Lufthansa Technik AG ('Lufthansa Engineering', often referred to simply as "LHT") is a Germany-based company that provides maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services for aircraft, engines, and components. It is a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. Headquartered at Hamburg Airport, its other important German sites are in

Frankfurt Airport Frankfurt Airport ( ) , is Germany's busiest international airport by passenger numbers, located in Frankfurt, Germany's fifth-largest city. Its official name according to the German Aeronautical Information Publication is Frankfurt Main Airpor ...

and Munich Airport. In greater Europe, it has major base maintenance facilities in

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, and

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. Overseas, it has sites located in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

History

The origins of Lufthansa Technik can be traced back to 1951, predating that of its parent company, the German

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that government for international operations. Histo ...

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

officials decided that, in advance of forming a new national airline, the establishment of a new maintenance base at Hamburg Airport should be undertaken as a preparatory step. Various new hangars, workshops, and storage facilities were established, enabling a fully range of services could be provided from the onset of Lufthansa's first services on 1 April 1955. Within one year of Lufthansa's commencement of operations, it began preparing to support the airline's entry into the

jet age The Jet Age is a period in the history of aviation defined by the advent of aircraft powered by jet turbine engines and the social and cultural changes fostered by commercial jet travel. Jet airliners were able to fly higher, faster, and farth ...

via its adoption of the

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on Decembe ...

jetliner. These preparations included establishing a technical liaison office in Seattle in 1958, the type was introduced two years later. During February 1962, the company was approved by the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

(FAA) to maintain and overhaul US-registered airlines and their engines. Subsequently, the company devised in-house technical solutions for several shortcomings of the 707, such as a fuel tank cracking issue, garnering recognition from the manufacturer and other airlines alike. During February 1965, Lufthansa arranged to be the launch customer for the

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...

airliner. Introduced three years later, its technical concept was influenced by input by the firm's technical department. During March 1969, the ATLAS agreement saw Lufthansa,

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

Alitalia Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. ...

and Sabena establish joint maintenance agreements for the

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the Boeing 707, 707 in October 1958, Pan Am ...

. As the company transitioned from propeller aircraft to an all-jet fleet, there were similar revolutions in maintenance practice as well; fixed-interval maintenance was progressively replaced by on-condition practices, requiring the firm to introduce original monitoring technologies and diagnostic routines to reduce unnecessary work and expenditure. The 1960s and 1970s also saw larger and more well equipped facilities become available with which to undertake this work. During the 1970s, Lufthansa Technik experienced a significant growth in its third-party business, gaining custom from numerous international operators. It was during this same decade that the company became involved with the European aircraft manufacturer

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

, providing support to the new firm even during its early years. During the 1980s and 1990s, significant investment went into the Hamburg maintenance facilities, allowing for numerous innovative maintenance techniques and designs to be pursued by the company. Prior to the 1980s, there was little formal separation between operations of the airline and maintenance. During September 1984, an internal reorganisation of Lufthansa divided technical operations into individual management units; an increased emphasis on third party work came with this restructuring. In 1984, a separate subsidiary, ''Lufthansa Information Technology and Software'', was established to provide software to the wider aviation industry. During the 1990s, it was decided to reorganise Lufthansa; this initiative led to the creation of Lufthansa Technik as an individual entity. Around this time, the marketplace was becoming increasingly competitive, necessitating the development of a global network and various new products to gain a competitive edge. Lufthansa Technik positioned itself as a provider of technical services for commercial aircraft, providing support to operators and other parties across the world. Various partnerships with other companies were formed throughout the 2010s. In October 2018, it was announced that Lufthansa Technik had formed a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

with

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

n firm

LG Electronics LG Electronics Inc. () is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational major appliance and consumer electronics corporation headquartered in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, South Korea. LG Electronics is a part of LG, LG Corporation, the fourth ...

to market LED screens for inflight entertainment systems. During 2019, the firm expanded its cooperation with American supplier

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...

to include MRO work on the

Airbus A350 The Airbus A350 is a flight length, long-range, wide-body twin-engine airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The initial A350 design proposed in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the Airbu ...

airliner, and greater logistical integration between the two companies, including the implementation of new

predictive maintenance Predictive maintenance techniques are designed to help determine the condition of in-service equipment in order to estimate when maintenance should be performed. This approach claims more cost savings over routine or time-based preventive maint ...

practices. The company has developed a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region, reportedly seeking out local partners with which to expand its MRO footprint there. Similar efforts have been made in

