Lufthansa is the second non-stop flight from Hamburg to Mount Pleasant (MPN) to the Falkland Islands.
Lufthansa is operating its second non-stop flight from Hamburg to Mount Pleasant (MPN) in the Falkland Islands on behalf of the Alfred Wegener Institute, the Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Bremerhaven. This time, the Airbus A350-900 aircraft is carrying 40 crew members of the Polarstern research ship, as well as scientists from the German Aerospace Center (Deutschen Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt).
During the flight, scientists will collect measurement data that will provide additional information about the influence of the Earth's magnetic field on aviation. Therefore, the second flight to the Falkland Islands is already contributing to science on its way to the South Pole.
Flight LH9923 took off from Munich and landed at Hamburg Airport at 15:40 on 30 March. That same evening, LH2574 took off for Mount Pleasant at 21:30 p.m., local time. The D-AIXQ aircraft, named Freiburg, is the newest member of the Lufthansa A350 fleet and one of the most durable and efficient long-haul aircraft in the world.
Lufthnasa has been supporting numerous climate research projects for over 25 years.
"With the second flight to the Falkland Islands, we are not only excited to be able to support AWI's polar research expedition, but also to make an important contribution to further research into the Earth's magnetic field." says Thomas Jahn, Fleet Captain and Project Manager. "We have been supporting climate research projects for more than 25 years."
The reason Lufthansa makes this second flight to the Falkland Islands is to rotate the Polarstern crew and take over the research expedition team. Since the beginning of February, a team of about 50 researchers has been collecting important data on ocean currents, sea ice and the carbon cycle in the South Ocean, which, among other things, allow reliable climate forecasts.
Returning from the southern Weddell Research Area, Polarstern stopped at Atka Bay, where another 25 scientists boarded the ship: the summer staff and the winter team at Neumayer III, the latter returning. in Germany after more than 15 months in Antarctica. To make research as climate-friendly as possible, the Alfred-Wegener-Institut will also offset the CO2 emissions of the flight.
To make research as climate-friendly as possible, the Alfred-Wegener-Institut will offset the CO2 emissions of the flight.
On April 2, Lufthansa will bring home on this second flight, the international AWI research team and DLR scientists to Germany from the Falkland Islands. Flight LH2575 is scheduled to land at Munich Airport on April 3 at 15:00 local time.
The first flight from Hamburg to the Falkland Islands, which took place at the end of January 2021, was the longest non-stop passenger flight in Lufthansa's history. The Airbus A350-900 aircraft reached Mount Pleasant military base after flying more than 13.000 kilometers in more than 15 hours.