The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) claims that Lufthansa, the flag carrier and largest German airline, was operating unapproved flights to as well as out of San Diego and Philadelphia.

Correspondingly, the FAA seeks $6.4 million fine for breaching Federal Aviation Regulations allegedly conducting almost 900 flights into and out of San Diego International and Philadelphia International airports.

According to the statement, Lufthansa “knew it lacked FAA authorization to do so. Foreign airlines can only conduct scheduled flights into and out of airports that are listed in their FAA-issued Operations Specifications, and the FAA alleges neither airport was in Lufthansa’s Operations Specifications”.

To be even more precise, the accusation in the FAA statement concerns nearly 600 flights that Lufthansa operated from/to Frankfurt to/from San Diego with the Airbus A340 between March 2018 and 2019 and almost 292 flights with Airbus 330-300 and Boeing 747-400 aircraft from/to Frankfurt to/from Philadelphia between October 2018 and April 2019.

However, Lufthansa’s spokesperson Boris Ogursky confirmed to Aviation Voice that “Lufthansa is fully cooperating with the FAA on this matter and will be addressing the regulatory issues involved with the Agency”.

“Lufthansa is globally committed to compliance with all laws and regulations. There are no allegations raised by the FAA that the security or safety of any flights was compromised in any respect. The safety and security of our passengers remains the highest priority of the Lufthansa Group”, the spokesperson said.