{"id":161230,"date":"2026-10-18T17:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T11:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/?p=161230"},"modified":"2026-10-18T12:22:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T06:52:39","slug":"lufthansa-to-retire-last-8-boeing-747-400s-after-56-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/18\/lufthansa-to-retire-last-8-boeing-747-400s-after-56-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Lufthansa to Retire Last 8 Boeing 747-400s After 56 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

COLOGNE-<\/strong> Lufthansa (LH)<\/a> parked 6 Boeing 747-400s at Twente Airport (ENS) near Enschede in the Netherlands during the 2020 COVID-19 downturn. The airport could handle their landings, but its certificate did not allow them to take off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A temporary exemption let the first jet fly to Frankfurt (FRA) on November 3, 2020. Lufthansa is now preparing to retire its last 8 Boeing 747-400s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lufthansa
Photo: By tjdarmstadt – IMG_6410.jpg, CC BY 2.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=61529569<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lufthansa\u2019s 747-400 Fleet Retirement Plans<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

More than five decades have passed since the Boeing 747 entered commercial service. Boeing delivered the last 747, a 747-8 Freighter, to Atlas Air at its Everett factory on January 31, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airlines have since replaced the \u201cQueen of the Skies\u201d<\/a> with more fuel-efficient twin-engine aircraft, but a handful of carriers still fly it, and Lufthansa is one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to ch-aviation, the German flag carrier operates 25 Boeing 747s: eight 747-400s and 17 747-8s. The 747-400s average 26.5 years in age and are nearing the end of their service lives. Like British Airways and KLM, Lufthansa accelerated its retirement plans during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lufthansa has flown the 747 since April 1970, when a 747-100 registered D-ABYA operated its Frankfurt to New York-JFK route. This made it the first European airline to fly the type on passenger services and the second international airline to do so, after Pan American World Airways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The airline later added the 747-200 and began flying the 747-400 in 1989. In 2012, it became the launch customer for the passenger 747-8 Intercontinental. At its peak, Lufthansa operated more than 60 747s. It has retired 15 747-400s so far and expects the remaining aircraft to leave the fleet by 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo: By Aero Icarus from Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland – Lufthansa Boeing 747-400; D-ABTA@BKK;29.07.2011\/612bn, CC BY-SA 2.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=26714287<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why Lufthansa Parked Six 747-400s in the Netherlands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In early 2020, the number of inactive and stored mainline aircraft reached 18,000 as airlines grounded most of their fleets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several major carriers also accelerated the retirement of older aircraft, including four-engine jets, to cut costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lufthansa announced plans in 2020 to reduce its fleet by around 100 aircraft and later raised the figure to 150.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the cuts, it moved 6 Boeing<\/a> 747-400s to Twente Airport. Parking costs there were lower than at many other airports, and reports at the time put the fee at around \u20ac10,000 ($11,195) per aircraft per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 6 aircraft were registered D-ABTK, D-ABTL, D-ABVO, D-ABVS, D-ABVX and D-ABVP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Twente Airport\u2019s Certificate Allowed Landings Only<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Simple Flying has reported that the six grounded 747s could not leave the Dutch airport. The cause was Twente\u2019s certification. The airport has a single runway of around 3 kilometers and several operating restrictions that limit the aircraft types it can accommodate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, it held an aerodrome certificate under Dutch aviation law, aligned with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Annex 14 standards. The certificate allowed Category D and E widebody aircraft to land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 747-400 is a Category D aircraft, so it could legally land. However, the certificate covered large aircraft only for end-of-life (EOL) dismantling and scrapping or long-term storage. It did not cover routine departures by aircraft of the same size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dutch aviation authority, the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT), confirmed to the media at the time that \u201cWide-body aircraft can land at Twente Airport, but only for dismantling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some reports said the airport expected the jets to stay for more than a year and hoped to see them dismantled on-site. Twente hosts Aircraft End-of-Life Solutions (AELS), an aircraft dismantling company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lufthansa had different plans and sold at least three of the aircraft to the American recycler GE Aviation Materials. Because of the certificate limits, those aircraft could not simply take off again and were \u201clegally trapped\u201d at Twente.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo- Kiefer. from Frankfurt, Germany; Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Infrastructure Gaps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Twente lacked three features that ICAO standards require for the safe operation of large aircraft:<\/p>\n\n\n\n