Lufthansa has just taken delivery of its 600th Airbus aircraft. Following the Airbus A321neo’s delivery this morning, the airline held a celebratory event on the manufacturer’s Hamburg-Finkenwerder site. Lufthansa Group and Airbus executives met throughout the event to rejoice the decades-long partnership. Having received over 10 Airbus models since 1976, Lufthansa is Airbus’s premier airline partner, and it plans to proceed constructing on that relationship for many years to come back.
Special delivery
Every week Airbus pilots find themselves traveling the globe delivering next-generation airliners to customers. While all deliveries are essential and play a major role in an airline’s operations, only a handful are celebrated, like this morning’s A321neo delivery. Because the 600th Airbus airplane to sport the Lufthansa livery, D-AIEQ has been privileged to wear a novel commemorative livery. This livery is comparable to the usual Lufthansa livery; nevertheless, it has 600th written in large gray letters on the fuselage near the cockpit. The plane has also been given the nickname “Munster.”
Photo: Lufthansa
In recognition of the noteworthy milestone within the airlines’ partnership with Airbus, The Chairman of the Lufthansa Group Executive Board, Carsten Spohr, stated,
“Lufthansa and Airbus are united by a really special partnership. Ever since Airbus’s creation, we’ve enjoyed close and trusting collaborations on a wide selection of research projects and latest developments. Lufthansa has also served no fewer than 4 times as Airbus’s launching customer for a brand new aircraft type, most recently for the A320neo family that’s proving so successful. Lufthansa has ordered every family of aircraft that Airbus has developed over the past five many years. And greater than 90 percent of the 600 Airbuses that we’ve taken delivery of during that point are still in Lufthansa Group service today.”
With 600 aircraft delivered, Lufthansa is the biggest recipient of Airbus Airliners in history. Nonetheless, the airline doesn’t intend to stop its orders for brand new Airbus’s anytime soon. It has dozens of additional aircraft on order and plans to proceed purchasing more for years to come back. A few of these upcoming acquisitions will stand to switch older aircraft. Others will simply add to the fleet’s size, subsequently increasing the airline’s capability as its operations grow.
By 2026 the airline plans to have acquired 100 additional Airbus airplanes enabling it to set a brand new record of 700 Airbus aircraft deliveries. Spohr went on to share that Lufthansa Group executives anticipate it can have the option to rejoice this accomplishment at its centennial celebrations.
A long time of flight
In 1976 Lufthansa took delivery of three of Airbus’s newly released A300B2s. The widebody aircraft proved to be an enormous success leading Lufthansa to amass additional A300s. Because the years passed, Lufthansa Acquired the A300-600 and A310. In 1989 the infamous Airbus A320 family joined the airline’s fleet. The Airbus A340, A330, A380, and A350 later joined the fleet. Notably, the airline has also been a launch customer for the Airbus A220.
Photo: InsectWorld | Shutterstock
Throughout the many years, Airbus has proven to Lufthansa that it may possibly consistently produce protected, efficient, and reliable airliners, which has led to the airline constructing such an enormous fleet of Airbus airplanes. The CEO of Airbus, Guillaume Faury, stated the next regarding the lasting partnership,
“Lufthansa and Airbus have been partners ever since we delivered the primary Lufthansa A300 back in February 1976. Since then, Lufthansa has taken delivery of an Airbus aircraft a median of each month – 600 of them in almost 50 years! No other airline group has received more of our aircraft to this point. My particular thanks, on behalf of everyone at Airbus, go to all of the teams at Lufthansa for all their confidence and trust. We stay up for the following 50 years of our partnership and our shared commitment to the goal of sustainable air travel.”
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