It seems the threat of another Lufthansa strike is ebbing away as the airline has managed to agree a deal with the German trade union “Verdi”

Employees of Lufthansa Technik and Lufthasa Cargo will get a 4.7% rise, whilst those employed under Lufthansa AG will get a 3.0% rise.

The deal struck will run for 26 months, and will exculde layoffs. It will be voted on by Verdi members, and will affect 33000 workers

The deal is pending approval by union members by May 14, after 3 days of talks where more strikes were in the offing.

For those of you who have a good command of German, a full lookover by Tagesschau is at http://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/lufthansatarifverhandlungen122.html.

For the rest at least you can travel on Lufthansa without running into a strike for a bit…

The strike action that has been threatening Lufthansa for the past few days has hot today, with ground handlers walking out.

Staff at Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf and Hamburg are walking out due to talks over pay and job security.

Lufthansa say this strike is uncalled for as dates for further talks had been agreed.

A total of 32 flights will operate today, as opposed to the 1700+ flights that normally run – in effect, shutting down the airline for the day. This is split between 20 short haul flights and 12 long haul flights.

However for the traveller, there is a Lufthansa sized hole in services today. Rebookings are being offered, but travel today could be a pain.

More information at http://www.lufthansa.com/de/en/Travel-information (although the site is slow today).

Good luck if you need to travel today.

Time for something a bit different for this Easter Saturday video Saturday – and it takes you behind the scenes of 66 hours a Lufthansa MD-11 going around the world, picking up and dropping off cargo as it goes – from cars to horses to footballs.

This was an ARD Production that someone put a wrapper around – however, that doesn’t stop it from being a darn good 30 minutes of what goes on in the land of freight dogs.

Back to the Safety Videos next week!

Another day, another set of strikes. This time the strikes are by the ver.di union as they take action against Lufthansa over pay in Germany.

The strike runs form 05:00 to 12:00CET, with short haul flights operating from Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne all hit, leading to 514 cancellations.

The full list is at http://www.lufthansa.com/online/portal/lh/de/info_and_services/irregularities/canceled_flights?nodeid=3526064&l=en&cid=18002

Long haul flights are expected to operate without disruption.

Whilst the strike finishes at 12:00, there will be a knock-on through the day due to aircraft not being in position.

As usual when a strike like this kicks off, check before you travel.

It seems Lufthansa group is on the mood to splash the cash, with announcement of some major orders today.

The airline group is ordering:

• 2 Airbus A380′s
• 100 Airbus A320 series aircraft (split into different sections)
• 6 Boeing 777-300ER’s

The most interesting part of the order is the Boeing 777-300ER’s which will be going to Swiss International Airlines – whilst other Lufthansa group airlines have run 777′s (Austrian airlines), Swiss will be the first of the group to operate the 777-300ER to replace some of Airbus A340-300 fleet.

Deliveries of the 777-300ER’s will commence in 2016.

Turning back to Lufthansa itself, 100 A320′s are on the books, split along the following lines:

• 30 A320Ceo (Current Engine Option) with sharklets
• 35 A320Neo (New Engine Option)
• 35 A321Neo (New Engine Option)

And yes, the Neo options will have a new engines as well as aerodynamic improvements, which will mean… You’ve guessed it – sharklets!

You’ll note that Austrian Airlines are absent, and won’t have any new aircraft ordered for them – rather Austrian will have 7 Airbus A320 leased for their operations

So a big old order today, with Lufthansa Group now having 236 aircraft on order, with 34 to be delivered this year.

Well it seems those aircraft with sharklets are appearing in more places now, with Lufthansa taking delivery of its first Airbus A320 with Sharklets.

Image – Lufthansa AG.

As regular readers know, a Sharklet is a wingtip device that is replacing the wingtip fence that has been seen on many an A319/A319/A320/A321/A380, with the aim of reducing fuel burn and increasing range, cutting it from 1% to 4% dependant on length and flight pattern.

Lufthansa will be taking delivery of 22 A320 equipped Sharklet airplanes by 2015, with plans to deploy them on the longer European routes that you see A320′s on.

