A380 lands at San Francisco
With a good deal of fanfare and a planned later departure to allow for tours of the aircraft, Lufthansa began daily nonstop service on 10-May-2011 between San Francisco (SFO) and Frankfurt. SFO is fully prepared to accept the aircraft and has no operating restrictions at the airport despite its rather constricted footprint.
Additionally, there are already two gates with dual level jetways to accommodate the passenger needs with more to come in the near term. Air France will be the next A380 carrier, beginning seasonal service with the aircraft to SFO from Paris in June.
FRA tops SFO International seats
Lufthansa, which has served San Francisco for 50 years, has replaced B747-400 equipment with the A380, dramatically increasing its capacity on the route (as shown below). LH also operates daily A340-600 nonstop service between San Francisco and Munich. Additionally, Star partner United operates a Frankfurt service-double daily in the summer-giving Frankfurt the greatest number of seats operated from SFO to any European city.
Frankfurt International Airport to San Francisco International Airport (seats per week, 2-May-11 to 30-Oct-11)
In addition to San Francisco, Lufthansa currently operates the A380 to New York and will soon introduce the aircraft on the Frankfurt-Miami sector.