On February 8, Lufthansa’s D-ABYA took off from Frankfurt for a day-long tour of German airports to show off the new livery design unveiled by the airline earlier in the week.
I was fortunate enough to be part of a photographer group that received special permission to be on the infield of the airport to catch her taking off. This video captures the moments that she pulled away from Frankfurt.
As you watch the video, you’ll hear a slighty annoying ‘machine gunning’ noise. That is my camera’s shutter going off while I was taking pictures. I had a Go-Pro mounted on my flash-shoe so that I could take photos and capture video at the same time.
Earlier today Lufthansa’s D-ABYA, a 747-8i, took to the skies for a tour of Germany as she showed off the airline’s new livery design. After her 9 hour showcase, which included stops or touch and goes at a variety of German airports, she returned to Frankfurt at approximately 5p local time. Once again, Frankfurt Airport provided an ‘all access’ experience so that I could capture her return.
Unfortunately, the best light of the day was gone, and what was a beautiful day at the beginning, became a hazy and overcast one by sunset. It was one of the very few things that we actually did not have control of today.
After touchdown, the unexpected bonus came in the form of being able to follow D-ABYA as she taxied off the runway and to her parking spot on the ramp before shutting down for the evening. It amounted to a fairly high speed chase as we tried to keep up, though she did stop a few times to pose for the perfect photo. Never before, and perhaps never again, will I be in the kind of position that I was today when it comes to photographing aircraft, so I took full advantage.
Tomorrow, I step aboard D-ABYA for her flight to New York’s JFK along with a Lufthansa crew that will be hosting a ‘Flying Lab’ during the flight that will highlight the new look of the livery as well as go into detail on enhancements that are taking place inside Lufthansa aircraft this year. You can tune in to the event and watch it live on Lufthansa’s Facebook book page. The flight is LH400 departing at 10:50a from Frankfurt.
Today marked a new benchmark for my planespotting. Thanks to Lufthansa and Frankfurt Airport, I was granted what for me was unprecedented access to the airport. No place was off limits to me as long as I didn’t step in front of a moving aircraft. Simply Wow. You have to be somewhat of an ‘Avgeek’ to understand what this all means! 🙂
The day started before sunrise at the ramp where D-ABYA was being prepared for her tour of Germany, designed to show off Lufthansa’s new livery. One thing that struck me today looking at her at the gate, parked next to other LH aircraft wearing the previous livery, was that the livery looks REALLY, REALLY good. The contrast between the newer, sleeker look and the previous version is far greater than I thought it would be. The new look simply gives the airplane a very polished and sophisticated look. For those that think they don’t like the livery, I think their minds will change over time.
So without any other words, here are some of my favorite shots from this morning’s session. Several hundred photos were taken and these are the ones that stand out right now. I’ll be back on the tarmac to watch her land later today and I get to fly her home tomorrow….not a bad 48 hours!
In Frankfurt today, Lufthansa pulled out all the stops and threw a proper party to officially unveil their new logo when D-ABYA was put on display in Hangar 7.
Though the livery has been ‘public’ for several days, today was the first time that a significant amount of people had a chance to finally see her in person, officially carrying the new look of Lufthansa.
Earlier in the day, I attended a press briefing hosted by Lufthansa’s CEO, Carsten Spohr that discussed some of the logic and rationale behind the decision to update the look. Some of his comments were expected, yet some raised an eyebrow. I’ll go into greater detail about his comments in another post. I’ll also talk about what passengers can expect once they get aboard a Lufthansa aircraft starting this Spring. All I can say at this point is that I came away impressed with what is planned and look forward to seeing the rollout.
For now, because I’m working on no sleep over the last 48 hours, I’ll leave you with these images from tonight’s party to whet your appetite. I’ll have a lot more from today’s events to talk about. Tomorrow I’ll have exclusive shots of ‘YA’ on the ramp at Frankfurt as she prepares for her Tour Of Germany. If I’m lucky, I might get to feel her jet blast as she scoots past me. Fingers crossed!
Special light effects danced all over the fuselage…..
Lufthansa’s first aircraft to sport the new livery arrived in Hamburg earlier this morning where she’ll get a refresh of the economy cabin before being introduced officially to the public next week.
‘D-ABYA’, Lufthansa’s first 747-8i, arrived from Rome where she was repainted into the new LH colors. The interior work that will take place in HAM will reflect the new direction that Lufthansa is taking with interior colors. Passengers will be greeted by warmer and lighter blue tones similar to the color scheme found aboard the A350 aircraft. Over time, all aircraft will have their interior reworked into the new look.
These are some of the latest photos that Lufthansa has published showing D-ABYA’s arrival from ‘FCO’. She’ll be in HAM for a few days and then flown to Frankfurt sometime on Tuesday.
Looks quite dark in the overcast conditions. I wish they had applied a similar angle treatment to the engine covers to make the middle of the aircraft ‘pop’ a bit more.
