The German Federal Ministry of Defense's (BMVg) Special Air Mission Wing took delivery of its third and final Airbus A350 government aircraft at a festive ceremony during ILA Berlin. German Secretary of State for Defence Nils Hilmer officially put the aircraft with the registration 10+03 into service. This marked the second premiere for the aircraft christened ‘Kurt Schumacher’, as the largest modernisation 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 modernisation 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,” explains Lufthansa CEO Soeren Stark. “I am all the more proud of our team, which mastered this task with flying colours 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 Defence 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 returned to Lufthansa Technik's Hamburg VIP completion centre, where its cabin interior was completed.

As an earlycomer in the programme, 10+03 until recently still wore the old colour scheme of the so-called ‘white fleet’, with a serif font on the fuselage and only narrow black-red-gold accents on the wingtips. Just in time for the recent 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 colours 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 and various stamps, but also a magnet and various quotations will be flying around the world with the Special Air Mission Wing.