Lufthansa’s first commercial flight with the Airbus A380 in three years has taken off on June 1, 2023.
The aircraft, registered as D-AIMK, is currently in the air, flying between Munich Airport (MUC) and Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) on flight LH424.
The Airbus A380 returned to the German airline’s fleet after more than three years, when a large majority of bigger, quad-engine aircraft were grounded during the COVID-19 pandemic due to a lack of demand for air travel and the aircraft’s exuberant operating costs.
According to flightradar24.com data, the aircraft departed MUC at 4:01 PM local time (UTC +2) and is estimated to arrive at BOS at 5:54 PM local time (UTC -5). Throughout the past few weeks, the Airbus A380 and its crews were operating many training and familiarization flights, visiting many European cities as pilots were getting to grips with the aircraft once again.
Lufthansa, like many airlines that previously operated the Airbus A380, has ungrounded the type in response to the rise in travel demand post-pandemic. While the German airline group has reiterated that the aircraft has no long-term future at the airline, a total of at least six A380s will potentially rejoin the carrier’s fleet by 2024.
Currently, the airline is still mulling whether to reactivate two aircraft of the type, while the remaining four will be based at MUC for the upcoming months.
The Frankfurt Airport (FRA)-based airline has scheduled several flights from MUC using the A380, including to destinations such as Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK), BOS, and New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).
Previously, Lufthansa operated as many as 14 Airbus A380 aircraft.