Lufthansa to operate hourly shuttle flights on domestic routes this winter

This winter Lufthansa is introducing hourly flights on three of its domestic German routes: from Frankfurt to Hamburg, Munich and Berlin. For example, on weekdays between 6.00 and 20.00 hrs, flights from Hamburg to Frankfurt will depart every hour on the hour (e.g. at 10.00 hrs, 11.00 hrs, 12.00 hrs. etc.). In the mornings and evenings, some twice-hourly services will also be operated. Departure times for flights to and from Berlin, however, will always be at 45 minutes past the hour.
New Berlin schedule well received
The customer response to Lufthansa?s expanded flight schedule from Berlin has been very positive, and a further three new tourist destinations will be added this winter. Lufthansa has already welcomed more than 600,000 additional passengers aboard its new flights from Berlin. In September, the airline launched its first non-stop service to the historic city of Marrakech in Morocco, as well as to Funchal, the capital of Madeira, the popular Portuguese holiday island. Both destinations are also served from D?sseldorf. From mid-December, Lufthansa will bring the Alps a little closer to the German capital. Three times a week, the airline will fly winter sports enthusiasts from Berlin to Innsbruck, the Tyrolean capital.
Tel Aviv to be served non-stop from four German airports
From 1 November 2012, Lufthansa passengers will also be able to fly direct to Tel Aviv from D?sseldorf in four hours. The new route from D?sseldorf, the regional capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, complements the existing connections to Tel Aviv from Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin. From November, travellers will have a choice of 23 flight connections between Germany and Israel, which will be operated with an Airbus A321.
New Lufthansa route from Munich to Cape Town and Rotterdam
Lufthansa is also launching a new service from Munich to the Dutch port of Rotterdam. The new route, which will be operated with a Lufthansa CityLine CRJ900, will offer customers a convenient connection to the economic region centred around Rotterdam and The Hague. Rotterdam will thus become the second destination in Holland after Amsterdam to be served by Lufthansa. From 28 October, when the new timetable goes into effect, the winter service to Cape Town will operate from Lufthansa?s Munich hub.
Lufthansa transports skis and snowboards free of charge
Lufthansa is making flying to winter sports destinations even more attractive. The new free baggage allowance, which applies to tickets issued on or after 1 June 2012, entitles virtually all passengers ? except those flying to the US and Canada ? to check in a pair of skis or a snowboard free of charge, in addition to their free baggage allowance. Lufthansa flies to numerous gateways to ski resorts in the Alps such as Nice, Turin, Geneva, Zurich, Milan, Verona, Innsbruck and Salzburg.
Boeing 747-8s deployed on more routes
During the winter season, Lufthansa will deploy the ?Queen of the Air?, the Boeing 747-8, on more routes. Three aircraft of this type are already in service on routes from Frankfurt to Washington, Bangalore and Delhi. In the coming months, the youngest aircraft type in Lufthansa?s long-haul fleet is also scheduled to fly to Los Angeles. Business Class on the new ?jumbo? is equipped with a seat that converts into a lie-flat bed. Lufthansa?s long-haul fleet will gradually be fitted with the new Business Class seat. Six aircraft have already been fitted with the seat, which will be installed across the entire fleet by 2015.
Despite the difficult economic climate, Lufthansa will maintain the stability of its flight timetable and make only a few minor changes to its route network in the coming winter season. Lufthansa customers can therefore count on the usual wide range of flight options. The new winter programme encompasses 199 destinations in 81 countries (prior year: 199 destinations in 82 countries). In order to ensure the cost-effectiveness of its operations, Lufthansa is withdrawing individual flights on a number of routes over the coming months, and has further adjusted capacity to match expected demand, particularly during the Christmas holiday period. This winter, Lufthansa will offer its customers an average of 11,628 flights per week. Flight movements will be reduced year-on-year by 5.6 per cent (previous year: 12,322 flights). However, capacity measured in terms of available seat-kilometres will only be reduced by 3.9 per cent as, among other things, larger aircraft will be deployed than a year ago. The winter timetable will run from Sunday 28 October 2012 to Saturday 30 March 2013.
For commercial reasons, Lufthansa is withdrawing its service to London Gatwick /UK, but will continue to operate 233 flights per week to London Heathrow and London City. Services to Casablanca, Morocco (winter season only), Jakarta, Indonesia and Rostov, Russia will also be dropped.
This winter, the carriers in the Lufthansa Airline Group ? Lufthansa, Austrian, Brussels and SWISS ? will serve a total of 253 destinations in 103 countries in four continents via their Brussels, D?sseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Zurich hubs and will supplement each other?s services with numerous codeshare flights.

New destinations in bold