Dawn of a new #Bigger Era with #LufthansaA380
December 08, 2014 0 Comments

There is a German saying-

"Wer rastet, der rostet"

It means- He who rests, grows rusty.

There is another German Saying-

"Aller Anfang ist schwer"

It means- All beginning are hard

Well for German giant Lufthansa, "Hard and impossible" is not a word in their dictionary. However, "constant innovation and improvement" has definitely a good place in their dictionary. And when did hard beginnings deterred them of creating magic in aviation? So when these words collaborate with Lufthansa's raring to go attitude and high skilled technology knowledge with a legal combination of "world class engineering"- some dreams are born. One such dream that took shape recently is- Lufthansa A380

#LufthansaA380- is the largest commercial aircraft in the history- Flying to Delhi. The Capital is the 1st city in India to welcome Lufthansa A380.

Lufthansa to fly Airbus A380 to New Delhi from October 27

Lufthansa to fly Airbus A380 to New Delhi from October 27

While the capital is ready to celebrate this landmark development on the launch of daily flights on the Delhi-Frankfurt route beginning since November 08, how can the other city for the country can stay untouched form the dawn of this "New Era" in aviation and hospitality?

Well they are not. Lufthansa A380 had been the talk of the town and if you recall my little nephew- Piu from Boeing Boeing, too could not remained unaffected by this. At the launch of this Super Jumbo Jet, the little chap messaged his father to take him to Frankfurt. But only via Lufthansa A380. "Dad, I want to explore new skies with king of skies" he said.

Meantime, I planned my trip to land of coffee and plantation- Coorg. Piu was already back from trip and was very excited to meet me and spend time telling his endless stories. He is my little "swan".

While I was booking my tickets, I was worried about the kind of flight and seats I may get on a local "so called economy" airline. Travelling economy class in domestic flights is a big hassle. Hassle in terms of booking in right airline and expecting right seats and crouching in their "matchbox" size seats whole through the journey. God help if there is a delay. My brother asked me to go for web checking to see if I can manage to get front seats to fit my leg. What followed was a conversation that went like this-

Me: Front seats these days are equally conjusted and so much sought after. Sigh! Let me try as I don't want to sit at those dingy seats. God forbid if I get a middle seat and slouchy co passengers.

Brother: No problem, ask co passenger if he/she can exchange your seat with their window seat. If someone refuse, ensure you sit so wide that they would not be able to go out to use wash room or so. Giggles!

I chuckled and said- You are being naughty. You know I cannot do that. Even if, lets imagine, I do, what if the person does it there? aaarrrgh!

Brother: Then you go and sit in washroom and refuse to come out till they change your seat.

Me: Haha..BTW I hate using washrooms on flight. Yuck they are even dingier. I feel like I will die of suffocation for sure. Why can't they have more spaces on airlines?

Brother: You seem to have developed a strong disliking flying these days. I thought you always prefered flights over other other modes of transport. All flights are like that. What to do? would you stop travelling? Or go back to era of railways?

Me: Well no, not all flights are like that. The face of aviation in India is changing. With new Lufthansa A380, things have taken a new shape. A new flight of freedom actually.

Brother: A "New Flight of Freedom"? Well that seems interesting. Tell me more

Me: Have you not heard about this new flight launch? Well let me tell you...Why tell, let show you rather. The "Bigger" advantage of airline hospitality.

And in that moment, I clicked on the Facebook page of airline and played this video-

Post by Lufthansa India.

Post by Lufthansa India.

Brother: Well Thats' magnificent. However, how as a traveler it helps you?

Me: It helps when I travel long distance. Especially the ergonomics, the state of art wide bodied design, the unique features, overall size [its 73 meter long, none the less!!!] the comfort factor, the way our luggage are being handled there and more importantly, the pioneer engineering! Making aircraft and flying them is no child's play. Design, Engineering plays a huge role. And that's all translates in to " Great In flight Experience".

Brother: Yeah and all that, sucks a hell lot of fuel and cause way too much environmental pollution.

Me: Well, we must not forget, it's Lufthansa that we are talking about. It consumes only 95 miles per gallon/passenger.

