Lufthansa: Airbus A380 waves from Munich but short-haul operations

It’s the first to return: Lufthansa’s D-AIMK flew Wednesday morning (April 12) from Frankfurt to Leipzig, where the Airbus A380 made several loops before landing. Then, after a short time on the ground, we continued on to Munich around noon.

The D-AIMK is the first super jumbo aircraft that Lufthansa has brought back to Munich. The airline had previously brought the four-wheel cooler from its long-term car park in Teruel, Spain, to Frankfurt. From there, she moved to Main Maintenance at Lufthansa Technic in Manila. Three more A380s will follow later this summer.

Superjumbo workouts are coming

Lufthansa’s A380 crews are trained in both simulator and flight training – possibly also at airports in Dresden, Leipzig/Halle and Hanover, Lufthansa explained in March. Initially, it didn’t look as if the airline would also use the A380 on regular short-haul routes with passengers as part of training.

But the chances of that happening are now increasing. “The next few weeks are mainly for training, for both cabin crews and cockpit crews,” Richard Lenz, Head of A380 Training, said on Lufthansa’s Instagram channel.

Some flights are also likely to be short-haul.

That is, we will conduct training to fly the aircraft. Fellows will be training in the simulator,” Lenz says. “And then we’ll probably do some short-haul trips to be ready to fly to Boston on June 1st.”

From June 1, Boston will be Lufthansa’s first regular destination for the revitalized A380s from Munich. Starting July 4, New York JFK will be added as a second destination.

Two more A380s next year

In 2024, Lufthansa wants to return two more Airbus A380s to service, so there will be a total of six. That leaves two more giant behemoths that the German airline can reactivate as well.