Archana Sharma- New Delhi
Lufthansa, the German carrier is all set to introduce Airbus 380 for the Indian Passengers by October 2014. The flight flight routes for the new aircraft will be covering New Delhi and Mumbai. Lufthansa has already received the delivery of 10 A380’s and will soon be receiving two more.
Speaking exclusively with Express TravelWorld, Wolfgang Will, director, South Asia, Lufthansa airlines, said, “By 2016, another three Airbus A380 will be part of the fleet as by then their integration will be complete. The plan is to fly the Indian passengers to San Francisco via Frankfurt in the A380 during winters as this is the high volume routes time”. The Airbus will be replacing the Boeing 747-8 in Delhi and Boeing 747 400 in Mumbai.
Talking about Lufthansa’s plans and investment in products and services, Will, commented, “For all our long haul flights we provide internet at 35,000 feet with the Flynet programme. Also going the gadget way that India is turning towards, we are planning remote and mobile boarding passes.”
Presently being the only airline that provides full 6.5′ flat beds in the business class travel segment Will stated, “We have quite a significant business traveller and with the ability to sell 80 seats on a single flight, we are known as the airlines for the business travellers”.
Becoming the first airlines to create an Indian Television commercial, which is not only focusing on the Indian values but also was shot in India, Lufthansa plans to integrate and showcase their Indian service parts with this new approach. “We are constantly looking at how we can incorporate the huge potential that the Indian market has to offer. As the leading European airlines in India, we need to have outstanding products,” he stated.
Lufthansa currently operates 46 weekly flights from New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai to Europe and beyond. Also they have daily flights with Swiss airlines from Mumbai and New Delhi and with the Austrian airlines to Vienna. In July, the airlines also joined the Star Alliance and has revenue based joint ventures with Air Canada and United Airlines.