Latin American Latin Americans (; ) are the citizenship, citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their Latin American diaspora, diasporas are Metroethnicity, ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

as well. Lufthansa Technik has been extensively involved in cabin completion and conversion projects, including for the VIP sector of the market; it operates a dedicated US-based

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

, BizJet International, that undertakes such work in the

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

n region. During late 2017, Lufthansa Technik announced the launch of a multi-purpose cabin conversion programme for the

Airbus A330 MRTT The Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) is a European aerial refueling and military transport aircraft based on the civilian Airbus A330. A total of 15 countries have placed firm orders for approximately 82 aircraft, of which 64 had ...

aerial refuelling Aerial refueling ( en-us), or aerial refuelling ( en-gb), also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to ano ...

tanker; that same year, the firm also secured its first VIP cabin completion project for a

Boeing Business Jet A Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) is a version of a Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Boeing jet airliner with modifications to serve the private, head of state, and corporate jet market. The first BBJ, based on the 737-700, rolled out on July 26, 1998; a ...

787. Around the same time, the firm was also engaged in refitting Lufthansa's

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...

narrowbody fleet with

Ka band The Ka band (pronounced as either "kay-ay band" or "ka band") is a portion of the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The designation "Ka-band" is from Kurz-above, which stems from the German word ''kurz,'' meaning "short". There ...

datalinks for high bandwidth communication purposes. Lufthansa Technik has been involved in the outfitting of the German government's aircraft for its special air wing, used by government officials such as the

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

. During early 2020, Lufthansa Technik announced the launch of a freighter conversion programme for the

Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a very large wide-body airliner, developed and produced by Airbus until 2021. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and the only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the pr ...

, a large twin-deck passenger airliner, in addition to 14 separate projects for various other passenger aircraft, such as the A330 and A350. The conversion process typically involves removing passenger seats and the installation of freight pallets on the seat tracks in accordance with existing load and safety considerations. Aerospace periodical

Flight International ''Flight International'', formerly ''Flight'', is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", i ...

has speculated that the timing of the A380 conversion project ought to be fortuitous and is likely to be well received by the market.

Facilities

Headquarters

* Germany - Lufthansa Technik Headquarters

Europe

* Austria - INAIRVATION * Bulgaria - Lufthansa Technik Sofia * Germany ** Lufthansa Technik AERO Alzey ** Lufthansa Technik Logistik Services ** Lufthansa Technical Training ** LEOS ** Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services ** Lufthansa Technik Intercoat ** Avionic Design ** IDAIR ** Lumics * Hungary - Lufthansa Technik Budapest * Italy - Lufthansa Technik Milan * Ireland - Lufthansa Technik Turbine Shannon * Malta - Lufthansa Technik Malta * United Kingdom - Lufthansa Technik Landing Gear Services UK * Russia & CIS - Lufthansa Technik Vostok Services

Americas

* Puerto Rico - Lufthansa Technik Puerto Rico was the first center for maintenance, repair, and refurbishing of commercial airliners opened by

in the Americas. This facility is located in the town of Aguadilla, in northwestern Puerto Rico, and employs 200 technical workers. This center for the maintenance of airliners started operations on 21 July 2015. Five overhaul lines can serve various planes simultaneously. The facility provides maintenance to short- and medium-haul aircraft. This technical center is connected to the runway of the Rafael Hernández International Airport, which has the longest runway in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. The development of this facility was considered a significant step for Lufthansa Technik involvement in the Americas since the Airport's 11,700-foot runway and 3,900 acres of land was considered an ideal location for this type of facility.

Spirit Airlines Spirit Airlines, Inc. is an American ultra-low cost airline headquartered in Dania Beach, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. Spirit operates scheduled flights throughout the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Spirit was the ...

and JetBlue Airways are among the carriers served in this center. * United States ** Lufthansa Technik Component Services ** Hawker Pacific Aerospace ** BizJet International ** Heico Aerospace

Asia

* China ** Ameco ** Lufthansa Technik Shenzhen * Hong Kong - Lufthansa Technik Component Services Asia Pacific * India - Lufthansa Technik Services India * Malaysia - Airfoil Services Sdn. Bhd. * Philippines - Lufthansa Technik Philippines * UAE - Lufthansa Technik Middle East

References

External links

* {{Lufthansa Technik Lufthansa Group German brands Aircraft engineering companies Companies based in Hamburg 1995 establishments in Germany