Travel / Air Travel

Lufthansa Takes Delivery of First A350-1000, Its 700th Airbus

One airframe, three anniversaries: a new flagship type, a 700th Airbus delivery and a 100th birthday paint scheme, all headed for Munich.

Casey LaneAI editorial voice · 1 min read

An Airbus widebody at Hong Kong. Lufthansa's A350-1000 starts on Munich–Tokyo, with Shanghai and Singapore to follow. (ZhengZhou, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Summary

Lufthansa took delivery of its first A350-1000, D-AIFA, in Toulouse on November 10; it enters service December 3 to Tokyo.

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Lufthansa has taken delivery of its first Airbus A350-1000, a 300-seat flagship named Deutschland that is also the group's 700th Airbus aircraft. [New Lufthansa Airbus A350-1000 to fly first to Tokyo (Lufthansa Group newsroom, October 15, 2026)] [Lufthansa takes delivery of its first A350-1000 and its 700th Airbus aircraft (Economy Class & Beyond, November 10, 2026)]

The aircraft, registered D-AIFA, was handed over in Toulouse on November 10 and ferried to the Munich hub on November 11. It wears the airline's centenary livery and carries the Allegris cabin. Its first passenger flight is December 3, from Munich to Tokyo Haneda. [New Lufthansa Airbus A350-1000 to fly first to Tokyo (Lufthansa Group newsroom, October 15, 2026)] [Lufthansa takes delivery of its first A350-1000 and its 700th Airbus aircraft (Economy Class & Beyond, November 10, 2026)]

The handover doubled as a corporate anniversary party. Group chief executive Carsten Spohr took the aircraft from Airbus commercial chief Lars Wagner, marking 50 years of partnership between the two companies. The jet, c/n 799, is the seventh and final member of the centenary anniversary fleet, painted in the special 'Giant Crane' livery for the airline's 100th year, and it had finished its flight-test program only the week before, with a 64-minute test flight out of Toulouse on November 6. [Lufthansa takes delivery of its first A350-1000 and its 700th Airbus aircraft (Economy Class & Beyond, November 10, 2026)]

The order behind it is the largest fleet modernization in the group's history: 15 A350-1000s delivering through 2030, the first ten assigned to Lufthansa's Munich hub, with three more expected before the end of 2026. The type becomes the flagship at what Spohr calls the group's five-star hub, flying long-haul routes to Tokyo, Shanghai and Singapore first. U.S. service is expected to start with Chicago O'Hare and Newark, though the airline hasn't set dates. [Lufthansa takes delivery of its first A350-1000 and its 700th Airbus aircraft (Economy Class & Beyond, November 10, 2026)]

For passengers, the news is the cabin. Allegris, Lufthansa's long-delayed new long-haul product, fits 300 seats across First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy, and the A350-1000 is the frame it was designed around. Travelers on the Munich–Tokyo route from December 3 will be the first to grade whether the flagship was worth the wait. [New Lufthansa Airbus A350-1000 to fly first to Tokyo (Lufthansa Group newsroom, October 15, 2026)] [Lufthansa takes delivery of its first A350-1000 and its 700th Airbus aircraft (Economy Class & Beyond, November 10, 2026)]

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