Lufthansa is an interesting case when it comes to aircraft. Although many airlines have retired their older quadjet aircraft, the German flag carrier continues to operate a powerful fleet. These include Airbus A340, Airbus A380, Boeing 747-400 & -8. These older jets are staying put to provide capacity that needs to be filled due to delays in Boeing 777X deliveries.
But with Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr feeling confident about the delivery of these first aircraft, the time has finally come to retire some of the airline’s older aircraft. that Airbus A340-600 The aircraft is one of these and its final flight in Lufthansa colors is planned for later this year.
One Airbus A340-600 has already been recycled
Only four of Lufthansa’s 24 A340-600s are still flying, according to CH-Aviation. Some of the 20 that have already been retired have already begun to be scrapped. There are many consequences to discarded aircraft, but upcycling key parts such as fuselages is becoming increasingly common.
A company based in Germany, airline tagIn partnership with Lufthansa, we upcycled parts of the D-AIHE fuselage into key chains. The company has produced a limited edition of 8,500 tags, with prices starting at €34.95 ($39.85). Various parts of the fuselage were used. This means you can get tags that are white, blue, and a mix of both colors. Tags are on sale now.
Commenting on this launch, Tobias Richter, CEO of Aviationtag, said:
“The D-AIHE edition is special in that it brings together several important stories: Lufthansa’s long-range heritage, the Airbus A340-600, the official collaboration with Lufthansa and a special scientific mission. By transforming the original aircraft material into a new collectible, we are preserving a piece of aviation history in tangible form.”
Airbus A340-600 registration D-AIHE information
The aircraft that received the upcycling treatment was registered D-AIHE and was one of the early retirement aircraft. 
lufthansa When the epidemic was at its peak. According to CH-Aviation data, the plane was ordered on December 5, 1997. The plane made its first flight on November 18, 2003 and was delivered to sole operator Lufthansa on January 16, 2004.
After flying with Lufthansa for over 16 years, the Quadjet was flown to Teruel, Spain, where it was stored and scrapped. While flying for Lufthansa, the aircraft is understood to have completed 8,873 flight cycles, totaling 76,889 flight hours. The average flight time is 8 hours 40 minutes.
The Airbus A340-600 has 281 seats across three cabins. Up front, passengers found eight first class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. Then there were 56 business class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration. Behind it were 28 premium economy seats in a 2-3-2 configuration. The rear of the aircraft had 189 seats in a 2-4-2 configuration. Lufthansa A340-600
It is on the same level as the cargo area.
D-AIHE was also special for another reason.
D-AIHE, named Leverkusen, was part of Lufthansa’s onboard climate research subfleet. Since 2004, quadjets have been either CARIBIC or aspiratewicked no wayfor ircraft Rregular meatmospheric research rainased memachine aspirateContainer program. Each time the aircraft flew, it collected valuable climate data between 9 and 13 kilometers (29,500 feet and 42,650 feet) above sea level. These are measurements that scientists cannot collect on a regular basis.
D-AIHE refused to ground at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact on its operations and other aircraft was felt fairly quickly. The lack of measurements from aircraft in the sky significantly reduced the reliability of weather forecasts. The A340-600 completed approximately 500 measurement flights before being retired.
This Airbus A340-600 never returned to the skies, so the Airbus A350-900 from Lufthansa’s fleet took its place. Now D-AIXJ is going through the process of being converted into a flying laboratory.
