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Simple Flying Aviation News Podcast
#279: Lufthansa's Airbus A340 Retirement, Boeing To Deliver Improved 787s
00:30:22
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- [00:05]
A
Hello, my name is Tom Boone.
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B
And I'm Channing Reed.
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A
Welcome to a brand new episode of the Simple Flying Podcast where we'll give you the lowdown on the latest news from the world of commercial aviation. Here's what we've got for you this week.
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B
Coming up today, Tom will talk about one airline getting rid of a quad jet before I uncover how Boeing will soon deliver improved 787 Dreamliners.
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A
I'll then take a look at which airline wants to add Berlin to its route network while Channing discusses how American Airlines is weighing the future of its CEO.
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B
And finally, Tom will explore why helicopters have been buzzing around the Bay Area.
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A
So now you know what's in store. Let's get on with the show. And I wanted to start this week with a bit of an end of an era story out of Germany. Now, for years we've been watching the clock tick down on the Airbus A340 600 in Lufthansa's fleets. You know, it's known for being this incredibly long aircraft that's powered by four wing engines and it's the one with the downstairs toilets. But we thought it was going to go away several times already. But it seems we finally have a hard date for its retirement. This is because according to the latest scheduling data from Cirium, Lufthansa is planning to operate its final passenger flight with the A340 600 on October 25, 2026. Now, that date is significant because it marks the official transition from the IATA summer schedule to the winter schedule. And it's usually the day when airlines make their biggest fleet adjustments and time. It looks like the stretched quadjet could be one of those getting the axe. If you look at the numbers, the writing's been on the wall for a While. Out of 13 units Lufthansa still officially has in its fleet, only four are actually active right now. And the other nine are already sitting in storage, likely being used for parts or just waiting for their final journey to the scrap. Peep. These planes are pushing 20 years old on average, which is significantly older than the rest of the Lufthansa widebody fleet. Why has it been around for so long, though? I mean, the answer is quite simple. And I guess you can guess, Channing.
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B
Well, I mean, it's a great aircraft. A quad jet as well. I mean, that would be my assumption, right? I mean, it's hard for airlines to just get rid of big jumbo jets, correct?
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A
That's not correct. No, the answer is, I would say, much simpler. It's delivery delays. Lufthansa originally wanted these planes gone by late 2025, but Boeing's just struggling deliver 777Xs and even 787s on time to Lufthansa. This has forced the airline to keep these older, less efficient four engine jets in the air just to meet passenger demand. And it's an expensive way to fly, especially with fuel prices where they are in 2026. But when you have seats to fill on transatlantic routes, you've got to use the tools that you have available. Now, for the rest of the year, these aircraft are going to be busy. Lufthansa has over 1600 flights scheduled for the A340 600 through Octo, almost all of them running out of the Frankfurt hub. If you want to catch one before they disappear, you'll mainly find them on routes to New York, jfk, Chicago o' Hare and Washington dc. But there is even a daily rotation to Riyadh that is scheduled to be the very last flight on the type at the moment. Right now that's on October 25th, and that's expected to be a return leg from Riyadh back to Frankfurt, which will close the chapter on the aircraft for the German flag carrier. Now, I say at the moment, October is a very long way away. Things can still change. And also, perhaps Lufthansa does something special to say goodbye to the aircraft. Like when we said Goodbye to Condor's 757s last year, we did a special day trip to Vienna on the aircraft, so who knows what comes from that. But from a passenger perspective, the 340600 is actually quite a treat. And even if it's a bit dated, it's one of the few aircraft left in the fleet that still offers a true first class cabin with eight suites. It also has the famous and slightly strange feature, as I said, where the toilets are located down a set of stairs below the main cabin, which I think is a very cool use of space that you don't see on modern twin jets like the A350. And you know, I'd love to get on it once to try that. But as we move towards the winter of 2026, it's clear that Lufthansa is looking to finally embrace a twin engine future, at least for its single deck aircraft. While it makes total your sense for the bottom line, I think most of us are going to miss seeing that incredibly long fuselage on the taxiways in Frankfurt. It represents a different era of aviation design. And October 25th is going to be a long, emotional day for the crews who have spent two decades flying this long haul legend.
