German airline's services back to pre-pandemic level
A water gate salute welcomes Lufthansa Flight LH732 at Pudong International Airport on Thursday, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Shanghai-Frankfurt route.
German carrier Lufthansa announced a further increase in its capacity in China on Friday, signaling a robust return to pre-pandemic service levels in the Chinese market.
Flight LH732, a Boeing 747-400 landed at Pudong International Airport on Thursday and taxied through a water gate, marking the 30th anniversary of the launch of the Shanghai-Frankfurt route.
Due to an increase in demand, the German airline added one more flight between Shanghai and Frankfurt at the beginning of April.
Lufthansa now operates two daily flights between the cities and one daily flight to Munich, restoring its total capacity in Shanghai to pre-pandemic levels.
For the summer schedule of 2024, Lufthansa will operate 35 weekly non-stop flights from Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong to Frankfurt and Munich, representing about 70 percent of the airline's total capacity for the China market prior to the pandemic.
"The continuous increase of Lufthansa's capacity to China wholly demonstrates our confidence in the Shanghai and China market," said Jens Ritter, CEO of Lufthansa Airlines. He took the flight to Shanghai to participate in a series of 30-year celebration activities.
Jens Ritter (second from left), CEO of Lufthansa Airlines, participates in a traditional lion dance eye-dotting ceremony at Pudong Airport.
As a global financial center, Shanghai is one of the most important gateways and therefore an essential part of the large Lufthansa network, he said.
"We see the corporate travel is picking up, especially from Germany to China. I strongly believe that German corporates are dedicated and committed to the Chinese economy," Ritter said.
"In the future, we plan to deploy our newest cabin products Allegris to Shanghai and give passengers to China a better flying experience," he added.
Lufthansa Group has ordered more than 100 long-haul aircraft, such as Boeing 787-9s, Airbus 350s and Boeing 777-9s, while aircraft already in service, such as the Boeing 747-8, will be converted.
By 2025, the Lufthansa Group will invest a total of 2.5 billion euros (US$2.7 billion) in product and service to further improve the customer experience at every stage of the journey – from initial booking, throughout the airport, lounge and on board experience, to customer requests even after the flight. The new cabin products are expected to be launched on the Shanghai route.
In the spring of 1994, Lufthansa was the first European airline to launch the route between Shanghai and Frankfurt.
In early 2002, it launched the route from Shanghai to Munich and set up its service station in Shanghai in 2005. In 2013, Lufthansa was the first European airline to deploy the double-decked A380 on the Shanghai-Frankfurt route.
