Lufthansa expands Airbus A380 routes amid recovering demand

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Lufthansa expands Airbus A380 routes amid recovering demand

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Lufthansa Airbus A380 | Lufthansa

By Sky Industry News

May 26, 2025

Lufthansa is operating eight Airbus A380 aircraft from its Munich hub, focusing on routes to Asia and the United States. This comes after the airline retired six of its A380s, a decision influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. The remaining aircraft now serve eight destinations.

The consolidation of Lufthansa's A380 operations to Munich followed a dispute with Frankfurt Airport's operator, Fraport. Since March 2020, all A380 flights have been routed through Munich.

For the winter 2025/2026 schedule, Lufthansa will reintroduce the A380 on the Munich to San Francisco route. This route was last served by the superjumbo in March 2020 but was suspended due to pandemic-related travel restrictions. "The airline has already added the A380 to its booking platform, and reservations are open," as noted in their announcement.

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Comparing aircraft capacities, the switch from an Airbus A350-900 to an A380 for this route will increase seat availability by 52%. The current schedule shows that during summer, flights between Munich and San Francisco are operated by an Airbus A350-900, while in winter, they will be served by an Airbus A380-800.

Lufthansa's decision reflects a recovery in demand post-pandemic. With this addition, Lufthansa’s eight Airbus A380s will operate across eight routes this year. These include Bangkok and Delhi in Asia and six destinations in the United States: Boston, Denver, Washington D.C., New York-JFK, Los Angeles (year-round), and San Francisco (winter).

The deployment of these aircraft highlights Lufthansa's focus on high-demand markets where larger capacity is beneficial. Previously based at Frankfurt Airport until disputes over fees led to their withdrawal from there completely during the pandemic.

Before their retirement phase between 2020 and 2021 due to reduced demand for large jets during COVID-19 times, Lufthansa had a fleet of 14 A380s.