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B
Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, I think the A340 600 is probably one of the most beautiful looking aircraft in my opinion. I just love how long the fuselage is and those bigger engines. I look at the A3 4003 and I just don't feel like it's as pretty just because those engines are smaller and it looks more like an A330 with four engines. But the A340 600 definitely has an iconic look to it and it will be sad to see it be retired. I remember seeing Virgin Atlantic fly those here to the US as well. So, yes, long live the A340. At least up until October, that is. And as you mentioned, things could change. So we'll definitely have to keep a close eye on the airline's operations. We're going to move on to another airline and that is American Airlines. And actually before we do that, we're going to talk about the Boeing 787. Actually, this is more important, this news coming out actually just overnight here as we record this on Wednesday, February 4th. And we know the Singapore Airline Air show is currently happening right now, February 3rd through the 8th. And we are expecting some developments to come about from that show. And one of them is about the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. And this is some interesting news here as we look to cover this because we've kind of heard some rumors or talk about this aircraft and the future developments of this aircraft. And now we're getting a better idea of how Boeing is looking to move forward. The manufacturers expect to begin delivering improved 7879 and 78710 Dreamliners to airlines in the first half of this year. Now this comes from reporting from Reuters. Now, this will enable longer flights or greater cargo capacity. And this is what a senior executive said at the Singapore Air Show. So improvements to the maximum takeoff weight of the widebody plane will let airlines fly a further 400 miles or increase additional cargo capacity by 5 to 6 tons. Now that's from Darren Holst, Boeing's vice president of commercial marketing.
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A
Oh, yeah, I met him in Dubai last year.
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B
Oh, did you really?
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We had a little chat and I think there's some coverage from our chat back then on simpleflying.com.
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oh, there you go.
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He's a nice chap.
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Yeah, well, he's chatting a little bit more at the Singapore Air show and he said, quote, those aircraft, the 787s are actually already in the production system moving through towards certification and we anticipate deliveries of those aircraft beginning in the first half of this year. He also went on to say, when we think about the difference between certification and entry into service, it's really up to our customers when they take delivery of the aircraft and the processes and steps they need to go through between certification and ultimately revenue service for that aircraft. Now this is coming as there's a lot of speculation of the 777X and whole mentioning that that aircraft is expected to be certified in the second half of this year, although it might not enter service until next year. And this comes, as we just reported last week of a somewhat of a concern that Boeing found with the 777X and the engines on those planes as it continues with its testing phase. Now Boeing is reporting that it's planned the first flight of a Production of the 777X is in April, which of course is an important sign of the progress for this long delayed and awaited new jet. Tom, as you mentioned, airlines around the world are patiently waiting for this aircraft and due to those delivery delays, it's kind of causing a little bit of a wrench in their operations. Now back to the 787 though I do want to mention that this news about an improved takeoff maximum takeoff weight isn't necessarily new. Actually back in 2023 Boeing had hinted that it was starting to open up about its plans for a 787 IGF and that stands for an increased gross weight, that variant. Now this actually dates all the way back to 2019, but it wasn't until 2022 when Boeing formally acknowledged the exist that variant their plans to have that variant exist. And then in 2023 there was more speculation about it. Now the improved improvement spread across again, both the 7879 and the 10. It's going to add 4.6 to 6.4 metric tons of additional payload capacity and that really pretty much falls in line with what Reuters was reporting on just yesterday. The interesting thing about this though is that Boeing did not explicitly mention that this was the 787 IGW. So we'll have to watch the space for additional developments on that. Now while this variant does not specifically add any additional fuel capacity to the 787, the modifications will enable 310 and 430 nautical miles on top of its already 7565 nautical miles and 6330 nautical miles of range. That's for the 7879 and the 10, respectively. So that additional range is going to be very, very important for airlines. Again, given that the 7879 is the most popular Dreamliner variant and airlines love that aircraft. They love to fly it as far as they can go with it. And this is just going to add more to that and with the 10, because that's the largest variant. So back in 2023, United Airlines said it will enable Chicago O' Hare to Tokyo Narita flying nonstop year round with the 78710 specifically. So again, it's going to be very interesting as Boeing moves forward with the development of these aircraft. But again, first half of this year, so we're looking at now about within the next four months, we should be seeing the first of these updated and improved 787s to be delivered to airlines around the globe.
