Lufthansa Group’s airlines will be expanding their services over the summer with the goal of having 90 percent of all originally planned short- and medium-haul destinations and 70 percent of all long-haul destinations being served by September.

By autumn, the core Lufthansa brand is slated to be flying more than 100 times a week to destinations in North America via its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich. It will also be offering 90 flights a week to Asia, 20+ flights to the Middle East and over 25 to Africa. Destinations on the schedule include Windhoek (Namibia), Nairobi (Kenya), Beirut (Lebanon), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Houston (Texas), Boston (Massachusetts), Vancouver (Canada), Hong Kong and Singapore.

On short- and medium-haul routes, Lufthansa will offer a total of 1,800 weekly connections from September onwards. One hundred and two destinations will be served from the Frankfurt hub and 88 from Munich. Destinations include Malaga, Alicante, Valencia, Naples, Rhodes, Palermo, Faro, Madeira, Olbia, Dubrovnik, and Reykjavik.

Starting in July, Austrian Airlines will offer regular long-haul flights for the first time since mid-March. Bangkok, Chicago, New York (Newark) and Washington will be available with up to three weekly flights. The carrier’s European network will also be expanded to include various routes from July onwards—including flights to Greece.

SWISS, Switzerland’s airline, plans to be flying to about 85 percent of the destinations it served before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns by the fall. It will offer about one-third capacity on these routes. The carrier’s initial focus will be on European services from Zurich and Geneva. Further intercontinental destinations will also be reintroduced into the route network.

Finally, Eurowings is also significantly expanding its flight program for both business and leisure travellers. It plans to fly to 80 percent of its destinations again over the course of the summer. The carrier reports that following the lifting of the travel warning, interest in holiday destinations such as Italy, Spain, Greece and Croatia is growing. In response, Eurowings will be putting 30-40 percent of its flight capacity back into the air by July, with the main focus on flights from Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Cologne/Bonn.

Health security measures

Lufthansa Group airlines have implemented a wide range of health security measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lufthansa’s protocols include:

• requiring passengers and employees to wear a mouth-and-nose cover as soon as they enter the terminal buildings;
• announcements, posters, video screens and increased staff presence in terminals reminding passenger of physical distancing requirements;
• zone boarding to ensure physical distancing;
• requiring passengers to wear nose-and-mouth coverings aboard planes;
• and disinfecting aircraft cabins after each landing.