Lufthansa has loaded some reasonable Business Class fares for departures from the United Kingdom. Destinations and prices start as listed:

Abu Dhabi        £1,599
Addis Ababa      £1,499
Amman            £1,099
Bahrain          £1,699
Bangkok          £1,729
Beijing          £1,729
Beirut           £1,149
Busan            £1,799
Cairo              £999
Doha             £1,699
Dubai            £1,599
Ho Chi Minh City £1,859
Johannesburg     £1,899
Khartoum         £1,499
Kuala Lumpur     £1,859
Kuwait           £1,599
Lagos            £1,699
Nagoya           £2,129
Nanjing          £1,679
Osaka            £2,249
Qingdao          £1,679
Seoul            £1,799
Shenyang         £1,679
Singapore        £1,799
Tehran           £1,399
Tokyo            £2,199
Tel Aviv           £999

Price point data: http://www.lufthansa.com/online/portal/lh/uk/specials/booking?l=en&nodeid=3223456
with a departure from London Heathrow. Departures also available from Aberdeen, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester

Whilst these prices look good on the outside, the devil is in the detail. The conditions for these tickets are a bit restrictive for those thinking these will make reasonable mileage run tickets:

Data: Lufthansa.com

You read that right: A 10 day minimum stay is required. So for those of you who like to visit a place for a few days only may be out of luck on this ticket. Those of you who have longer business trips, or are thinking about fares for a holiday could find this of use.

There’s also another stinger for Miles and More collectors (as well as anyone attempting to collect a decent amount of Star Alliance miles) – these book into the dreaded P Fare Bucket

P earns 100% mileage only on Miles and More (and may be worth less or more in other programmes).

They are reasonable fares – but use with caution – they’re no way what I’d call a mileage run fare in the least.

Thankfully, this might spark a fare war to certain destinations – it could be very well worth keeping your eyes open…

The fallout of replacement Berlin Airport continues, with Lufthansa making a major retreat and service axe for services from Berlin-Tegel.

Two aircraft out of the fifteen based at Berlin-Tegel will be pulled, a mixture of service reductions and cancellations.

Here’s what’s known so far:

Services withdrawn from Berlin-Tegel

• Manchester
• Amsterdam
• Budapest
• Lyon

Services facing major reduction (50% cut)

• Geneva
• Milan
• Stockholm

Services with other reductions (30%~40%):

• Bucharest
• Helsinki
• Moscow Vnukovo
• Paris CDG

German Domestic Services will cut to with reductions on routes to:

• Cologne
• Düsseldorf
• Stuttgart

(Data: Business Traveller and The Local as Lufthansa has failed to post anything in their travel news section)

The cuts take effect from 31st March 2013. Reroutes are being offered where possible, with a change of plane in most cases.

The reasons for the cuts are multiple. Some routes simply have not performed, some have suffered yield problems (the classic “too many people buying cheap fares and not enough buying expensive fares”). Of course, one of the main given was the repeated delays to the planned opening of the new Berlin-Brandenburg airport.

Which sums up the Berlin Brandenburg Airport project in a nutshell. Delayed and not suitable for purpose.

If Lufthansa is suffering just with 15 planes based at Tegel, the corridors of power at Air Berlin must be just as dark…

Lufthansa is to take an axe to some of its first class seats aboard its international services by 25% according to Bloomberg.

The cuts will be targeted in two ways – on certain routes (such as Vancouver) and plane classes (Airbus A340-300 and Boeing 747-400).

Chief Executive Officer Christoph Franz says:

“They’ll serve routes where there is simply no more demand for first class”

For Lufthansa, who have 94 out of 100 planes long haul planes with First Class seats, it boils down to who will actually pay to sit in those seats – and pay the hard cash as opposed to others who dip into miles to pay for First.

So what’s going in their place? Business Class seats. As Lufthansa is at a halfway point through refurbishing its fleet, with first class seats being looked at. These have been installed from the get-go on the 747-8i, and are being deployed the A380, newer Boeing 747-400′s, A330′s and unspecified A340′s (probably the -600 subclass).

