LHT hands over first Airbus A340 to German Federal Ministry of Defense

Lufthansa Technik formally handed over the first Airbus A340 for the BMVg’s Special Air Mission Wing (FlBschft BMVg) on March 30th. Over a period of about 21 months the aircraft had undergone a full overhaul, had been fitted with a VIP cabin and supplementary military equipment and its exterior had been repainted. An intensive demonstration and test program has been carried out by the German Armed Forces Test and Evaluation Centre (WTD 61) since the beginning of 2011 to prepare the aircraft for government service.The Airbus A340 is the first of two long-range aircraft of this type to have been delivered under the program to upgrade the medium- and long haul fleets of the BMVg’s Special Air Mission Wing. Both aircraft had been acquired from Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Two new AirbusA319CJ’s fitted with VIP cabins had already been handed over to the Bundeswehr by Lufthansa Technik in March and May 2010. The second Airbus A340-300 is due to be delivered in the summer of 2011.