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A
Yeah. Well, I'm sure we will keep a close eye on this situation and update our listeners accordingly. I don't have a good segue, so I'm just going to dive straight into my second story of today and we're going to stay in Germany, where Emirates is playing a high stakes game of poker, it seems, with the federal government and the Lufthansa Group. After decades of lobbying, the Dubai based carrier has finally secured take off and landing slots at Berlin Brandenburg Airport for a new route slated to launch in December 2026. Now, in the airline world, securing slots is usually the final step before you start selling tickets. But for Emirates, this seems to be a bit of a gamble because they don't have the legal right to fly there yet. Under a bilateral aviation agreement that dates back to 1994, Emirati airlines are restricted to serving just four airports in Munich. Emirates currently fills all four of those spots with daily services to Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf and Hamburg. So why secure the slots now? It's essentially a move to force the hand of German regulators. By grabbing the slots for a Boeing 777 service starting in late 2026, Emirates is signaling that they're ready to go the moment the government blinks. They're banking on a precedent set by Qatar Airways, which was granted permission to expand to a fifth German city back in 2021. If Qatar can fly to Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Oslofen, Hamburg, Emirates believes it's only a matter of time before they're allowed to do the same. Now the pushback, as you might expect, is coming primarily from Lufthansa. The German flag carrier fought tooth and nail for years to keep Middle Eastern super connectors out at the capital And Lufthansa's strategy has always been to treat Berlin as a feeder market. So it uses short haul flights to funnel passengers into its massive hubs in Munich and Frankfurt for long haul connections. If Emirates starts flying Widebodies directly out of Berlin, it completely bypasses the Lufthansa hub and spoke system. Emirates is countering that by making it a story about the German economy. They've recently pointed out that a daily flight to Berlin would create around 500 jobs and bring in upwards of 140,000 annual passengers. In a recent newsletter, the airline even challenged the federal government directly, stating that if they're truly committed to supporting the economic recovery of eastern Germany, then opening up Berlin would be a pragmatic step at no cost. It's hard to argue this logic from a passenger's perspective. Right now, long haul connectivity out of Berlin is notoriously poor for a major European capital. And while Lufthansa's low cost arm, Eurowings, flies the route seasonally with an Airbus A320, it's a very different experience than on a free class. Emirates Boeing 777. Emirates claims that 50 of their onward destinations from Dubai are not even served by Lufthansa, which they say proves that this is not just about stealing existing customers, but about growing the market. Now, whether this gamble pays off is depending entirely on the Ministry of Transport. And if the government stands by the status quo to protect Lufthansa's dominance, mres could be left holding a set of very expensive, unusable slots. But if the Qatar president holds firm, we could finally see the flying crane face some serious competition in the German capital by next winter. It's going to be a very long and very loud year of lobbying in Berlin.
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B
I'm sure airlines will do whatever they can to increase capacity and increase their presence at airports. So we will definitely have to follow the developments with that in the future. Now, I did mention earlier American Airlines, and that is what I'm going to talk about now. This US Legacy carrier is weighing out the options for the future of its CEO. Now, American pilot leaders are meeting this week in Dallas near its headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, and they're considering whether to call on their CEO, Robert Isom, to step down. This comes after the carrier reported the lowest full year net income compared to its other two legacy competitors, Delta Airlines and United Airlines. Last week, American reported a full year net income of $111 million, while Delta reported about $5 billion and United reported about $3.35 billion. The association of president of Professional Flight Attendants Rather, which represents the carrier's 26,000 flight attendants, took the step last week in terms of considering whether to call on their CEO to step down. And now the board of the Allied pilots association, representing 16,000 pilots, has gathered in Dallas for a regularly scheduled four day meeting. Many pilots are troubled by the airline's financial performance and by its muddled performance to the winter storm that largely disable operations at its hubs in Charlotte and Dallas over a four day period. Now, in a message sent to pilots late Monday, APA President Nick Silva wrote, quote, last week's financial results fell short of already modest company guidance, underscoring a deeper