Lufthansa has announced that the first B787-9 Dreamliner to join its fleet will be named after the German capital.
“Berlin” (aircraft registration D-ABPA) is the first of five B787s which the carrier will take delivery of in 2022, following an agreement with Boeing earlier this year which saw it purchase already-manufactured Dreamliners which had been destined for other carriers before the onset of the Covid-19 crisis.
Last month Lufthansa announced that its first B787-9 would be deployed on its Frankfurt-Toronto route this winter, although an exact delivery date has yet to be confirmed.
The Dreamliner will not be the first Lufthansa aircraft to be named after the German capital – other examples include the carrier’s first B707, and an A380 superjumbo (registration D-AIMI).
Announcing the move Lufthansa said this of the city:
“Lufthansa and the German capital have a long and special relationship. The prewar company was founded in Berlin in 1926 and rose again to become one of the world’s leading airlines.
“Following the culmination of World War II and for 45 years, only the civilian aircraft of the ‘allies’ were allowed to land in the divided city. Since reunification, Lufthansa has been flying to Berlin for more than 30 years, with no other airline group flying so many Berliners all over the world in the past decades as Lufthansa and its sister carriers.
“Currently, the Lufthansa Group airlines connect the German capital to some 260 destinations worldwide, either with direct flight or through connections in one of the many group hubs.”