For sale, used Airbus A340, with shower and office.
This little announcement which is out of the ordinary could have been that of the German government, which put up for sale, in November, a plane used for several years by Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as by her successor Olaf Scholz.
The aircraft was thus sold to the airline Lufthansa, says the German weekly Der Spiegel.
Built in 1999 and used since 2011 by the German state, the plane was not stored until the summer of 2023, after technical problems which prevented Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock from traveling to Oceania .
It was bought by the government in the early 2010s after being used for around ten years by the airline Lufthansa.
Shower room, office and private lounge
The aircraft then underwent significant work to make it an official aircraft, with a special layout, detailed in the sales sheet.
With an original capacity of 300 passengers, it increased to just over a hundred, with the installation of a private lounge, an office, a meeting room, a meeting room, shower, as well as a business class equipped with 24 seats.
Nicknamed “Merkel One” in reference to the German chancellor and the nickname of the American president's plane, it finally has 92 seats in economy class.
The German government now uses Airbus A350s and has organized the resale of the aircraft through a dedicated agency, by auction under sealed cover.
It was the company Lufthansa Technik, a subsidiary of the company, which won the auction with an offer of one million euros, a company spokesperson confirmed to the German weekly.
The company wants to dismantle the plane and sell spare parts.
The engines, in particular, are “still considered to be of high quality, even if the aircraft has been in service for a good twenty years,” according to Lufthansa.