Lufthansa Adds Flights, Sees Rising Demand on Leisure Routes

(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Lufthansa AG is adding more than 80 flights from Frankfurt and over 50 departures from Munich this fall as the German airline sees rising demand for leisure destinations.

The carrier will offer extra flights to Spain's Palma de Mallorca, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Malaga, and other European destinations during the country's fall vacation period, it said in a statement on Sunday. Spain is in particularly high demand, it added.

Lufthansa sees demand for business travel, one of the big question marks for the aviation industry coming out of the pandemic, picking up as well. 

As a result, the company will continue to expand its domestic flights on routes that are particularly important for business travelers, it said. Over the last few weeks, Lufthansa expanded its services for October by 45% compared to July on routes such as Frankfurt to Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, and from Munich to Berlin, Hamburg and Dusseldorf.

Germany agreed to bail out Lufthansa at the start of the coronavirus pandemic after travel bans forced the grounding of global fleets. The company also owns Swiss International Air Lines, Austrian Airlines, and the low-cost carrier Eurowings.

Separately, Lufthansa board member Detlef Kayser said the airline favors compulsory Covid-19 vaccinations for flight personnel in Germany. 

“As an airline that operates worldwide, we advocate mandatory vaccination for our crews and also need a way to collect vaccination data,” he told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag.   

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

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