LONDON – Lufthansa Technik has handed over the second Airbus A350-900 to the German Armed Forces. Christened the “Konrad Adenauer”, the rollout ceremony took place this week.

Konrad Adenauer 10+01

The aircraft which has been handed over bears the tactical registration 10+01 and will soon join the Federal Ministry of Defense’s (BMVg) Special Air Mission Wing for long-haul governmental flights. It is the first plane that has been fitted with a full government cabin.

The plane has been named Konrad Adenauer in memory of Germany’s first chancellor and it has been christened by Siemtje Moller (SPD), a Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Minister of Defense. The grandson of Adenauer (who is also named Konrad Adenauer) was also present.

“Ceremonial handovers of new aircraft to the German Armed Forces have already become a fine tradition for us in recent years. Nevertheless, today is again something special,” explained Soeren Stark, CEO of Lufthansa Technik.

“The aircraft christened today is not the first Airbus A350 handed over by us to the German Armed Forces, yet it bears all the insignia of a new flagship with the registration number 10+01 and the history-steeped name Konrad Adenauer.”

“This great honor is also reflected in the new government cabin we installed, which sets new standards with state-of-the-art technology and high functionality as well as cost efficiency.”

Following the formal handover today, the 10+01 will be transferred to Cologne as early as tomorrow for subsequent entry into service with the German Air Force. The third Airbus A350 with the registration 10+02 and the future name “Theodor Heuss” is also at Lufthansa Technik’s Hamburg base and in an advanced stage of full cabin modification.

The 10+03, which is already in service, will also soon return to Lufthansa Technik to be converted from the transitional to the full government cabin.

Changes

The new A350 will have a revised interior and a revised livery compared to the already existing 10+03 which has been in the German Armed Forces since 2020. Some of the changes include a new (albeit a small change in) livery.

Clearly visible to the public is the discreetly revised livery of the 10+01, which also differs in detail from its sister aircraft 10+03. It includes new lettering in the “Bundes Sans” font as well as wingtips whose outside is now fully painted in black, red, and gold – the German national colors.

The main change is in the interior design compared to the 10+03, where the plane will be fully fitted with a full government cabin, which differs significantly from the transitional cabin of the 10+03.

In contrast to the latter’s open cabin design, the various functional areas for political-parliamentary flight operations are now structurally separated from one another, as was already the case with its two predecessors based on the Airbus A340.

The remaining space in the cabin is available for the delegations traveling with the aircraft. It features seating with generous spacing, an appropriate number of washrooms, and modern galley equipment.

The A350 aircraft with the registrations of 10+01, 10+02, and 10+03 won’t be the first governmental planes with those registrations, as there were 3 other Boeing 707’s with the same registration a couple decades earlier.