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Post by Northern Exploration on May 19, 2010 6:34:09 GMT -8
For all the multi-discipilinary-geeks out there, Lufthansa today accepted its first A380 into their fleet. They are adding 4 in a quick delivery schedule because they believe that is best for training and aircraft utilization. konzern.lufthansa.com/en/themen/a380.htmlIt was broadcast live via the net but I didn't think there were as many rabid fans to get up at 11am CET, middle of the night for West Coasters, to watch. There are rumours that there will be a training/familiarization sub in to Toronto and Vancouver. Currently Toronto has an Air Canada (AC) B77W and either a Lufthansa (LH) B747-400 or A340-600 on the Toronto to Frankfurt route, plus an additional Lufthansa flight to Munich. They have complete revenue sharing on the routes so either airline can sell seats on the flights and it is seemless. The cargo lift is significant and is very important. I don't think there is enough volume on the sector to warrant it yet, but the AC/LH combination is anxious to keep Emirates and their A380 from siphoning off too much connecting traffic to India and other locations, from LH's Frankfurt hub. The only way would be to collapse the AC flight into the one LH flight. The downside would be a loss of cargo space and brand presence for AC. Subbing the A380 into Vancouver would be for familiarization and publicity. While a lot of Germans visit BC both for skiing and for summer tours, there isn't enough volume on the route to warrant. So hopefully the rumours are true and YVR will see Big Mama/Whale Jet again, even for just a visit. Air France is doing their A380 orientation flying on the short hop Paris to London route.
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