Lufthansa is bringing back the Airbus A380, and its first stop is Boston
Service begins June 1.
Lufthansa is bringing its Airbus A380 out of retirement and expanding service in Boston and New York, the airline announced Wednesday.
The German airline will use the large wide-body airliner, the world’s largest passenger plane, for service between Munich, Germany, and Logan Airport beginning June 1, followed by service between Munich and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on July 4.
The company retired its fleet of Airbus A380 aircraft three years ago when travel decreased during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Due to the significant increase in demand for airline tickets and the delayed delivery of ordered aircraft, Lufthansa had decided in 2022 to reactivate the Airbus A380, which is particularly popular with passengers and crews,” Lufthansa officials said in a press release.
As air travel returns to pre-pandemic levels, the Superjumbo is enjoying a revival, according to CNN.
“It’s definitely having a comeback,” Geoff Van Klaveren, an aviation analyst and managing director of advisory at IBA, told the news outlet. “Operators were quite reluctant to bring it back because it’s a very costly airplane, but I think we’ve seen demand recovering faster than people expected.”
The double-decker with 509 seats has about 80% more capacity than Lufthansa’s current plane flying the Boston to Munich route, which is the Airbus A340-600, the company noted. The A380 offers four classes of travel: eight seats in First Class, 78 seats in Business Class, 52 seats in Premium Economy, and 371 seats in Economy Class.
Lufthansa said it plans to have four A380 aircraft operating by the end of the year.