Lufthansa expands jumbo-jet use in Berlin-Frankfurt route

Lufthansa, Germany's largest airline, has been forced to temporarily expand its domestic use of jumbo-jets on Wednesday to compensate for a shortage of air-traffic capacity caused by the insolvency of Air Berlin

Planes of the Boeing 747-400 type would continue to operate between Berlin and Frankfurt throughout the first three weeks of next month, a spokesperson of Lufthansa told the press.

The total number of jumbo-jet flights to Berlin will consequently rise to 90 in December. The 747-400 is the world's second largest commercial airplane after the Airbus A380 and can carry more than 350 passengers. Traditionally, Lufthansa relies on much smaller Airbus A320 planes for domestic flights.

Lufthansa is hereby reacting to a surge in demand for seats on inland connections. Although it has agreed to purchase large parts of Air Berlin's business on Oct. 12, it is still struggling to make up for lost supply on popular routes previously operated by the bankrupt carrier.

Lufthansa Director Harry Hohmeister emphasized that the temporary use of jumbo-jets was not profitable for his company. Nevertheless, he praised the success of the venture in as far as the Berlin Tegel airport is actually not designed to accommodate such large planes.

Ultimately, Lufthansa wants to bolster its presence on the Berlin-Frankfurt route by making greater use of Airbus A321 planes which can carry up to 200 passengers.