Lufthansa has applied a special blue anniversary livery to an Airbus A380 to mark its 100th founding year.
The aircraft registered D-AIMH landed at Munich Airport after painting in Shannon, Ireland, featuring a 47 metre long crane motif together with the markings 1926 to 2026 and 100. It becomes the fourth aircraft in the commemorative design.
Thirty five colleagues worked for 34 days to complete the painting, covering more than 4,000 square metres, an area equivalent to about 16 tennis courts. The aircraft will enter regular passenger service from Munich in March as part of the anniversary fleet celebrations.
Earlier this month an Airbus A350-900 in the same blue design arrived in Munich while a Boeing 787-9 and an Airbus A320neo based in Frankfurt already fly with the special colours. Another Airbus A320neo with the XXL crane is due to arrive in Munich shortly.
Further aircraft including a Boeing 747-8 and an Airbus A350-1000 will receive the livery in the coming weeks, bringing the total to seven special aircraft. Designs are incorporated during routine repainting or factory delivery of new planes, resulting in only minimal additional costs for the anniversary programme.