problem. The company under this management team appears to lack the tools, creativity, leadership and willpower to return the airline to prominence among its peers. He went on to say, quote, the airline' lack of profit creates a significant disparity in take home pay while delivering substantial cost savings to management. By comparison, Delta will pay more than $500 million in profit sharing to their pilots this year, more than American's full year earnings. Even into 2026, the gap will remain with Delta projecting earnings three times greater than ours. This is not new, but it is now possible to impossible rather to ignore. Silva went on, the problems extend beyond finances to the very culture and capability of management. So he said over the next four days the airline will face difficult decisions at the table as they go throughout these conversations. And he's saying that the membership of the pilots, their feedback from them is clear. They do not believe that under the current leadership the company can realize its full potential. Now this comes as there has been some rumors of American possibly taking the steps to search for a new CEO. Now this is unverified. However, there was information on Reddit of American and a rumor of American's board of directors selecting Los Angeles based global organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry to help in its search for a new CEO. Again, unverified, but that is something that is happening and it's a big conversation now online. As we do know that the pilot base and flight attendants are not necessarily pleased with the leadership of the airline, it is worth noting that there is a pretty big gap in terms of their full year earnings compared to United and Delta. And of course American and United are going head to head right now with their rivalry in Chicago specifically, but elsewhere as United is really trying to come on top in terms of finances. United already did that. But going back to what the pilots are saying, they're focused on performing their duties safely and professionally and consistently. The APA said that they deserve management that treats them as an asset, their pilots as an asset, not a cost unit. In the absence of leadership that meets the expectations, the union stands ready to step into the role of ensuring the future of American Airlines. Now, a spokes spokesperson for the union said that the board is, quote, considering all options, including a vote of no confidence after hearing from several hundred members concerned about whether the weather event, winter weather event and the earnings which were released last week play into this issue. Now, there are reports that many crews were still unable to reach their aircraft amid the storm, but American was saying that it worked pretty hard to get everything back up into place. I'm not quite sure of comparing the airlines in terms of Delta and United. In American, which ones were able to bounce back from the winter storm disruptions is easily. But Americans pilot employment, employees and as well as flight attendants are saying otherwise, if you will. So it'll be very interesting as we move forward to see what American is going to do. In my experience covering commercial aviation, sometimes we see rumors online and those rumors turn into factual news and sometimes they don't. But again, we will have to follow this closely and see what's going to happen in the future. It's also worth noting that Scott Kirby, who is United CEO, was an executive at American for a little while and ended up becoming the leader of United. A lot of people are talking about that could play into the rivalry between the two airlines as well. Kirby might be, you know, really wanting to take some jobs at the airline because he no longer works there. Again, speculation, you know, it's take that information, you know, and how you process it. But we will have to definitely watch this as the time goes on. But I've always said I think a friendly competition is great. But I will say that in terms of financial performance, yeah, American lagged quite a bit and there is a gap there and there's a lot of room for improvement within the next couple of months and throughout the rest of the year.
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I feel like the drama with American Airlines CEOs is just never ending at this point. I feel the guy before, I can't even remember his name now.
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I think it was Doug Parker.
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That's the one. Yeah, I feel like there was some drama with him as well when he left.
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Yeah, there definitely was a lot of passengers I know not even speaking for crew members and employees, but passengers were kind of dissatisfied with the previous CEO because Parker rolled out was part of the new American, but also rolled out the whole idea of the onboard changes on board with no seat back screens and all of that stuff there. So yeah, you're right, there has been some drama there and we'll have to sit back and watch. I do find this rivalry between United and American quite entertaining, I should say.
