Lufthansa to fly super-jumbo jet into JFK

Lufthansa will be the latest airline to go jumbo on the jets it flies to New York City when it adds the Airbus A380, the largest passenger airliner in the world, to its flight schedule next week.

Lufthansa's first A380 flight into Kennedy Airport is slated to arrive 1:30 p.m. Monday. Air France and Emirates airlines already fly the A380 into Kennedy Airport. Lufthansa, with U.S. headquarters in East Meadow, plans daily A380 service to New York from Frankfurt, Germany, by mid-April.

The super-jumbo jet seats more than 500 passengers, and its increased use could be a further indication that airlines expect international travel to pick up with a growing economy.

In November, Emirates put its A380 back on the Kennedy-to-Dubai, United Arab Emirates, run after slow tickets sales forced the carrier to take the plane off the route in June 2009.

In January, Qantas Airlines of Australia resumed flying A380 jets to the U.S. West Coast after an engine broke apart shortly after takeoff from Singapore in November 2010. The problem prompted the airline to discontinue flying the jet from Australia to Los Angeles for two months.

The Port Authority, which operates Kennedy Airport, spent $179 million to upgrade facilities to accommodate the double-decker aircraft, including strengthening concrete runways, taxiways and ramps.

Air-traffic controllers also have special protocols for handling the A380, said Jim Peters, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman. Controllers have instructions to "increase spacing" on takeoffs and landings so that other planes avoid the A380's wake turbulence, Peters said.