Unprecedented: Lufthansa is flying 5 A380s and 5 747s to New Zealand
Travelers who have found themselves stuck outside of their home countries are frantically trying to get back. airlines are stepping up and flying special repatriation flights on routes to destinations that they might never have been to before.
On March 26, German giant Lufthansa flew a Boeing 747 to Auckland (AKL) for the first time ever. Now, the German Federal Foreign Office has arranged with Lufthansa to send an additional 10 flights to New Zealand to bring back German tourists. Five of the repatriation flights will be operated by Boeing 747s, while the other five flights will be operated by the airline's recently parked A380 fleet.
The first of the 10 flights, which are all operating via Bangkok (BKK), is due to land back in Frankfurt (FRA) on Tuesday evening. The 747 registered D-ABVP, operating as LH355, already made its way from Christchurch (CHC) and is currently in Bangkok before departing on its final leg, scheduled to arrive in Frankfurt at 11:30 p.m local time Tuesday.
Hot on its heels is A380 D-AIMC, which is currently en route from Auckland to Bangkok as LH357 and scheduled to arrive in Frankfurt an hour later.
The total of five A380s, each with 509 seats, and five 747s with 371 seats each means that up to 4,400 Germans could be brought home from New Zealand.
The cabin crew operating the flights volunteered to do so. A total of 210 crew were selected to operate the special repatriation flights. Crews will change in Bangkok in order to abide by crew rest periods.
The 10 superjumbo flights to New Zealand are just one part of Lufthansa's huge repatriation efforts. So far, the airline said that it has recovered more than 70,000 travellers from 77 airports on five continents since mid-March. The tally so far is 360 flights with 55 more still to be flown.
Related: Watch TPG U.K. review all Lufthansa cabins on one flight
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The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
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Cons
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- Another drawback is that the annual travel credit can only be used on bookings made through Capital One Business Travel.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while earning rewards on their transactions, with free employee and virtual cards. Plus, automatically sync your transaction data with your accounting software and pay your vendors with ease
- Redeem your miles on flights, hotels and more. Plus, transfer your miles to any of the 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Every year, you'll get 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date. Plus, receive an annual $300 credit for bookings made through Capital One Business Travel
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Enjoy access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month