Freight Last MD-11F leaves Lufthansa Cargo fleet

Lufthansa Cargo has officially bid farewell to its last McDonnell Douglas MD-11 Freighter. The aircraft, registered as D-ALCC, landed at Frankfurt from New York JFK and was welcomed with the Frankfurt Airport Fire Brigade giving the aircraft a water arch as farewell.

For more than 23 years, the MD-11F was an integral fleet member for Lufthansa Cargo. With D-ALCC having left the fleet, there is now no other MD-11F registered in Europe. The aircraft will now be sold to an American cargo airline, Lufthansa Cargo stated.

Dorothea von Boxberg, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Lufthansa Cargo said: "We are very grateful to our MD-11F fleet for over two decades of loyal service. We know that this particular aircraft has an incredible number of fans, throughout our colleagues at Lufthansa as well as among aviation enthusiasts worldwide. The decisive factor for the introduction of the MD-11F at Lufthansa Cargo in the late nineties was its significantly better fuel efficiency compared to the widebody freighter previously used."

The first MD-11F were welcomed to Lufthansa Cargo´s fleet in June 1998. In total, the operator had nineteen MD-11, including the last ever manufactured and the last ever delivered. But now, Lufthansa Cargo will rely on more modern, fuel-efficient aircraft like the Boeing 777F, of which the carrier already has 11 aircraft in its fleet.

Since November 2013, Lufthansa Cargo had been gradually phasing out the MD-11F to replace it with Boeing 777 Freighters. During the pandemic, Lufthansa first decided to operate more flights with the aging aircraft than planned, but now the era has come to an end.

The MD-11F is a popular aircraft, with its significant three engines, it is capable of flying for up to 7,242 kilometres. It has a cargo capacity of up to 94.7 tons. There are 26 positions on the main, and 14 more cargo positions on the lower deck. The aircraft is 61.4 meters long and has a wingspan of 51.7 meters.

Lufthansa Cargo is a wholly owned cargo subsidiary of Lufthansa and was founded in 1977 as German Cargo. Main operational hub is at Frankfurt Airport and the fleet consists of the 11 Boeing 777 Freighters. Currently, Lufthansa Cargo serves around 60 destinations across the world.