Lufthansa is set to repeat its widebody flights to Mallorca next month. On April 9th, a Boeing 747-8 and an Airbus A350-900 will complete the short Intra-Europe hop from Germany to the popular island holiday destination, coinciding with the start of the Easter school holidays in Germany.

Aviation's recovery has been varied depending on where you look. While some airports struggle more than ever, others have witnessed a massive comeback. The holiday destination of Mallorca was in the latter of the two categories last year and looks set to maintain this title moving forwards.

Shorthaul widebody flights

Next month, Lufthansa has scheduled a pair of one-off widebody flights on two-hour hops from its Frankfurt and Munich hubs. According to flight schedule data from Cirium and backed up by the Lufthansa booking engine, the Boeing 747-8 will be used for the flight from Frankfurt, while the Airbus A350-900 will fly from Munich.

The Boeing 747 flight from Frankfurt will operate as,

  • LH 1158 - Frankfurt Airport (FRA) 12:35 - Palma De Mallorca (PMI) 14:40 - 02h05m
  • LH 1159 - Palma De Mallorca (PMI) 16:10 - Frankfurt Airport (FRA) 18:30 - 02h20m
Lufthansa, Airbus A350, Repainted
The Airbus A350 will fly to Mallorca from Munich. Photo: Tom Boon - Simple Flying

Meanwhile, the Munich Airbus A350-900 flights will operate as,

  • LH 1796 - Munich Airport (MUC) 10:50 - Palma De Mallorca (PMI) 13:00 - 02h10m
  • LH 1797 - Palma De Mallorca (PMI) 14:30 - Munich Airport (MUC) 16:36 - 02h05m
FRA-PMI-MUC
The two routes. Photo: Cirium

While the aircraft have more than two classes, only two travel classes will be sold. On the Boeing 747-8, first class and business class are combined to make the business class cabin, while economy is combined with premium economy. On the A350, business class is business class, while premium economy is merged with economy.

Why Mallorca?

This naturally raises the question, "why send the widebodies to Mallorca?" It's all to do with demand on the route. Lufthansa's ticket sales are limited to how many seats are offered between two airports on a given day.

Lufthansa can increase this number by adding a widebody flight and thus cater for and benefit from increased demand. This isn't a new strategy for Lufthansa. Last year the airline also scheduled widebody flights to the island. Again, the Boeing 747-8 flew from Frankfurt, while the Airbus A350-900 flew from Munich.

Lufthansa A320 Take-off
Passenger volumes in 2023 are now expected to exceed those of 2019. Photo: Tom Boon - Simple Flying

According to Cirium's schedule data, there are 103 flights planned from Germany to Palma De Mallorca on April 9th,

  • Condor - 12
  • Eurowings - 46
  • Ryanair - 24
  • Lufthansa - 8
  • easyJet - 4
  • Vueling - 1
  • TUIfly - 8

Massive passenger growth last year

Palma de Mallorca saw the most significant year-on-year growth of passengers last year as the aviation recovery continued. In 2020 the airport handled 6.1 million passengers. This grew to 14.5 million passengers in 2021, a growth of 137.4%. The increase in passenger numbers meant that the airport was the 13th busiest in Europe last year, the highest that the airport has ever ranked. Judging by the demand already being seen, this number will continue to rise throughout 2022.

Palma de Mallorca Airport (1)
Mallorca still has a way to go until it has recovered from the impact of COVID-19. Photo: Simple Flying

Would you book such a short flight on a widebody aircraft? Let us know in the comments below!