Route announcements are coming in droves as airlines put their finishing touches on their Summer 2013 timetables. Today’s update again has several updates from a variety of Star Alliance member carriers:

AEGEAN:

ATHENS-GENEVA effective April 24 will BEGIN 3x/week service.
ATHENS-KIEV ZHULYANY effective April 3 will BEGIN 2x/week service.

AUSTRIAN:

VIENNA-ST. PETERSBURG effective March 31 will increase from 1x/day to 2x/day.

BRUSSELS:

BRUSSELS-WASHINGTON(IAD) effective June 18 will BEGIN 5x/week service (more details)

EGYPTAIR:

CAIRO-ATHENS effective June 1 will increase from 10x/week to 14x/week.

LUFTHANSA:

FRANKFURT-KAZAN-PERM effective April 1 is CANCELLED.

THAI (SMILE):

BANGKOK-AHMEDABAD effective March 31 will BEGIN 2x/week service.
BANGKOK-LAHORE effective June 1 will increase from 5x/week to 1x/DAY.
BANGKOK-SYDNEY effective between April 7 and May 30 will be reduced from 12x/week to 11x/week.
BANGKOK-TAIPEI effective March 31 will be reduced from 18x/week to 14x/week.
PHUKET-DELHI effective March 31 will BEGIN 2/xweek service.
PHUKET-KUALA LUMPUR effective March 31 will BEGIN 4x/week serivce.
PHUKET-MUMBAI effective March 31 will BEGIN 2x/week service.

TURKISH:

ISTANBUL(IST)-AQABA effective April 3 wilL BEGIN 3x/week service.

UNITED:

GUAM-TOKYO(NRT) effective between July 14 and September 29 will increase from 3x/day to 4x/day.

US AIRWAYS:

PHOENIX-CALGARY effective June 30 will be reduced from 2x/day to 1x/day.
CHARLOTTE-SAO PAULO beginning of new 1x/day service is delayed until June 8 (was to start May 5).

PREVIOUS STAR ALLIANCE ROUTE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Courtesy: www.AirlineRoute.net

Starting January 1, Lufthansa will offer Personal Assitants to help HON Circle Members and First Class Passengers who fly to certain Lufthansa destinations world-wide. These assistants will meet passengers at their plane upon arrival and help escort them through immigration and passport control, baggage claim AND accompany them to their connecting gate should the passenger have onward travel.

To a large extent, similar benefits are already in place for HON Circle members in most markets, however it seems that they are standardizing the program and expanding it to include First Class passengers.

The program will be available at most non-European destinations where Lufthansa has scheduled flights. Additionally, a HON Circle member DOES NOT need to be flying in any specific cabin class to have the Personal Assistant help them when they arrive. Keep in mind that this program only applies to Lufthansa operated flights.

I really welcome this program since it adds that personal touch to a travel experience. Many times when I left a Lufthansa flight after flying in First, the abrupt shock of being in an airport without priority services was sometimes a bit harsh. This helps make up for it very nicely!

Though the program is set to begin January 1, it may take the entire month of January to have the Personal Assistants in place throughout the network. Also, due to the sheer volume of traffic, Personal Assistants WILL NOT be available in Frankfurt or Munich. But honestly, the First Class Lounges and First Class Terminal quickly makes up for that!

Just a very brief post this morning.

Lufthansa’s 747-8i is set to debut in Los Angeles later today when it arrives at approximately 1:00pm (Los Angeles time). Flight 456 from Frankfurt is being operated by D-ABYA, which was the first 747-8i delivered to Lufthansa and which entered service on June 1.

I was fortunate enough to be in Frankfurt in June for the event celebrating the launch, and was equally fortunate to have experienced the 747-8i First Class cabin a few days later. Its a wonderful aircraft!!

I also had the chance to be on the observation deck in Frankfurt when D-ABYA left for Washington Dulles on her maiden voyage on June 1.

Next up for the 747-8i as far as US cities are concerned will be Chicago.

