A total of 18 weekly, long-haul flights are scheduled: three times a week each from Frankfurt to Newark and Chicago (both USA), Montreal (Canada), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Bangkok (Thailand) and Tokyo (Japan).
The Lufthansa Group carriers have repatriated some 60,000 citizens from the airline carriers’ home countries. The passengers were unable to return to their various homelands due to the global travel ban currently in place as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak. Lufthansa, Austrian, Brussels Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines have conducted over 300-repatriation flights to cities as far as Oceania’s Sydney and Auckland, Asuncion, Paraguay, as well as Santiago, Chile in South America. An additional 45 flights are forthcoming in the next few weeks.
With continuing travel restrictions being instituted, Lufthansa extended its repatriation flight schedule until May 3. These flights were originally scheduled to conclude on April 19. Furthermore, this means that all remaining flights of the original flight schedule, between April 25 and May 3, will be cancelled. While the flights that were planned to operate through April 24 were already cancelled, these newer route cancellations will be implemented successively and affected passengers will be informed of the changes.
The Lufthansa Group will thus continue to offer a lean network of flights for basic and necessary service. A total of 18 weekly, long-haul flights are scheduled: three times a week each from Frankfurt to Newark and Chicago (both USA), Montreal (Canada), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Bangkok (Thailand) and Tokyo (Japan). In addition, the airline still offers approximately 50 daily connections from its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich to cities in Germany and throughout Europe.
SWISS will also offer three weekly long-haul services to Newark (USA) from Zurich, in addition to a substantially reduced short- and medium-haul timetable focusing on select European cities.
In addition to the normally operated cargo flights, the Lufthansa Group operated 22 special cargo-only flights with relief supplies on board. A further 34 special cargo flights are further planned. Lufthansa Cargo continues to fly its regular program, except for cancellations to mainland China, and is keeping the entire freighter fleet in the air in order to support the supply chain, as well as deliver necessary medical goods and critical devices between Europe and the rest of the world.
Passengers whose flights have been cancelled, or who were unable to take their flight, can keep their booking and not commit to a new flight date for the time being. The ticket and ticket value remain unchanged and can convert into a voucher for a new booking with a departure date up to and including April 30, 2021. The conversion into a voucher is possible online via the airlines' websites. Customers who choose a new travel date, up to and including December 31, 2020, will also receive a $50.00 discount on every rebooking.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
