Travellers eager to fly on Lufthansa’s Airbus A380 for the Frankfurt–Mumbai route will be disappointed to hear that the carrier is no longer able to put the A380 on this route… at least for the time being.
As reported by Business Traveller Asia-Pacific (see here), Lufthansa was originally supposed to deploy the superjumbo to Mumbai from October 26. However, it has now been revealed that Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) has instead chosen to grant Emirates continued access of its only A380-capable contact gate during the winter schedule, causing problems for the German flag carrier.
According to Business Standard, a schedule clash between Lufthansa and Emirates has caused the issue. Flights by the carriers are separated by a mere few minutes, making it impossible for the airport to accommodate both carriers.
MIAL has stressed that it will be creating more A380 contact bays in the future, but this will only be available 15 months from now. Therefore, the earliest the German carrier will be able to deploy its superjumbo will be towards the end of 2015.
Due to the change, Lufthansa will continue to operate the Frankfurt–Mumbai route with the Boeing 747-400 aircraft. The jumbo jet offers eight seats in first, 80 in business and 234 in economy.
Operation times will remain the same, with flight LH756 departing Frankfurt at 1245 before arriving at 0110 the following day in Mumbai. The return service sees flight LH757 leave Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 0305 and arrive back in Frankfurt Airport at 0720.
For more information, visit lufthansa.com
Clement Huang