AIR CANADA:

Montreal-Barcelona 2x/week is CANCELED for the summer timetable.
Toronto-Bogota effective May 2 to May 27 will increase from 3x/week to 4x/week.
Toronto-Bogota effective June 1 to June 30 will increase from 4x/week to 5x/week.
Toronto-Bogota effective July 1 to September 27 will increase from 5x/week to 6x/week.
Toronto-Bogota effective September 28 will decrease from 6x/week to 4x/week.
Toronto-Santiago de Chile effective July 4 will increase from 5x/week to 6x/week.

EGYPTAIR:

Cairo-Rome effective March 31 will increase from 11x/week to 14x/week.

LUFTHANSA:

Dusseldorf-Glasgow effective April 8 will BEGIN 6x/week service.
Dusseldorf-Glasgow effective June 27 to September 4 will increase from 6x/week to 1x/day.

US AIRWAYS:

Charlotte-Sao Paulo effective May 5 will BEGIN 1x/day service.

PREVIOUS STAR ALLIANCE ROUTE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Courtesy: www.AirlineRoute.net

Lufthansa has listed new routes that it will fly for a limited time during their 2013 Summer Timetable. These new routes focus on “Resort Destinations” and will primarily be to destinations in Bulgaria, Spain and Portugal.

Most of these routes will only have a few flights per peek but are available now for booking. If you would like to get a head start on your travel plans for 2013 this may be a good opportunity to take advantage of these new routes.

The routes are as follows:

Berlin-Antalya effective June 20 to August 4 will operate 5x/week.
Berlin-Faro effective June 19 to August 4 will operate 2x/week.
Berlin-Mahon effective June 21 to August 2 will operate 1x/week.

Dusseldorf-Jerez De La Frontera effective July 22 to September 2 will operate 3x/week.
Dusseldorf-Mahon effective July 20 to August 31 will operate 2x/week.
Dusseldorf-Varna effective July 26 to August 30 will operate 1x/week.

Frankfurt-Antalya effective July 5 to August 31 will operate 3x/week.
Frankfurt-Ibiza effective May 18 to October 5 will operate 3x/week.
Frankfurt-Jerez De La Frontera effective July 5 to August 30 will operate 2x/week.

Hamburg-Mahon effective June 21 to July 26 will operate 1x/week.

Munich-Mahon effective July 27 to September 7 will operate 1x/week.
Munich-Tunis effective July 27 to September 7 will operate 1x/week.

Thanks to FlyerTalk’s Oliver2002 for uncovering information through GDS that indicates that Lufthansa’s next 747-8i is scheduled to enter service between Frankfurt and Los Angeles on MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012.

This entry into service was delayed by approximately a month due to delivery delays at Boeing. However it’s nice to see that the next 747-8i is set to enter the fleet!

I had the opportunity to experience the new First Class cabin on a flight this past summer from Frankfurt to Washington, DC (I had been in Frankfurt for the Inaugural Flight celebration). It was one of my most memorable flights, ever!

I double-checked sample bookings on Lufthansa.com and it shows the 747-8i as the aircraft flying the route on December 10, just be mindful that changes to the schedule can happen. If thats the case, I’ll provide an update.

Announced today, Lufthansa will add it’s 10th North American destination from Munich when it begins daily non-stop service between Munich and Vancouver.

The route is scheduled to begin on May 16, 2013 and will operate on a daily basis. This will complement the existing daily flight from Frankfurt.

The Munich-Vancouver flight will operate as LH476 departing Munich(MUC) at 15:30 (3:30p) and arriving in Vancouver(YVR) at 17:05 (5:05p local time).

The Vancouver-Munich return flight will operate as LH477 departing Vancouver at 18:45 (6:45p local time) and arriving in Munich at 14:00 (2:00p) the following afternoon.

Currently, this new flight is part of Lufthansa’s current fare sale involving flights FROM Germany to North America and is available for booking. The current fare is €663 for tickets booked by November 20, for travel between May 16 and 31.

The route will be flown by a 3-class Airbus A330. It may be too early to tell if it will be flown by a new or retrofitted A330 showcasing Lufthansa’s new cabin interiors. Munich has a significant part of its long haul fleet already retrofitted with the new interior but I’m not sure if this route will have it. I’ll pass along that information once I find out for myself!