Lufthansa's Boeing 747s may return to Palma de Mallorca Airport as soon as Easter. The airline used the jumbo jet for the two-hour hops last summer due to a massive surge in demand for flights to the island. Despite the pandemic, the island's airport was Europe's 13th busiest in 2021.Mallorca is a popular destination for German holidaymakers. In August 2019, there were almost 4,000 flights from 13 airlines scheduled from Germany to the island, according to data from Cirium. In March 2021, the island was taken off of Germany's COVID-19 risk list, which prompted a 700% rise in bookings for Eurowings and a change in testing rules after the German Foreign Minister said that removal from the list was "not an invitation to go there".

Boeing 747 back in Mallorca?

As first reported by aeroTELEGRAPH's Jacob Wert, Lufthansa is looking at the possibility of operating short-haul Boeing 747 flights again this year, with Lufthansa revealing it could use them as soon as Easter. Should it go ahead, the airline would operate these to Mallorca to capitalize on peak demand.

Commenting, a Lufthansa Spokesperson told Simple Flying,

"Lufthansa has already added for the Easter Holidays in April a total of 15 extra flights from Frankfurt to Palma de Mallorca, Faro, Madeira and Larnaca to meet the increased demand. More from Munich will be added and are in the planning stage. The use of a jumbo (Boeing 747-400) to Mallorca is currently being examined but has not yet been decided.

Why the Boeing 747?

Lufthansa pointed to demand on the route, explaining why the Queen of the Skies was being considered. According to the airline, it saw its second-strongest weekly number of bookings since the start of the pandemic last week. Interestingly, the airline still believes that the peak booking weeks are still to come, as the trend is increasing.

If the demand exists, Lufthansa will want to serve it. Full flights mean that passengers could book with their competitors, and Lufthansa won't see the potential profit. While it is possible to add further flights, an easy option is to increase the size of the aircraft.

Lufthansa used this option last summer, scheduling the Boeing 747-8 on the route. At the time, the 747-400 was still grounded due to the pandemic, though it has since returned. This year, the airline seems to be eying the older 747-400 for the route, which would give it even more capacity.

The newer 747-8 has a four-class configuration with 364 seats. Meanwhile, with a three-class configuration (there is no first class cabin), the older jets seat 383 passengers. The Airbus A321neo is the largest aircraft typically scheduled on the route, with 215 seats. Replacing it with the jumbo jet increases the available seats on a flight by almost 80%.

Another good year for PMI?

Except for substantial unforeseen circumstances (like a pandemic), flight bookings typically represent passenger numbers at an airport. Assuming that other airlines are seeing similar demand for flights to Palma de Mallorca, the airport could see another post-pandemic record this year.

Last year, the airport handled 14.5 million passengers, making it the 13th busiest in Europe, 16 places ahead of its position in 2020. The airport saw the largest full-year on full-year passenger increase on the continent, with a rise of 137.4%.

Would you like to see the Queen of the Skies on short-haul flights this summer? Let us know what you think and why in the comments!