B-737-300 - Lufthansa pensjonerer den siste - AW&ST

End Of An Era: Lufthansa Retires Its Last Boeing 737

Oct 31, 2016

Jens Flottau | Aviation Week & Space Technology

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  Feb. 4, 1968: D-ABED arrives at Hamburg Airport. The aircraft was Lufthansa’s second 737-100 following D-ABEC (delivered on Dec. 28, 1967), but it was the first to be ferried to Germany. The aircraft also was flown on the first scheduled flight from Frankfurt to Munich on Feb. 10, 1968. D-ABED was sold in October 1991.

  
  

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  Lufthansa

Forty-eight years after Lufthansa flew its first scheduled Boeing 737 service and 51 years after it initially placed the launch order for the aircraft, the airline is set to retire its last remaining 737-300 Oct. 31. The aircraft, D-ABEC, delivered in August 1991, is planned to return to Frankfurt at 5:10 p.m. local time following a ceremonial final flight with invited guests from Hamburg as LH9924. The last commercial service landed back at the airline’s main base on Oct. 29 at 7:40 p.m. as LH153 from Nuremberg. It was operated by D-ABEH, which was also delivered in 1991. 

Lufthansa was key to launching the world’s most successful commercial jet program, having placed orders over the years for a total of 148 737s. But to Boeing’s great disappointment, the airline never bought the NG and has not ordered the MAX as it shifted to an all-Airbus A320-family narrowbody fleet.