LUFTHANSA A340-300, A340-600 AND A321

The 'old' Lufthansa, founded in 1926, was liquidated by the victorious powers in World War II. In early 1950 the German government made efforts to reassert its air sovereignty by having an independent national airline. To this end, Luftag was set up in 1953, and renamed after the old Lufthansa in 1954. The first flight with a Convair 340 was on 1 Apr 55, and the first international flight was to New York on 8 Jun 55 with a Lockheed Constellation. From 1960, Lufthansa began using the Boeing 707 on transatlantic services. Boeing 720s were acquired for routes to Africa and the Middle East. Lufthansa was the first customer outside the US for the Boeing 727 for medium-distance routes from Apr 64, and was also the first to order the B737, delivered from 1967. The era of the widebody arrived with the Boeing 747 in Mar 70, with DC-10s and Airbus A300s following during the mid-70s. Lufthansa is well known for its ongoing fleet renewal policy. In 1988, the Boeing 747-400 and the Airbus A320 were introduced. In 1993, the Airbus A340, 1994 the Airbus A321 (as launch customer), and in 1996 the smaller Airbus A319. During 1997 Lufthansa was fully privatised, with a wide distribution of share ownership. In the same year, in cooperation with United, SAS, Air Canada and Thai International, Lufthansa founded the Star Alliance. We honour this European carrier with three successive releases of its premier European fleet of Airbuses: the A340-300, the ultra new stretched A340-600, and the A321....by popular demand of the discerning collector fraternity.