On March 30, 2021 Lufthansa will again fly researchers from Hamburg to Mount Pleasant on behalf of the Alfred Wegener Institute. This time researchers from the German Aerospace Center will also be on board. The implementation of the special flight has been announced with the Airbus A350-900.

Tomorrow the Airbus A350-900 will be transferred from Munich to Hamburg at 14:30 p.m. The landing at Hamburg Airport is scheduled for 15:40 p.m. under flight number LH9923. LH2574 then leaves for Mount Pleasant at 21:30 p.m. that same evening. The aircraft with the registration D-AIXQ and the name of the city of Freiburg is the newest member of the Lufthansa A350 fleet and is one of the world's most sustainable and economical long-haul aircraft.

"We are delighted to not only be supporting the AWI's polar research expedition with the second flight to the Falkland Islands, but also to be able to make an important contribution to further research into the Earth's magnetic field," says Thomas Jahn, fleet captain and Falkland project manager. "We have been supporting climate research projects for more than 25 years."

The reason for this renewed flight to the Falkland Islands is the change of the Polarstern crew and the pick-up of the research expedition participants. Since the beginning of February, a team of around 50 AWI researchers has been collecting important data on ocean currents, sea ice and the carbon cycle in the Southern Ocean, which among other things enables reliable climate forecasts. On the way back from the research area in the southern Weddell Sea, the Polarstern stopped in Atka Bay, where 25 other scientists went on board: the summer staff and the wintering team from Neumayer Station III. The latter then returns to Germany after 15 months in the Antarctic. On April 2, Lufthansa will bring the AWI's international research team and DLR scientists back to Germany from the Falkland Islands. Landing under flight number LH2575 is planned for April 3 at 15:00 p.m. at Munich Airport.

The first flight from Hamburg to the Falkland Islands at the end of January 2021 was the longest non-stop passenger flight in Lufthansa’s history. After more than 15 hours and more than 13 kilometers, the Airbus A000-350 landed at the Mount Pleasant military base.