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A
Definitely. I mean, I feel like I've never flown United, but I feel like at the moment, living in Frankfurt, I should be a United fan because of Star Alliance. Yeah. But watch this space. I think we'll see how that develops. Yeah, I don't know. I wanted to stay in the US for my final story and talk a little bit about the San Francisco Bay area, which I visited once during my time in the US and specifically it's. I think you talked a little bit about this last week, which caught me by surprise. Is that the super bowl lx, whichever one that is, is officially in the final stages of preparations. Now this is me showing how little about American sports. I know. I'm sure you know exactly the number, but yeah, if you live anywhere near San Francisco or Santa Clara, you've probably noticed that the skies are getting very busy and a little bit strange. Federal authorities have launched a massive security oper to protect the game at Levi's Stadium this Sunday. And it involves some aviation tech that we don't usually see in such public view. One of the most talked about sights last week and through recording this podcast, I think has been a low flying helicopter crisscrossing the city in a very precise grid pattern. Now this isn't your average news chopper or a police patrol. It's a Leonardo AW139 operated by the National Nuclear Security Administration, or NNS and is part of their Nuclear Emergency Support Team. And its job is quite literally to sniff the air for radiation. The helicopter flies at just 150ft above the ground at speeds of around 80 miles per hour and is equipped with advanced sensors that measure naturally occurring background radiation to establish a baseline. The idea is that if anything out of the ordinary were to happen during the event, the authorities would have a clear before and after picture to help them respond. Now, it's a routine part of security for what the government calls a national security special event. But it's still a pretty surreal sight to see a high tech federal lab flying just over the rooftops of San Francisco. But obviously the security shield is not just about the helicopters. The FAA and FBI have also dropped the hammer on drone operations across the region. They've established several no drone zones that started already and will continue through game day. And these restrictions cover a 2 mile radius around major venues in Downtown San Francis. But on Sunday, as you would expect, the rules get even more intense during the game itself. A temporary flight restriction, or TFR, will expand to a 30 nautical mile radius around Levi's Stadium, reaching up to 8,000ft. For drone operators, the message is simple. Stay on the ground. If you're caught flying an unauthorised drone in these areas, you could face fines of up to $75,000 and even criminal charges. The FBI is actually deployed on the ground with specialized tech to detect and mitigate any drones that wander into the recept restricted airspace. Now, while the security teams are locking things down, the commercial airlines are ramping things up to an incredible degree. As we see every year, San Jose International Airport, which is the closest hub to the stadium, is bracing for a historic surge in traffic. American Airlines alone has added over 10,000 seats to its network this week specifically for the game. They've boosted their operations at San Jose to more than 400% of their normal levels. We're also seeing extra flights from Alaska Airlines and JetBlue, bringing in thousands of fans from cities like Boston and Seattle. It's a massive logistical puzzle for air traffic controllers who have to balance this sudden influx of commercial widebodies with the strict security cordons and an influx of private jets that always follow the Super Bowl. Now, whether you're a football fan or just a plane spotter, the Bay Area is definitely the place to be this weekend. It's a fascinating look at how aviation, security and sport all collide for one of the biggest events on the planet. But I know the one big question that all of our listeners are wanting to know, Channing, is did you check out the Seattle Seahawks? I think it was Seahawks or Skyhawks. Oh, they're playing 747.
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B
You know what? I totally didn't, but now that you mentioned it, and actually it reminded me of last week, because when you mentioned it, There is a 747 8. I think it's a cargo plane that has the Seahawks. But no, I didn't really. I didn't look that much further into it, but I'm pretty sure it's a 747 8.
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Yeah, well, maybe this time next week when we. I won't do the podcast next week because I'm on vacation, but maybe whoever you do the podcast with can call you out for still not having looked at it.
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B
I'm going to look it up right now. Here we go. 747 AF. Oh, it's no more. It was painted. It was painted in the Seattle Seahawks livery. And it does not exist. Well, the plane still exists, but the livery does not, unfortunately, anymore. There you go. So, yeah, thanks for calling me out on that, Tom, but no, that is very great to hear that they're focused on safety. Safety is the priority, especially as we could see security threats at major events like this. And I also should mention, too, private jets. Yeah, the influx of private jets is insane. I think last year we reported on when the super bowl was in Las Vegas, one of the municipal airports near Harry Reid International Airport was completely full. They couldn't even accommodate any more private jets. So you can only imagine, given that, yes, the Bay Area has three. Three airports, but San Jose, as you mentioned, is the closest to Levi's Stadium. And San Jose is probably already close to capacity with the commercial flights going in there. And then you add private jets in there, too. It's going to be a very, very, very busy weekend for sure, but we'll have to see who wins, who comes out on top. And also, Tom, I should mention LX stands for 60. So this is the 60th Super Bowl. And, yeah, we'll have to see which team our listeners are hoping will win. So it'll be interesting as we maybe
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A
we put a poll in the podcast.
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There you go.
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If you listen this far, please fill out the poll that we've hopefully put in the podcast on which team you want to win.
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There you go. Exactly. All right, well, that is going to do it for this week's podcast, and we hope you enjoyed the podcast, and we welcome any feedback that you might have at our email, which is editorialimpleflying.com
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for more great content, you can visit our website@simpleflying.com or find us on social media. Simply search for Simple Flying.
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B
And if you enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a rating on your favorite podcast player. Thanks for listening.
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A
Bye.