After a long wait, Lufthansa received its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, registered under the registration number D-ABPA and christened «Berlin»: This new generation of aircraft will allow the airline to replace its old Airbus A340s.
The company’s first 787 took off from Paine Field Airport (PAE) at 16:28 local time under flight «LH9921» and will land in Frankfurt (FRA), the airline’s main hub. This is the first 787-9 from the factory to be delivered to an airline, following the resumption of Dreamliner deliveries in August this year.
In 2019, Lufthansa Group placed the order for 20 787-9s as part of its intercontinental fleet renewal plan, over the years the order increased to 32 units to be distributed among the group’s airlines, Lufthansa will be the first operator and will base this model at its hub in Frankfurt.
The first five Dreamliners of the largest German airline operator came from Hainan Airlines, which were later transferred to Vistara and finally taken over by Lufthansa after negotiations with Boeing due to delays in the 777-9X program. These first aircraft are powered by General Electric engines, the other 27 units will be equipped with Rolls-Royce engines and are expected to enter the fleet in 2023.
The German carrier’s first five 787s will have the same cabin as Hainan Airlines’ aircraft, which include 26 Business Class seats (1-2-1) of Collins Aerospace’s Super Diamond model, 21 Premium Economy seats and 247 seats in Economy.
The remaining Dreamliners will have the new Business Class and Premium Economy group products incorporated, the latter of which debuted this year on SWISS Boeing 777-300ERs and is expected to be installed on Boeing 777-9Xs, Airbus A350s, Boeing 747-8i and Airbus A330-300s.
Lufthansa also expects to take delivery in the coming weeks of the second Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which is registered under the registration number D-ABPD and christened «Frankfurt am Main».
Ready for the first pictures of our second @Boeing 787, the "Frankfurt am Main"? 📸
We got you covered!Check out the first pictures of our freshly painted D-ABPD 🖌, who will be joining our fleet in the next months.
#787 #dreamliner pic.twitter.com/TfrgpF2cE8— Lufthansa News (@lufthansaNews) August 5, 2022
The remaining aircraft to be delivered tentatively by the last quarter of this year and early 2023 are as follows: D-ABPB, D-ABPC and D-ABPE. This 787 sub-fleet has an average age of 3 years, as these units were kept in storage awaiting a new customer.
At the end of 2021, the German airline revealed that the first international destination for the Dreamliner would be Toronto – Pearson (YYZ), for the moment Lufthansa has not announced the schedule for these new aircraft.
See also: Farnborough 2022: Lufthansa orders GE9X engines for its 777X
Photo credits: Jennifer Schuld
