The list of A380 destinations in the Lufthansa schedule will soon be extended. From 10 May 2011, Lufthansa will operate a daily A380 service to the Californian city under the present flight numbers LH 454 and LH 455, replacing the Boeing 747-400 service currently offered on this route. The new Lufthansa flagship is configured with 526 seats (eight in First Class, 98 in Business Class and 420 in Economy Class), offering passengers unprecedented levels of comfort. Ticket prices for an A380 flight do not differ from regular fares on this route. Return fares to San Francisco on the A380 start at 679 euros, all inclusive. Lufthansa will continue to serve the “metropolis of the Pacific coast” from Munich daily with an Airbus A340, as well as SWISS operates daily an Airbus A340 flights from Zurich, as before.

“Lufthansa connects the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar with 21 destinations in the USA and Canada and countless more in cooperation with its Star Alliance partners”, said Mr. Peter Pollak, General Manager UAE and Director Gulf, Lufthansa German Airlines. As matters stand, Lufthansa will be the first – and only – airline operating an A380 service to and from San Francisco International Airport. Passengers can already fly on the A380, the most advanced aircraft in the Lufthansa fleet, to Johannesburg, Beijing and Tokyo. From the end of February, the Lufthansa flagship will also operate to New York. By the time the airline’s seventh A380 enters service, the A380 fleet will be taking off on 70 long-haul flights per week, covering a distance of more than half a million kilometres. Each week from then on, almost 37,000 passengers will have an opportunity to fly on an A380. Lufthansa expects to take delivery of the eighth aircraft of this type in the first half of 2011.

“Our customers are thrilled with our new flagship, and what draws most praise is the new, quiet cabin. In particular, our new First Class cabin is setting new standards,” says Dr. Karl-Rudolf Rupprecht, Lufthansa’s Head of Hub Management at Frankfurt. “Another
extremely important factor for us the high level of eco-efficiency achieved by the A380. The low specific fuel consumption of this aircraft and its very low noise emissions alreadymeet the standards of tomorrow.”

Lufthansa has served San Francisco for more than 50 years, and the city remains as popular with business travellers as with holidaymakers. Deploying the A380 will enable Lufthansa to increase its capacity on flights to San Francisco by 31 per cent.