The days of “Starnberg” serving Lufthansa are over. The Airbus A 320 was decommissioned last week. It is open whether there will ever be another machine with the baptismal name of the district town, but it is not unlikely. It can only take a long time.
Starnberg– D-AIPP is history: Lufthansa’s Airbus A320-211, which was christened “Starnberg” almost exactly 30 years ago, was decommissioned at the end of last week and has lost its call sign. For now, the machine is on a special site in Spain, but could well be scrapped in the foreseeable future. The decision has not been made yet.
Exactly 30 years ago, on June 22, 1990, the D-AIPP had made its maiden flight. On August 10, 1990 the brand new aircraft with 156 seats was put into service and was christened with sea water in the presence of a large delegation from Starnberg under the leadership of the then mayor Heribert Thallmair. Aircraft names of German cities have been a tradition at Lufthansa (as with the railways) for 60 years. City councilor Wolfgang Türk gave the impetus in the mid-1980s to apply for a plane sponsorship.
In its comparatively long service with Lufthansa of almost 30 years, the Airbus has completed more than 50,000 take-offs and landings. Over the years, the aircraft had been continuously modernized. It has long been known that the D-AIPP will be retired this year. The corona crisis, which has brought Lufthansa into serious difficulties, has less to do with it.
Last scheduled flight from Belgrade to Frankfurt
The "Starnberg" set off on Friday for its probably last flight - the last scheduled flight was on March 8th from Belgrade to Frankfurt. Actually stationed there, she has been at Berlin Schönefeld Airport since March 10. From there she was flown to Spain on Friday morning and changed her call sign on the way - the sign of eradication. The destination was the Teruel airfield, 200 kilometers east of Madrid. Teruel is not an ordinary airport because passengers are not processed there: it is the location of an aircraft recycling company and one of the locations where airlines park decommissioned and temporarily decommissioned aircraft. There are also ten other Airbuses of the same type that Lufthansa decommissioned at the same time as the "Starnberg". These include the "Kaufbeuren", the "Münster", the "Deggendorf", the "Augsburg", the "Ludwigshafen am Rhein" and the "Troisdorf" as well as some nameless aircraft. All Airbus 320-211 are 29 years or older. “The floatation was decided against the background of the disadvantageous eco-efficiency and economy of these aircraft types. With this step, Lufthansa is reducing its capacities at its Frankfurt and Munich hubs, ”said Dr. Jörg Waber, spokesman for Lufthansa, opposite Starnberg Mercury.
The airline also sorted out six of the giant Airbus A380s, seven A340-600s and five Boeing 747-400s (Jumbo). And further: "How to proceed with these planes has not yet been decided." So far, a sale had also been considered in the case of the "Starnberg" because the Airbus is in good condition and very well maintained and such machines are not uncommon are still in use on other continents for many years. Example: The "Landshut", which the GSG 9 stormed in Mogadishu on October 18, 1977 in Operation "Feuerzauber" and freed all hostages of the terrorists, flew for Lufthansa for 15 years, was then used by six airlines worldwide and was first 2008 was finally shut down in Brazil after 38 years. It remains to be seen whether selling the eleven Airbuses is an option in the face of the aviation crisis. If it is sold, it will have a different call sign and certainly not the name "Starnberg".
Will there be a “Starnberg” again?
The question remains whether there will be a “Starnberg” again. Lufthansa does not want to rule this out: “Basically there is a baptism list for future fleet access, which cities that previously had a sponsorship can also access. It will then be decided at short notice when which aircraft will be christened, ”explains Waber. There are examples of this, such as the “willows”. There was a 737-300 with this name that was retired in 2016. In autumn 2019, a new Airbus A320-200 called "Weiden in der Oberpfalz" went into service. A few years are therefore already the norm under normal conditions, even if there have been more baptisms recently due to repainting of Lufthansa aircraft, including machines that have so far been nameless. After the airline discarded more aircraft due to the crisis and probably will soon no longer buy a large number of new aircraft, it could take quite a while before there is a “Starnberg” again.
The sponsorship had not played a major role in the city for years. Although it is listed on the website as a sponsorship, a scale model of the “Starnberg” had already broken down years ago.
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