Lufthansa celebrated its 30th anniversary of the commencement of its flights to Malta, with a special ceremony which was held yesterday at Malta International Airport. The highlight of the event was the welcoming of Lufthansa’s airborne ambassador, the Retro Airbus A321, which landed at 3:40 p.m., adding vintage-flair to the atmosphere. The aircraft is already the second airplane in the livery of the 1950s which was initially presented in 1995 and motivated various airlines around the world for similar campaigns. It was on 31st of March 1984 when the first Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt landed in Malta operated by a Boeing 737-200.
“Lufthansa and Malta have now been a true success story for 30 years. Especially the last year was overwhelming with more than 180,000 passengers onboard our planes from and to the Islands of the Knights – that is more than 30% growth and outperforming any other market of the Lufthansa network”, said Frank van den Steen during the press briefing at the airport. “Also for 2014 we are looking into more than 1,300 flights, especially with the double-daily connections to Frankfurt and the additional Munich operations – our growth will be above 10%”.
Host of the event, which included a 30th anniversary cake-cutting ceremony, was Mr Frank van den Steen, General Manager for North Africa, Senegal and Malta, who welcomed Lufthansa’s esteemed guests, the Minister of Tourism, Dr Edward Zammit Lewis, Mr. Josef Formosa Gauci, Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) CEO and Mr Markus Klaushofer, Malta International Airport CEO, as well as local partners and overseas guests.
A vintage surprise was expecting the participants at the Lufthansa jubilee as the Airbus A321-200 sporting the retro color scheme, painted in traditional Lufthansa livery touched down. The formula and specific ingredients were accessed from the airline’s archive, adding a vintage-look at the modern aircraft and offering guests a time-travel, decades backwards, even before the first service from Malta was launched. Next to the plane Lufthansa flight attendants presented the airlines’ uniforms of the 1950s, 60s, 70s and the latest generation. Not only for fashion enthusiasts have the designs represented a journey through former times and the beginning of commercial aviation. Meanwhile Lufthansa’s Retro Airbus and the dedicated crews had various appearances during anniversaries at airports like Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Venice, Lisbon or Valencia.
"Since our first flights in 80s we have made great developments and enhanced our services, including the foundation of Lufthansa Technik Malta as an independent company in 2002", mentioned Frank van den Steen. “Of course our investments with additional flights paid off as well. Besides offering the strongest European and North American network for our Maltese guests, inbound traffic shows great demand, since Germans really enjoy the perfect environment, the peace and serenity and the unparalleled culture of the island, not to mention the warm hospitality of the Maltese people, factors which make the destination a very popular one, not only for their summer breaks”.
Lufthansa is modernising its long-haul fleet and during the summer timetable alone will be adding six new intercontinental aircraft to the fleet, which are more fuel-efficient and much quieter: Two new Airbus A380 will make it possible to extend the summer service on the routes from Frankfurt to New York (JFK), Beijing and San Francisco. Lufthansa will then operate a total of twelve A380 airliners. The Boeing 747-8 fleet will also see further rapid growth by the autumn, with four new aircraft bringing the total to 14. For the first time passengers will be able to enjoy the comfort of the “Queen of the Skies” also on flights from Frankfurt to São Paulo in Brazil. From the summer the new jumbo jet will even be flying twice daily to Los Angeles.
“Our network is stronger than ever putting Lufthansa in a position to serve more passengers, complemented by our products onboard and on ground. Globally, our Group is on a fleet expansion and on order are another 295 airplanes, valued at more than 36 billion Euros at list prices and scheduled for delivery until 2025. We have also just recently staged the world premiere of our new Premium Economy that will gradually be fitted on the entire long-haul fleet within twelve months. Following the upgrade of our First and Business Class, the installation of 3,600 seats on all 106 of our long-haul aircraft in just one year will mean another step towards becoming a five-star airline. The new seats are up to 3 centimetres wider and provide greater privacy as well as approximately 10 centimetres more room at the side thanks to each seat having its own wide armrest and a centre console between the seats. The back rest can be reclined further and the seat pitch is a significantly more spacious 38 inches, or 97 centimetres. As a result, passengers have around one-and-a-half times as much room as Economy Class,” Frank van den Steen added.
Services to Frankfurt and Munich are operated with an Airbus A320 family aircraft in a two-class cabin configuration, featuring Lufthansa’s Business and Economy class. Passengers find easy connections to the airline’s choice of flights to 235 destinations in 78 countries from Frankfurt. Arriving in Frankfurt, passengers will get to enjoy the state-of-the-art, four-level new A Pier at Terminal 1 in Frankfurt airport providing passengers with a chance to relax in a more comfortable surrounding prior to boarding their flights. As well as 23 new gates with seamless connection to the corresponding levels of the existing Terminal 1 building, passengers also find more retail outlets and places to dine, and can relax in any of the five new Lufthansa lounges including Senator, Business and First Class lounges. Most of Lufthansa’s Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8 will be boarded there.