Brother: Oh! I can read "carbon footprints".

Me: yeah and do add- lesser noise, longer range and even lower emissions! It's bigger in size, better in facilities.

Brother: Well well...this enough sounds quite good to me. I am all sold for Lufthansa A380. I have to go for Christmas holidays and travel is such a nuisance that keeps us away from flying abroad. You know for our last trip, we end up spending so much money as the airlines claimed to be over booked and surprisingly no space on first class. We have to keep doing hop journeys and well that spoiled entire gust to travel abroad esp long distance. Besides, its so not comfortable. My two pence, if you are planning to fly Frankfurt, book your tickets now. Airline normally run out of sufficient seats and one has to make do with bad seats.

Me: Well, I hate throwing statistics to bring a point. However, without making "complex diagrams" to win a point, let me tell that A380 is configured with 8 seats in first class, 92 in BUsiness and 420 in economy giving the airline 12 additional seats in business but a massive 122 additional seats in economy class.

Brother: Oops that can make it conjusted and inconvenient....no?

Me: Conjusted? Small? Tight seating? Well with 71 meters in length and 24 meters in height, A380 is the largest, and with take off weight of up to 560 tons, the heaviest passenger aircraft in the world. Is there any other machine as robust and mighty to challenge it yet?

Brother: Well I do not recall anyone? Nor does google.com. I am indeed pleased to know about A380 and so much look forward to booking my trip on the same.

Me: Yeah. how much I hope they have similar structures for domestic flights. Sigh.

Brother: Hmm keep your faith intact. You may never know if you get to travel in it soon.

Me: I wish. Amen.

Brother: Amen

End of Conversation

Next morning I took my flight to Bengaluru airport, dreaming all the while about the New Lufthansa A380 all the while. Waiting for them to add more sectors. Waiting for others to follow suit. I did not realize when we landed and de-boarding started. I received call from my little nephew who just could not wait for me to reach and learn his new experiences.

While I was leaving my plane, I stopped back and patted on the plane body and said- "Up your ante baby! up your ante. Lufthansa A380 says sky is the limit and is here to give you run for money". Off course the planes could not speak but the young hostess smiled and said- Oh I am keeping my fingers crossed to get on board. I smiled back at her and said- All the best.

When I reached the gate, Piu ran at me and chuckled. I was happy to see him and he was even happier as he returned from a long holiday at Frankfurt and could not wait to to share his brand new aviation experience with me. His brand new experience of travelling from Delhi to Frankfurt in the new Lufthansa A380.

Piu" Maasi, Can I ask you a riddle?

Me: Sure Dahlings!

Piu: I am the big, I am better. I am mighty, I am greater. My structure so strong that none can deny. I am the king of the skies.

Me: Err, Ahem..Is it , is it a bird..err a plane..err is it Lufthansa A380?

Piu: Bingo! Next- I have design, I have space. I give you luxury and personal space. Better facilities, more entertainment. I am the best in Aeroplane!

Me: Hmm this one got to be "Lufthansa A380"

Piu: Bingo 2 Maasi. I can't tell you how bigg it is...no its bigger...no actually speaking, it is the BIGGEST of all"

I smiled and asked if he was happy to be on board as he always hate long distance flights and get cranky at the thought it it.

Piu: No more scary Masi. This time I get to walk around. The plane is so big that I can play cricket and not get bored ever. Besides, so many people around made me feel, I am safe :) It is world class you see, Maasi

Me: World Class? Eh! [smiled]

Piu: Yup Maasi [with a flashing smile in his bright eyes]. Mom says- It is luxury and Comfort on the Air like 7 star of all planes. I so much want to travel in it again Maasi. besides, the hostess aunties were so nice to me. I made friends with two of them. they gave me a box of goodies.

Me: Umm now I know what bring more "smiles per hour".

Piu: It is more Miles per hour Masi. Papa told me it does not use lots of fuel also thus making it "Green mean machine". I did not get bored too. I was allowed to take all my gadgets insides and play them continuously without worrying battery exhaust.

Me: That's good. So did you clicked any pictures? If yes , show me.

Here's few pictures of the super Jumbo Flying machines for readers-