After months of anticipation, Lufthansa’s centenary-liveried 
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner has finally touched down on German soil for the first time. The brand-new twinjet flew overnight from Boeing’s facilities in Washington State and touched down bright and early in Frankfurt this morning. The delivery comes as an early Christmas present for the German flag carrier as it prepares for an even bigger celebration.
Indeed, 2026 will mark Lufthansa’s centenary year, with the Star Alliance founding member having put together various initiatives in order to help it to celebrate in style. The most conspicuous public-facing aspect of this program will be its 100th anniversary special liveries, with today’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner delivery representing the first of six aircraft in the German flag carrier’s fleet that will wear the scheme.
Welcome Home
Lufthansa first announced its plans to paint one of its incoming Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft in a special livery in September of this year. The aircraft in question bears the registration D-ABPU, and its striking dark blue paint scheme was revealed at Boeing’s facilities in South Carolina. According to ch-aviation, the plane, which was ordered in March 2023, made its first flight on November 14, 2025.
Since then, it has flown across the country from North Charleston, South Carolina (CHS) to Boeing’s other facilities at Paine Field (PAE) in Everett, before making several more circular test flights from the Washington State airport. Now, D-ABPU has made its long-awaited arrival on German soil, with Simple Flying’s Tom Boon on site in Frankfurt to witness the landing. He offered the following comments this morning:
“It’s not often that I get up at 6 am, but today, Lufthansa’s first aircraft wearing the special 100-year livery arrived in Frankfurt! Lufthansa was kind enough to invite us airside to capture the arrival, so we braved the cold and stood next to the runway. Before we knew it, the aircraft had arrived, and we rushed to the stand to see it up close. Personally, I think it looks stunning, and I can’t wait to see it on the side of the amazing Airbus A380.”
More About The Delivery Flight
Until this special delivery service, historical tracking data made available by Flightradar24 showed that D-ABPU’s longest flight had clocked in at just under 5.5 hours, when it flew from North Charleston to Everett on November 18. However, its transatlantic hop from Everett to Frankfurt (FRA) has blown this figure out of the water, with the flight stretching the 787’s legs a bit more at nine hours and one minute.
Flights of this length will become D-ABPU’s bread and butter once the aircraft enters regular passenger service with Lufthansa. Data from Flightradar24 shows that it took off from Paine Field at 3:37 pm yesterday afternoon, and, flying eastbound to Germany over Canada, Greenland, and the UK as seen above, it landed in Frankfurt at 9:38 am local time this morning. Its arrival delighted the waiting media.
Looking resplendent in its new centenary livery, D-ABPU approached Frankfurt from the southwest, passing just south of the city of Mainz before touching down on the airport’s 13,213-foot (4,000-meter) runway 07R. After exiting the strip around two-thirds of the way along, it backtracked along the adjacent central taxiway before parking at Lufthansa’s cargo facilities near runway 07L for photo opportunities.
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In its flying days, the aircraft was primarily deployed on transatlantic routes.
The First Of Six Specially-Liveried Aircraft
Fleet data made available by ch-aviation shows that D-ABPU, which also bears the name ‘Berlin,’ has 28 business, 28 premium economy, and 231 economy seats on board, enabling it to accommodate a total of 287 passengers. This setup, per aeroLOPA, has Lufthansa’s new ‘Allegris’ cabins, as opposed to the older configuration with space for 26 business, 21 premium economy, and 247 economy class seats.
Two months after revealing its centenary livery on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, Lufthansa announced that D-ABPU would, in fact, be the first of six aircraft to wear the dark blue 100th anniversary paint scheme. The others, as reported by Simple Flying at the time, are the Airbus A320, A350-900, A350-1000, A380, and Boeing 747-8. The full rollout of this special paint scheme is set to be done by fall 2026.
