Lufthansa's first A380 aircraft will visit several locations in Germany during training flights in early June, before transporting the German football team and fans to Johannesburg for the World Cup.
The carrier takes delivery of its first superjumbo, officially named Frankfurt am Main, on May 19, and will take the aircraft on a series of mandatory training flights (with no passengers onboard), to enable its pilots to acquire a licence to fly the aircraft.
Depending on weather conditions the superjumbo is due to visit Karlsruhe airport on May 31, followed by Leipzig on June 1, Frankfurt/Stuttgart/Zurich/Vienna/Dresden/Linz and Munich on June 2, and Frankfurt/Berlin Tegel/Hanover/Bremen/Dusseldorf/ and Cologne/Bonn on June 3.
The aircraft will then transport the German football team, along with delegates of the DFB (the German Football Association) and around 150 fans on its first long-haul flight to Johannesburg on June 6, in time for the start of the World Cup on June 11.
Lufthansa has yet to officially announce the date or destination for its inaugural regular scheduled service with the A380, but there are persistent rumours that New York will be the first to see the aircraft. Indeed the Lufthansa_USA Twitter page tweeted on November 6, 2009:
“Great news for our U.S. customers: We will inaugurate our Airbus A380 on service between Frankfurt and New York next year.”
For more information visit lufthansa.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
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