Lufthansa To Reactivate Five Airbus A340-600s

The demand for first class cabins has been significantly higher than Lufthansa expected.

German flag carrier Lufthansa has had quite a peculiar relationship with its Airbus A340-600 fleet, from initially wanting to retire every aircraft, to having a handful of them fly on limited long-haul schedules since it has the first class cabin. Eventually, Lufthansa settled on operating a one-in-one-out plan to see a new first-class configured Airbus A350-900 retire one quadjet. But with yet another exciting twist, the airline is bringing back more Airbus A340-600s from storage.

A smaller quadjet replaces the bigger quadjet

That's right, the Star Alliance member is planning to ferry back five more Airbus A340-600s from Plataforma Aeroportuaria-Teruel and Lufthansa Technik in the Philippines. These five quadjets would join the five currently offering first class for long-haul routes from Munich. This means that shortly, the airline will be operating 10 Airbus A340-600s. But why is Lufthansa bringing these aircraft back?

The answer lies in the slow phasing out of the German carrier's Airbus A380s, which are only likely to be reactivated just before the summer season. So without the first class Airbus A350-900s nor the Airbus A380s, the only operational aircraft offering first class would be Lufthansa's Boeing 747-8 fleet, which isn't sufficient given the rising demand. A spokesperson for the airline said:

"We're bringing back the Airbus A340s to show this is how you react to growing premium demand - not only in the business but also in the private travel sector."

But unlike the current five operational quadjets, these next five will not be stationed in Munich and will instead be based in Frankfurt Airport. The reason for the station shift is that Frankfurt has seen more robust traffic development, and Lufthansa acknowledges that more aircraft are required at its largest hub for the summer season.

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The summer flight plan is still being finalized

As exciting as the news may be, the anticipation lingers as there have been no confirmed dates as to exactly when the five Airbus A340-600s will be reinstated for active service, although they will likely return in March. And since the summer flight plan is still being finalized, the routes for these quadjets are also currently undetermined.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to throw out a few guesses, with some more plausible routes to be flight services from Frankfurt Airport to Hong Kong International Airport, El Dorado International Airport, and New York John F. Kennedy International Airport. Given how one of the world's largest markets, China, is soon to reopen its highly anticipated borders, Lufthansa is likely to implement the Airbus A340-600s for flights to Beijing Capital International Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

Bottom line

From being planned that they would never fly again due to the pandemic to being reactivated for what was supposed to be for a limited period, and then to being parked and reactivated yet again, Lufthansa's Airbus A340-600s has been on quite the rollercoaster these past few years.

Unfortunately, the rollercoaster ride might come to a definite end this year as the deliveries of the first class Airbus A350-900s are soon due. Nonetheless, the return of the quadjets does highlight something that some airlines like Lufthansa weren't expecting, and that is how the demand for first class cabins is significantly higher than predicted.