Quantcast

Lufthansa maintains largest passenger Boeing 747 fleet as other airlines retire quadjets

Airline CEO wants airports to cap passengers at 2 alcoholic drinks to limit on-board disruptions
Emirates Will Buy 5 Airbus A380s From Lessor For $200 Million
Delta Air Lines named official airline of the WNBA
Pair Of C-Suite Officials Depart Wheels Up
LAX Receives Final Cars for People Mover Train
Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines merger clears Justice Department hurdle, now faces DOT
Alaska Airlines flight attendants reject new contract, union says there's 'more work to do'
Elliott Investment To Push For 10 New Boardroom Directors At Southwest Airlines
Alaska Air Backs JetZero Blended-Wing Design
AI in Aviation Line Maintenance: A Strategic Response to Delays, Satisfaction, and Staffing Challenges
Air taxi service plans for 2026 Los Angeles launch at USC, SoFi and LAX
VistaJet Flight Brings Home Americans in Prisoner Swap
Air Canada Blames Paris Olympics On Decreased Profits
Delta passengers sue airline over refund refusals after CrowdStrike meltdown
Microsoft fires back at Delta after massive outage, says airline declined ‘repeated’ offers for help
Korean Air Confirms A Spacious Lounge Is Coming To The New Terminal One at New York JFK
VAS Aero Services to Acquire an Additional 17 Airbus A320 Airframes, Bringing to 23 the Total Number of A320s Slated for Teardown and Harvested Parts Redistribution
Delta CEO says CrowdStrike-Microsoft outage cost the airline $500 million
Boeing Reports $16.9 Billion In Revenue For 2nd Quarter With 5,400 Commercial Aircraft Backlog
United Airlines says flight attendant in Terrell Davis incident is no longer employed and NFL legend’s ‘no fly’ ban is lifted | CNN
Nepal Plane Crash Kills 18 After Takeoff - Airline Ratings
Southwest Airlines is getting rid of open seating | CNN Business
CrowdStrike Outage Caused 10% Spike in Air Charter
Aircraft Engine Maintenance and Repair to Peak in 2026, Worsening Capacity Shortage for Commercial Aviation, Says Bain & Company
Joby’s Electric Air Taxi Makes European Debut
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation announces NLRB-scheduled vote to remove union officials
Families recount the horror of MH17 ten years on - Airline Ratings
777-9 Enters Certification Flight Testing - AVweb
Kompass Kapital Sets New Course with Airshare Investment
SATS, SIA Engineering Company and Changi Airport Group to Trial Autonomous Buses at Changi Airport
Lufthansa maintains largest passenger Boeing 747 fleet as other airlines retire quadjets
Policy
Webp luf
Carsten Spohr Chief Executive Officer | Lufthansa Group

Lufthansa continues to operate one of the largest fleets of Boeing 747 aircraft, maintaining its role as a major operator of the iconic widebody quadjet at a time when many airlines are retiring such models in favor of more efficient twinjets. The German flag carrier, a founding member of Star Alliance, currently has 27 Boeing 747s in its fleet. This includes eight older 747-400s and 19 newer 747-8 aircraft.

The average age of Lufthansa's Boeing 747-400s is 25.5 years, compared to an overall fleet average age of 13.7 years. These jets are configured with 67 business class seats, 32 premium economy seats, and 272 economy seats. The airline’s newer Boeing 747-8s have an average age of just under 12 years and feature four-class cabins with eight first class seats, 80 in business, 32 in premium economy, and 244 in economy.

Lufthansa is also updating its aircraft interiors. As stated by the airline in March: "Since February, nine A350-900s with the new cabin interior have already been flying for Lufthansa, eight of them with the new First Class. Almost half a million passengers in all classes have now enjoyed the new cabin. This year, the retrofitting of the existing fleet with Lufthansa Allegris will commence, beginning with the Boeing 747-8."

Get the Newsletter
Sign-up to receive weekly round up of news from Sky Industry News
By submitting, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By providing your phone number you are opting in and consenting to receive recurring SMS/MMS messages, including automated texts, to that number from our short code. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help, STOP to end. SMS opt-in will not be sold, rented, or shared.

According to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium, Lufthansa scheduled a total of 754 flights using its Boeing 747-8s for September 2025—the same number as last year—offering nearly identical seat capacity but seeing a slight decrease (3.9%) in available seat miles compared to September 2024. This suggests that some routes served by these aircraft are shorter than those flown previously.

In September, Lufthansa’s Boeing 747-8 operates daily flights from Frankfurt Airport to destinations including Buenos Aires, Chicago, Houston, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Miami, Newark, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Tokyo Haneda, and Washington DC. The exception is Frankfurt to New York JFK which sees only 17 flights during the month.

The airline's use of the older Boeing 747-400 has increased compared to last year. For September this year there are plans for 266 flights offering nearly 99,000 seats—a rise over last year's figures—with corresponding increases in available seat miles as well. The main hub for these departures remains Frankfurt Airport. For this variant too New York is not served daily; instead there are only thirteen flights scheduled between Frankfurt and JFK using the -400 model this month on days when it is not operated by another variant.

Elsewhere Lufthansa flies its Boeing 747-400 daily from Frankfurt to Bengaluru Singapore Toronto and Vancouver ensuring continued deployment across long-haul international routes.

Organizations Included in this History
More News

Passengers planning summer travel for 2026 can now book flights with Lufthansa Group Airlines, which has released its schedule featuring new destinations and increased frequencies.

Oct 28, 2025

Flying Food Group, Inc. has announced its Employees of the Month at its LAV facility.

Oct 28, 2025

Flying Food Group's San Francisco facility recently celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month with its employees.

Oct 28, 2025

Etihad Airways has announced the launch of a new route connecting Abu Dhabi and Addis Ababa.

Oct 27, 2025

United Airlines has unveiled its Summer 2026 schedule, which includes new flights from Newark to Bari, Split, Santiago de Compostela, and Glasgow, as well as from Newark to Seoul and Washington, D.C., to Reykjavik.

Oct 27, 2025

Ethiopian Airlines has announced a limited-time 20% discount on fares between Addis Ababa and Porto.

Oct 27, 2025