In a special ceremony at ILA Berlin, Lufthansa Technik handed over the third and final modified Airbus A350 government aircraft to the German Federal Ministry of Defense’s Special Air Mission Wing.
The Airbus A350, registered 10+03, will officially fall under the guardianship of the German Air Force and be used to fly German government officials and dignitaries from place to place.
The new A350 officially entered service (again) on June 5, 2024, at a service attended by the German Secretary of State for Defense Nils Hilmer.
Named ‘Kurt Schumacher’, this is in fact the second time the A350 has been delivered to the German Air Force.
The initial handover of 10+03 took place just a few months after the political decision was made to replace the German Air Force’s two long-serving Airbus A340s with three brand-new A350s.
Due to the A340s becoming unreliable a new A350 was needed very quickly, so Lufthansa Technik initially only equipped 10+03 with an interim cabin before delivering the aircraft in August 2020.
The first A350 deliveries with a fully modified governmental cabin followed in November 2022 and in March 2023 with 10+01 ‘Konrad Adenauer’ and 10+02 ‘Theodor Heuss’.
Once those aircraft were up and running, 10+03 was able to return to Lufthansa Technik’s Hamburg VIP Completion Center for the full upgrade treatment.
The jet was updated in the latest livery with new lettering in the ‘Bundes Sans’ font and wingtips that are now extensively painted in the colors of the German flag.
“The largest modernization programme in the history of the Special Air Mission Wing can justifiably be called a Herculean task,” Soeren Stark, Chief Executive Officer of Lufthansa Technik AG, said. “Four cabin refurbishments for a total of three wide-body jets over a period of just four years, and some of them were still heavily influenced by the pandemic.”
Stark added: “I am all the more proud of our team, which mastered this task with flying colors, and completely within the estimated cost and time frame. I take my hat off to this achievement and thank everyone who was involved.”