LONDON – On Monday, 17th October, Lufthansa’s ‘first in fleet’ Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, with the registration D-ABPA, was christened “Berlin”.
During an unveiling ceremony at Brandenburg airport (BER) supported by Governing Mayor of the German Capital, Franziska Giffey.
Although nowadays, the German National Carrier is known to be headquartered out of Cologne, Lufthansa was founded in Berlin in 1926, and it remained HQ until 1945.
Due to a rule meaning only Allied aircraft could land in the divided city, Lufthansa did not land back in Berlin until 1990.
“Lufthansa and the German capital are linked by a long tradition. The company was founded in Berlin in 1926 and rose to become one of the world’s leading airlines.”
“Today, the Lufthansa Group connects Berlin with the world. Long-haul flights to and from BER are very important for our economic development.”
“Our trade fairs, congresses, and Berlin’s strong hospitality industry also thrive on this. I am delighted to be able to christen Lufthansa’s first Dreamliner, ‘Berlin’ today – with ‘Berliner Weiße’, as befits the occasion.”
“I wish the ‘Berlin’ a good flight at all times,” said Mayor Giffey.
Lufthansa’s strong presence out of Brandenburg airport will be underscored by this winter’s flight schedule; they will be operating just shy of a third incoming and outgoing flight which translates into approximately 40% of all flights out of BER.
Today (October 19th), the Dreamliner will kick off its operational life on a flight between Frankfurt – Munich. Serving the route three times a day will allow all the required training flights to be completed and enable the training of as many crew staff as possible.
Once the training flights are complete, Berlin is planned to be utilized in service between Frankfurt and New York Newark airport starting December 1st, 2022.
Those familiar with Lufthansa’s fleet and history may already know that this is not the first aircraft to have the letters of the capital bestowed upon it.
D-ABPA will be the seventh in the carrier’s history, dating back to as early as September 1960 when Willy Brandt first named a Boeing 707 the same.
This time the Dreamliner takes the baton from an Airbus A380 D-AIMI that took the moniker on in May 2012 during a ceremony at Tegel Airport.
The Airbus last took to the skies in February 2021, when it flew from Frankfurt to Tarbes to be stored and ultimately decommissioned.
Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said, “The first Dreamliner in our long-haul fleet is called ‘Berlin’ because the company has a long and special relationship with the capital.”
“Lufthansa has been a strong partner of the German capital since it was founded in Berlin in 1926. Since we were allowed to fly to Berlin again in 1990, no other airline has brought more travelers to the region.”
“With the new Boeing 787 ‘Berlin,’ we proudly carry the name of the German capital around the world.”
Lufthansa is planning to take delivery of 32 Dreamliners in total between now and 2027, in what looks to be a shift towards more efficient aircraft.
The 787-9 prides itself on only consuming an average of 2.5 liters of kerosene per passenger per 100km flown; this is an improvement of up to 30 percent compared to older comparable variants.
