Former Workhorse: Looking Back At Lufthansa’s A300 Operations

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Following a flight from Rome Fiumicino to Frankfurt, Lufthansa retired the last of its A300s on July 1st, 2009. It was operated by D-AIAM, which was delivered in April 1987. Iran Airtour has since taken up the aircraft as EP-MNI. We look back at Lufthansa’s A300s.

Lufthansa A300
Iran’s ongoing sanctions provide a home to an array of rarer aircraft that would otherwise have been scrapped or turned into freighters. Photo: Dale Coleman via Wikimedia.

Lufthansa’s A300s

Lufthansa operated a total of 29, including the A300B2, A300B4, and the A300-600/600R (code: AB6). It is the latter that we look at in this article, the first of which was delivered to the German airline in March 1987 and lasted for 22 years – one year longer than for American Airlines.

The -600R had a longer range (hence the ‘R’) than previous variants. This resulted from an additional fuel tank, which helped increase maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) and payload. It also had upgraded engines that produced more thrust. American was the launch customer of this specific variant.

Lufthansa’s A300-600/600Rs had 280 seats. The bigger size meant they were especially good machines for getting more ‘use’ out of slots at restricted airports and transporting more cargo on routes where this was an important consideration.

Lufthansa aircraft
Lufthansa last used the A300 in 2009. While they were mainly used on short routes, they were also used on a raft of longer and thinner long-haul services. However, there weren’t many over 3,000 miles. Photo: Dale Coleman via Wikimedia.

One-fifth of Lufthansa’s widebody flights

Between 2004 and 2009, Lufthansa had approximately 92,000 flights by the AB6, according to schedules information from aviation data experts Cirium. It had one in five of the airline’s widebody flights (21%). (This time period also saw the A310-300 and B767-300ER in Lufthansa’s fleet, both withdrawn in 2004.)

Because Lufthansa’s AB6s were especially used on higher-density short-haul routes, they had the third-highest number of widebody flights after the B747-400 and A340-300.

However, the nature of the type’s operation meant they fell far down the list if measured by available seat miles (ASMs; seats x miles flown). Indeed, the B747-400, A340-300, A340-600, and A330-300 all had more ASMs, as would be expected given they operated long-haul.

Lufthansa A300
Between 2004-2009, the average length of Lufthansa’s AB6 routes was 616 miles. Frankfurt to Heathrow was important because of the aircraft’s high density and cargo capacity. Photo: Ken Fielding via Wikimedia.

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Strong domestic and intra-Europe service

In the five years to 2009, 80% of Lufthansa’s A300 flights were on the following 10 routes; they had a highly concentrated network from Frankfurt. However, longer destinations also saw them, including Lahore, Karachi, Addis Ababa, Almaty, Khartoum, and Astana, all from its Frankfurt hub.

  1. Berlin Tegel to Frankfurt
  2. Frankfurt-Munich
  3. Frankfurt-Hamburg
  4. Frankfurt-London Heathrow
  5. Athens-Frankfurt
  6. Frankfurt-Rome Fiumicino
  7. Cairo-Frankfurt
  8. Barcelona-Frankfurt
  9. Frankfurt-Lisbon
  10. Frankfurt-Moscow Sheremetyevo
Lufthansa A300
Berlin Tegel to Frankfurt was Lufthansa’s #1 AB6 route by flights. Photo: Raimund Stehmann via Wikimedia.

Throwback to July 21st, 2004

On July 21st, 2004, Lufthansa had 64 departures by the AB6 from Frankfurt and Munich. Frankfurt had the overwhelming majority of services (59), including Amman and Beirut.

Departure time From… To…
03:10 Beirut Frankfurt
06:00 Athens Frankfurt
06:15 Hamburg Frankfurt
06:30 Munich Frankfurt
06:45 Berlin Tegel Frankfurt
07:05 Frankfurt Rome Fiumicino
07:05 Paris CDG Frankfurt
07:10 London Heathrow Frankfurt
07:15 Munich Frankfurt
07:25 Frankfurt London Heathrow
07:30 Frankfurt Frankfurt
08:05 Frankfurt Berlin Tegel
08:05 Frankfurt Hamburg
08:35 Frankfurt Munich
08:40 Frankfurt Paris CDG
08:55 Frankfurt Hamburg
09:05 Frankfurt Athens
09:10 London Heathrow Frankfurt
09:15 Frankfurt Berlin Tegel
09:45 Frankfurt London Heathrow
10:05 Hamburg Frankfurt
10:05 Rome Fiumicino Frankfurt
10:25 Berlin Tegel Frankfurt
10:25 Frankfurt Berlin Tegel
10:45 Paris CDG Frankfurt
11:05 Hamburg Frankfurt
11:25 Berlin Tegel Frankfurt
11:30 Munich Frankfurt
12:15 Frankfurt Berlin Tegel
12:15 Frankfurt Hamburg
12:25 Frankfurt London Heathrow
12:50 London Heathrow Frankfurt
12:55 Frankfurt Athens
13:15 Frankfurt Lisbon
13:30 Frankfurt Malaga
14:10 Athens Frankfurt
14:10 London Heathrow Frankfurt
14:35 Berlin Tegel Frankfurt
14:55 Munich London Heathrow
15:00 Berlin Tegel Munich
15:55 Frankfurt Munich
16:00 Frankfurt Berlin Tegel
16:15 Frankfurt London Heathrow
16:20 Lisbon Frankfurt
17:10 London Heathrow Munich
17:25 Frankfurt Moscow Sheremetyevo
17:40 Frankfurt Munich
17:40 Hamburg Frankfurt
17:45 Malaga Frankfurt
17:50 Berlin Tegel Frankfurt
17:50 Munich Frankfurt
17:55 London Heathrow Frankfurt
18:00 Athens Frankfurt
18:10 Frankfurt Munich
18:10 Munich London Heathrow
19:25 Munich Frankfurt
19:40 Frankfurt Berlin Tegel
19:55 Frankfurt Hamburg
20:05 London Heathrow Munich
20:45 Frankfurt Amman
21:05 Frankfurt Beirut
21:25 Frankfurt London Heathrow
21:50 Frankfurt Hamburg
22:15 Frankfurt Athens

London Heathrow was a major destination, with 14 movements on that day from both Frankfurt and Munich. These were timed to feed both hubs and the significant amount of point-to-point demand.

Did you fly Lufthansa’s A300s? If so, let us know your memories by commenting.



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