrives 0915
