With air traffic returning, but in ways that don’t match past patterns, expect to see some unusual fleet assignments, including retired jumbo jets returning, sometimes on routes they’ve never seen before.
And, given the patchwork of where-you-can-and-where-you-can’t go, expect some other disruptions as well. Late last week, the latest round of green, amber and red designations in the UK led to big fare increases to places newly added to the green list.
Early in the pandemic, many airlines abruptly retired their largest and least efficient planes, mostly permanently or long-term. That was especially true for planes like the A340, a four-engine plane with seating capacity similar to that of a two-engine 777. A380s and 747s were also consigned to history by many lines.
But now, just for a moment, Lufthansa has pulled five A340s back, while still preparing to sell its other twelve. The reason? An unexpected demand for first-class seats, not available on the 787s and A350s currently on the routes the A340 will serve. It’s a stopgap while Lufthansa waits for the A350s and 787s that have been ordered to replace them, presumably with more first class seats.
Lufthansa has also said it’s phasing out its 747s, but for the moment, it is assigning 747s to two heavy short-haul routes, ferrying German holiday crowds from Frankfurt and Munich to Mallorca, one of the currently reliable green-list and therefore high-demand destinations.
In the U.S., a similar phenomenon has seen 777s normally reserved for international flights put into service on high-demand domestic routes; the planes are available, and a cheaper solution to the volume than scheduling more flights. Once international travel picks up more, the bigger planes will be reassigned.
