-Ceremonial handover to State Secretary Hilmer at the ILA in Berlin
-Four cabin modifications on three aircraft completed exactly on time
and on budget 
-Largest modernization program in the history of the Special Air 
Mission Wing now complete

Lufthansa Technik today handed over the third and final Airbus A350 
government aircraft to the German Federal Ministry of Defense’s 
(BMVg) Special Air Mission Wing at a festive ceremony during ILA 
Berlin. Secretary of State for Defense Nils Hilmer officially put the
aircraft with the registration 10+03 into service this afternoon. 
This already marked the second premiere for “Schumacher”, as the 
largest modernization programme in the history of the Special Air 
Mission Wing comprised a total of four cabin modifications for three 
aircraft. Lufthansa Technik delivered all of them to the German Armed
Forces on time and on budget.

“The largest modernization programme in the history of the Special 
Air Mission Wing can justifiably be called a Herculean task. Four 
cabin refurbishments for a total of three wide-body jets over a 
period of just four years, and some of them were still heavily 
influenced by the pandemic,” explained Soeren Stark, Chief Executive 
Officer of Lufthansa Technik AG. “I am all the more proud of our 
team, which mastered this task with flying colors, and completely 
within the estimated cost and time frame. I take my hat off to this 
achievement and thank everyone who was involved.”  

The initial handover of 10+03 took place just a few months after the 
political decision was made to replace the German Air Force’s two 
long-serving Airbus A340s with three brand-new A350s for long-haul 
political and parliamentary air transport. As the first aircraft was 
needed in service very quickly, Lufthansa Technik initially only 
equipped 10+03 with an interim cabin and handed it over to the then 
Minister of Defense in August 2020. The first A350 deliveries with a 
full government cabin followed in November 2022 and in March 2023 
with 10+01 “Konrad Adenauer” and 10+02 “Theodor Heuss”. 10+03 “Kurt 
Schumacher” then also returned to Lufthansa Technik’s Hamburg VIP 
Completion Center, where its cabin interior was completed until 
recently.

As an “earlycomer” in the program, 10+03 still wore the old color 
scheme of the so-called “white fleet” until recently, with a serif 
font on the fuselage and only narrow black-red-gold accents on the 
wingtips. Just in time for today’s delivery, the livery was also 
carefully adapted to the more modern look of the two sister aircraft,
including new lettering in the “Bundes Sans” font and wingtips that 
are now extensively painted in the colors of the German flag. 

With the delivery of 10+03, the long-haul fleet of the Special Air 
Mission Wing is now once again uniform both externally and 
internally, at least almost: only a few small accents in the 
interior, individual reminiscences of the respective namesakes, now 
distinguish “Adenauer”, “Heuss” and “Schumacher” from each other. 
Soon, not only a boccia game, the signatures under the Treaty of 
Rome, a laurel leaf, various stamps, but also a magnet and various 
quotations will be flying around the world with the Special Air 
Mission Wing. 

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