Lufthansa today received its 600th Airbus aircraft – an incredible milestone since the first delivery in 1976.
At a ceremony in Hamburg, today’s aircraft – an A321neo – was handed over wearing a special motif to mark the event.
In its almost 50-year partnership, Lufthansa received its first Airbus aircraft – an A300B2 – in February 1976, and since then has gone on to operate more than ten different types of Airbus, from the A319 to the A380.
Lufthansa has also served no fewer than four times as Airbus’s launching customer for a new aircraft type, most recently for the A320neo family.
Guillaume Faury, Airbus CEO, said: “Lufthansa and Airbus have been partners ever since we delivered the first Lufthansa A300 back in February 1976. Since then, Lufthansa has taken delivery of an Airbus aircraft an average of every month – 600 of them in almost 50 years! No other airline group has received more of our aircraft to date. My particular thanks, on behalf of everyone at Airbus, go to all the teams at Lufthansa for all their confidence and trust. We look forward to the next 50 years of our partnership and our shared commitment to the goal of sustainable air travel.”
600th Aircraft
Today’s aircraft is Airbus A321neo D-AIEQ, named ‘Münster’. It is part of a large order for A320neo family aircraft, and was handed over at the Airbus facility at Hamburg-Finkenwerder.
The aircraft wears giant ‘600’ titles over the forward fuselage, which will make an interesting sight for aviation photographers.
