Lufthansa is set to take delivery of its first A380 – MSN038 (D-AIMA) on May 19. Final preparations are underway for the arrival of the first of four superjumbos to join the German flag carrier this year. The first, arriving next week, will be followed by additions in June, July and September.
We want those aircraft reliable from the outset, that’s why we do not like to have a single aircraft operation for too long, so we’re getting four aircraft this year. So we have a decent fleet to start flying. That is all capacity that comes into the fleet, I do not want them faster, because it is all incremental capacity.
We set up an operational team for the entry into service which looked after airport operations, Lufthansa Technik, maintenance procedures, boarding procedures, catering, diversion airports. not necessarily because of the aircraft, because if a passenger falls sick you may have to go to a diversion airport as well. All of that was looked upon because of the delay for the past five years nearly. So we looked, hopefully, at all eventualities for the operation to have a smooth entry into service. And fly it first for our national football team, then going on to Japan.
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This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.