This afternoon Germany updated its COVID-19 travel risk list to add the whole of Spain, including its islands, to the simple risk list. With rising case numbers, it could soon become a high incidence area. Despite the threat of escalation, Lufthansa remains committed to flying its Boeing 747-8 aircraft to Mallorca on Saturdays over the summer.
While Lufthansa was against the flights to nowhere movement, it has scheduled some interesting flights over the summer. The airline has been able to justify these with an increase in passenger demand following months of not traveling.
What are Lufthansa’s short-haul 747 plans?
A month ago, Lufthansa revealed that it would schedule its Boeing 747s on the short-haul route from Frankfurt to Mallorca for a limited period. For four consecutive Saturdays from July 17th, the jumbo jet will operate the LH1152-LH1153 rotation on the route.
The aircraft is set to depart from Frankfurt at 10:20 before arriving in Mallorca at 12:25. Two hours later, it will leave at 14:25, coming back home to Frankfurt at 16:45. Scheduling the Boeing 747-8 on the route allows the airline to increase its passenger count on each leg by 69% from 215 to 364.
Spain’s COVID-19 risk increased
The number of COVID-19 cases in Spain has been steadily rising. With this in mind, the Robert Koch Institute, in charge of publishing Germany’s risk list, has today added Spain to the simple risk list, with the change coming into force on Sunday. According to the latest data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the 14 incidence per 100,000 people in Spain currently sits at 215.12, compared to just 10.58 in Germany.
All in all, being on the simple risk list doesn’t change much. Passengers can still avoid quarantine if vaccinated, recovered from, or negative for COVID-19. The main difference is that they need to complete a contact locator form before flying to Germany.
The Local in Germany reports that if infections continue to climb, the country could soon end up on the high incidence list. This would mean that passengers would need to quarantine for at least five days upon arrival if not recovered from COVID-19 or fully vaccinated. If those quarantining don’t take a free rapid test on day five, they must continue to quarantine for a full ten days.
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No plans to scrap Boeing 747 flights
According to the Government, 41.% of the population are now fully vaccinated, meaning that a significant portion remains unvaccinated. Demand for travel to Mallorca from Germany is traditionally very high, with Eurowings seeing a massive surge over Easter. However, increasing restrictions are typically tied to a fall in demand.
Thankfully, it seems as though anybody who has specifically booked to fly on the Boeing 747’s short-haul adventures won’t be disappointed. When approached by Simple Flying, a Lufthansa representative confirmed that the RKI’s reclassification of Spain would have no negative impact on the airline’s Boeing 747-8 plans to Mallorca over the summer.
Are you booked to travel to Mallorca? How do you feel about the change in classification? Let us know what you think and why in the comments below!
