The A380 is Back: Lufthansa’s Majestic Return to New York Skies

After a three-year break, during which the superjumbo was put in long-term storage with no clear future plans, Lufthansa has restarted A380 operations to New York JFK. The German airline started up A380 flights to Boston again last month, and this winter it will start up flights to Bangkok and Los Angeles.

Return to New York of the Lufthansa A380
On 4th July an Airbus A380 will be used for the first time in more than three years to carry passengers on Lufthansa Flight LH410 from Munich International Airport (MUC) to New York JFK Airport (JFK). The flight departed Munich’s Terminal 2 at 12:15 today, and as of this writing, it is soaring over the North Sea on its way to New York, where it is scheduled to land shortly after 14:30 EDT.

Eight passengers can travel in first class, 78 in business, 52 in premium economy, and 371 in economy on the airline’s A380 aircraft. The massive aircraft makes its triumphant return just in time for the busy summer months, bringing with it a welcome 80% increase in capacity over the Airbus A340s that Lufthansa formerly used on this route.

• From 4th July through 27th October, the A380 will operate daily flights to and from New York. The complete schedule is as follows:
• At 12:10, flight LH410 from Munich to New York City (MUC) lands at JFK.
  JFK to MUC flight LH411 departs New York at 17:30 and lands in Munich at 07:35 (+1).

D-AIMK, the airline’s first A380 to emerge from storage and the pilot of the first returning A380 flight to Boston last month, is the first Lufthansa A380 to arrive in New York. D-AIMK was unable to retract its landing gear as it left its temporary base at Teruel Airport, as Simple Flying reported in December. As a result, it departed at a lower speed and altitude than usual. After extensive maintenance since then, it is now capable of carrying out commercial flights once more.

The aircraft, which joined Lufthansa’s fleet in April 2014, was the eleventh of the airliner’s 14 A380s to be delivered. It spent more than 2.5 years in a Spanish desert before flying between Munich and Boston numerous times in the previous month.

The A380 schedule
This summer, as Lufthansa previously announced in March, the A380 would fly often on its routes to Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) and New York JFK. On 1st June it redeployed its A380s to Boston, marking the carrier’s first flights with the double-decker since the pandemic. There are currently just two A380s in service; the other is D-AIMM.

In October, Lufthansa will switch its A380s to the winter season’s Los Angeles and Bangkok routes. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) A380 flights will start on 5th October and run through 30th March 2024, while Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) A380 flights will resume on 28th October and run through 30th March 2024.