Lufthansa Retires An Airbus A340

Lufthansa has retired an Airbus A340, with the aircraft heading for teardown in Spain.

Flagged by aerotelegraph, the A340-600, registered as D-AIHU, was sent to Tereul as part of ongoing fleet renewal efforts.

This aircraft was first intended to be delivered to Virgin Atlantic as G-VLUV but was not taken up. Shortly after, it was delivered to Lufthansa in May 2008.

This aircraft has spent quite a fair amount of time on the ground for various reasons. Its first storage period was from December 2017 to March 2018.

However, the lengthiest period of storage came during the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Lufthansa was forced to axe the vast majority of its widebody fleet. Given the A340’s inefficiencies, it was first on the chopping block.

The A340 did return to service, first being pulled in March 2020. It began operations once more in May 2022. However, its time within the airline’s fleet would only be short-lived, with three years later, it being withdrawn.

Fleet data suggests the aircraft was withdrawn from service on May 1, 2025, and stored in Teruel on 7 May, 2025. Ultimately, this decision ended the life of this A340, which had served Lufthansa for a considerable period.

Lufthansa Fleet Renewal Efforts

The retirement of an A340-600 also naturally reduced the number of quad-engined aircraft in the German flag carrier’s operation.

Lufthansa is currently undergoing a massive turnaround in its operations, with a strong focus on bringing in the latest generation of aircraft from Airbus and Boeing.

Unfortunately for the carrier, renewing its fleet has proven challenging, primarily because it cannot take on these new-gen planes as planemakers struggle with supply chain-related woes.

Lufthansa has expressed frustration over the complications of taking on new jets on several occasions. In recent years, it has forced a greater reliance on older-generation planes such as the outgoing A340.

The German flag-carrier would argue that in an ideal world, this fleet type, alongside the 747-400 and even A380, would’ve already been axed from the business to improve finances dramatically.

While quad-engined jets are beloved across the industry and capable of transporting a significant number of passengers between key markets, they nowadays lack efficiency and cost airlines more to maintain.

As a result, moving towards newer planes becomes a requirement, and that is the circle of life. That being said, there have been very visible struggles in that process occurring at the rate at which the airline may like.