I’ve gotta hand it to Lufthansa, this is one of the coolest special liveries we’ve seen.
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Lufthansa highlights crane with 100th anniversary livery
Lufthansa is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2026, and to mark this special occasion, the airline will be introducing a Boeing 787-9 in a special centennial livery. This Dreamliner is currently in Charleston (CHS), and is expected to be delivered to Frankfurt (FRA) in November 2025, prior to entering service in December. Hopefully Lufthansa can afford to pay for the plane!
Lufthansa’s special anniversary livery heavily emphasizes the crane, which is a unique aspect of Lufthansa’s identity since the airline began operations. Here’s how Lufthansa describes this special livery:
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.
Here’s how Lufthansa CEO Jens Ritter describes the new livery:
“Our Lufthansa crane stands for safety, pioneering spirit, premium quality, but also for freedom and reliability. This has been the case for the past 100 years and will continue to be so in the future. We are proud of our tradition and our values, and we look forward to continuing our great history. The special livery of the Boeing 787 honors our identity and also stands for a proud team of Lufthansa employees who give everything every day for the safety and well-being of our guests.”
Now this is what I call a special livery!
Obviously as an aviation geek, I take more interest in aircraft liveries than the average person. I think Lufthansa’s special anniversary livery is really well done. In particular, I love how abstractly yet prominently the crane is integrated into this livery, and how much this is actually an evolution of the carrier’s standard livery (rather than being something completely different).
The heavy use of blue and white reminds me of Delta’s centennial livery A350 that was unveiled a while back. The difference, of course, is that Lufthansa’s standard livery is blue and white, while Delta’s isn’t, so Delta’s special livery was a bit more random, in that sense.
The special Lufthansa livery also reminds me a little of Riyadh Air’s purple livery, since nowadays it’s not often we see liveries that have such heavy use of a tone other than white.
Bottom line
Lufthansa has just revealed its special 100th anniversary livery, which will be on a newly delivered Dreamliner. It’s one of the coolest special liveries that we’ve seen from any airline, in my opinion, and emphasizes the crane more than any previous paint job.
What do you make of Lufthansa’s Dreamliner centennial livery?
Shouldn’t Lufthansa also painted their 747-8 for this centenary event too?
Maybe 777-9 or a350-1000 if they can also made it in time!
Your article title reads like its the Boeing 787's Centennial.
What a lovely livery. Simple, elegant. LH does branding so well.
Now..about those non-Allegris interiors...
To be honest, I was more impressed by ANA Star Wars edition. Not just the colourful planes, also the message conveyed to the customer.
Sadly the plane has no seats but yay pretty paint!
It is great to see a bunch of airlines coming up on 100 year celebrations.
KLM's 100 year anniversary, sadly, came during the pandemic.
AA's will come next year as well.
In the midst of a turbulent industry that has claimed more companies than those that have survived, it is great to see that Warren Buffett's 2007 quip that "if a capitalist was present at Kitty Hawk, he would have shot down the plane" has proven to have been unncessary.
Well, well well. Carsten spent a bunch of money putting lipstick on on his pig of an airline that can’t even be arsed to treat their flying customers like human beings with dignity and respect
From my understanding, planes need to be repainted every few years, so this isn't as big an expense as it seems.
Amusing that the expense was the bit that you chose to focus on there, Cedric
I wonder how it's going to look in a few years along with Riyadh Air's purple livery!
In the same vein of special liveries that are heavy on colour, I'm reminded of CXs special liveries of past. The "Asia's World City" livery on the 744 followed by the 77W were simply gorgeous. It wouldn't surprise me if they come up with something similar on their upcoming flagship 779s; their 80th anniversary is coming up and...
I wonder how it's going to look in a few years along with Riyadh Air's purple livery!
In the same vein of special liveries that are heavy on colour, I'm reminded of CXs special liveries of past. The "Asia's World City" livery on the 744 followed by the 77W were simply gorgeous. It wouldn't surprise me if they come up with something similar on their upcoming flagship 779s; their 80th anniversary is coming up and as 8 is a lucky number in Chinese culture, I hope we something for that.
Just like Allegris...
Here we go again. Yet another thinly veiled political message embedded in a Lufthansa article. Oh, sure, it's not about Allegris seats. But, don't try to fool us Ben. We are on to you. ;-)