Following the ceremonial handover of the first aircraft in June at ILA Berlin, Lufthansa Technik AG has delivered the second Airbus A321LR (long range) to the German Air Force with a transfer flight from Hamburg to Cologne-Bonn. Like its sister aircraft already in service with the tactical registration 15+10, the new 15+11 will now also be available to the German Air Force for troop transport and parliamentary flight operations on short-, medium- and long-haul routes. The respective capacity of each of the two aircraft in this configuration is 136 passengers.
In the coming year, however, both A321LRs will return to Lufthansa Technik to be modified and certified for MedEvac (Medical Evacuation) duties in the second phase of the project. This will expand the aircraft’s range of operations to include capabilities for the qualified air transport of wounded, injured and diseased passengers.
In this context, three different configurations will be available to transport up to six intensive care patients or up to 12 mildly or moderately ill/injured patients. To this end, Lufthansa Technik will deliver a total of 12-units and two reserve units of the Patient Transport Unit New Generation (German: Patiententransporteinheit Neuer Generation, short: PTE NG) to the German armed forces. The company has already been able to complete various preliminary works for the MedEvac mission, for example for the oxygen supply on board the two aircraft, during the first phase of the project
