Bigger jets for Denver-Frankfurt By David Kesmodel, Rocky Mountain News June 12, 2003 Lufthansa plans to fly a larger jetliner next month for its popular nonstop Denver-Frankfurt service, a move that will increase seat capacity by 59.2 percent. Lufthansa will switch to a Boeing 747-400 aircraft from an Airbus A340-300 for the daily flight starting July 1, the German air carrier said Wednesday. The number of seats will rise to 390 from 245. Peter Fellinger, Lufthansa's regional sales manager for the Midwest, called the move "a win-win situation" for travelers in the Rocky Mountain region. The flight, which began in March 2001, is the only nonstop service to continental Europe from Denver International Airport. In 2001, Lufthansa filled 80.7 percent of its seats on the flight, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The figure grew to 87.2 percent for the first 10 months of 2002, the most recent public data. "It's much higher than that now," said Andrea Tollar, Lufthansa's district sales manager for the Rocky Mountain region. She declined to give details. "The Denver flight has been so full that we have not been able to accommodate all the demand," she said. The new aircraft will feature 16 seats in first class, 64 in business class and 310 in coach. The current plane features eight seats in first class, 42 in business class and 195 in coach. Lufthansa departs DIA for Frankfurt at 5:50 p.m., arriving in Frankfurt at 11:05 a.m. the next day. The return flight departs Frankfurt at 1:25 p.m., arriving at DIA at 3:25 p.m. the same day. Lufthansa has a code-sharing agreement with United Airlines, -DIA's dominant carrier. The pact - part of the Star Alliance network of 16 carriers - allows the partners to book customers on each other's flights. Tollar said many United frequent-flier members in Denver have been drawn to the Frankfurt flight to accrue miles and to connect to flights throughout Europe. "Also, a good portion of our passengers are coming from elsewhere in the Western U.S., connecting through Denver, to get to Frankfurt and beyond," she said. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.carib-link.net/naparima/naps.html TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************