Okay, I’m not going to lie, this might be the coolest special airline livery project we’ve ever seen.
In this post:
Lufthansa painting six planes in centennial livery
In 2026, Lufthansa is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Several weeks back, the airline revealed that it would paint one of its brand new Boeing 787s in a special centennial livery, with quite a few interesting details:
The special livery features a blue fuselage with a white crane hovering above it, its wings merging into the wings of the aircraft. The wings of the aircraft thus virtually become the wings of the crane. An unprecedented design that combines movement and elegance, tradition and the future. Designed as a trademark by graphic designer and architect Otto Firle in 1918, the crane has become Lufthansa’s unmistakable distinguishing feature worldwide over the decades.
In addition to the crane, the numerals “100” are integrated on the left side of the fuselage and the lettering “1926 / 2026” on the right side. A “100” logo is also painted on the underside of the aircraft.
I thought that planned livery was pretty cool, but as it turns out, that was only the beginning. As it turns out, Lufthansa plans to introduce a whole fleet of anniversary jets.
Each of the most important subfleets of Lufthansa will receive their own special livery, including the Airbus A320, Airbus A350, Airbus A380, Boeing 747, and Boeing 787 (the Airbus A330 and Airbus A340 fleet won’t be getting special liveries, since they’ll eventually be retired).
The aircraft will gradually be given the new design, and the entire anniversary fleet is expected to be complete in the fall of 2026.
The Airbus A380 & Boeing 747 are going to be legendary!
When Lufthansa announced plans to have one Boeing 787 with a special livery, I was super impressed by the design, and was looking forward to seeing it in person. However, the fact that there’s going to be a fleet of half of a dozen of these jets is awesome.
In particular, I’m most excited about the Boeing 747 getting a special livery. It’s simply the sleekest, sexiest, and coolest plane in the skies, and that special livery on the plane is going to look one-of-a-kind.
I’m also excited about the A380 special livery, though admittedly the A380 isn’t such a remarkable plane on the outside. For that matter, Emirates has a massive A380 fleet, and has had some pretty creative liveries. Still, that should be a very distinctive looking plane.
Bottom line
Lufthansa is planning an entire fleet of anniversary planes, which will be rolled out through the fall of 2026. Each of Lufthansa’s “modern” fleet types will get one plane in a special livery. I’m particularly excited about the special livery Boeing 747, which I think might just be the coolest looking plane in the skies, once in service!
What do you make of Lufthansa’s planned anniversary planes?
This should have been the new livery, it's nice and modern.
And not just eurowhite and logo on the tail
Looks like the whale scene from Fantasia.
Looks like Riyadh Air!
If they changed all their aircraft to this, then German airlines would definitely have the most distinctive liveries - this and Condor's beachtowel stripes.
Agree with Samuel Hudson - this is a terrible waste of paint! Think of the environment!!!
Waste of paint! Waste of $$$$$
If Allegris is anything to go by the liveries will be flying by the year 2078.
you stole my comment ;) lol
Surprised that the anniversary fleet isn't comprised of six different liveries (unlike Allegris), and hopefully this won't be delayed due to "certification issues".
What about British Airways' BA100 special liveries? They had three 747s repainted into the iconic Speedbird, Negus, and Landor liveries, alongside an A319 in the BEA livery. I'd personally consider those the coolest special livery project.
While nice, the aforementioned liveries were really retro liveries.
Some examples of special one-off liveries would be Qatar's F1, Cathay's Asia's World City, Spirit Of Hong Kong, Thai's Royal Barge and so on.
Speaking of liveries, how about Qatar's new F1 livery!
As for Lufthansa's special livery, 6 aircraft of the same livery seems a bit much, no? A decal indicating its anniversary would've made more sense, but that's just me. Then again, some major ports only get a 1 aircraft type.