Lufthansa is also deploying its new Business Class product too its plane but is being careful about how they are doing it. Most of the current business class product is a wedgie/angle seat, with the airline deploying fully flat. As a result, this can compromise space down the back of the plane.

Christoph Franz says:

“We need to be extremely careful. We must make sure our seat design takes up a lot less extra space compared to rivals as our business class is so much larger. You need to save some space for economy.”

Considering Lufthansa is also squeezing Premium Economy in too, this could prove to be fun – there’s only so much room on a plane.

It’s a tough balance to get right – and whilst this may disappoint upgraders, there is the commercial fact that if there’s no one in the seat, the airline isn’t making money. Cutting First from very low yield routes like this will create more space for Business and Premium Economy, seemingly where the money is these days.

Meanwhile, some interesting news has turned up form Sueddeutsche Zeitung (Google Translated) has indicated that the next round of major purchasing will be to replace the A340′s in the fleet – with the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350 in contention when the order comes.

Never let it be said the aviation business stands still.

… and it doesn’t take a genius to work out both Boeing and Airbus will be in the picture for the order

Lufthansa’s supervisory board has given clearance for negotiations to begin with the aircraft manufactures for the 100 narrow-body aircraft (single isle) and 8 wide-body (twin isle) aircraft.

Which way Lufthansa goes will be an interesting question – In terms of fleet it operates one hell of a mixed back from both manufacturers:

• From Airbus: A319, A320, A321, A330, A340, A380
• From Boeing 737-300, 737-500, 747-400, 747-8i

In the narrow-body race, there could be an indication what could happen as Lufthansa has placed an order for 25 A320neo and 5 A321neo (New Engine Option)aircraft. In the past Lufthansa was a Boeing narrow-body customer until Airbus’s A320 product came – and took the custom. As the transition could be swift, more A320neo/A319neo/A321neo aircraft could be on the way if the negotiations go well. Of course, there’s always the new 737-MAX series that is coming from Boeing that could spoil the party if its priced low enough.

Whatever happens, Lufthansa’s fleet of 737 classics will be withdrawn by 2016 – a bit late for the 737-MAX’s to arrive (due 2017) whilst the Airbus neo aircraft should be rolling off the production line from 2015.

Of course, there is the left-field view that Bombardier could sneak in with its CSeries aircraft…

The wide-body side is a much more interesting side with Lufthansa selecting different aircraft for different missions as can be seen above. The last wide-body purchases for Lufthansa were the 747-8i’s, and it will depend what capacity the airline is looking to increase or replace.

As the new generation of long haul aircraft are coming on-line, efficiency is becoming the name of the game – transporting the most passengers for the least amount of fuel to make the most money. It also depends if Lufthansa is going for expansion or replacement.

Could this open the path to the A350… or the quietly talked about upgraded 777… or even the 787? This will be interesting to watch, no matter what Lufthansa winds up buying…

For some time, Lufthansa has been umming and ahhing over a Premium Economy product, and it seems the airline has finally given into deploying a PE product in its Intercontinental fleet.

According to Lufthansa, they are planning what they are calling a ” substantially upgraded economy product”,with details to be finalised in 2013

In the Press release, Lufthansa states:

Premium Economy will be installed on the entire intercontinental fleet. This substantially up-graded Economy product will fill the gap between the superior Business Class segment, which features a seat that can be converted into a fully flat bed, on one side and the classic Economy Class on the other. This will appeal to both leisure travellers seeking additional comfort and business travellers.

Premium Economy can go one of three ways:

• A Business Minus Product – where the amenities are more business class, but the seat isn’t (ala Qantas)
• An Premium Economy Product – Using different seats, different service levels  (ala British Airways, LOT)
• An Economy Plus Product (ala United, American, Delta, KLM) where the only difference is seat pitch.

Hopefully Lufthansa will realise that a PE product is more than just a seat – and will also beef up the service in the cabin as well.

When the final details come out, I’ll be watching carefully to see how Lufthansa does it.