Lufthansa restores historic Lockheed L-1649A Starliner for centennial celebration

Restoring the original livery posed challenges due to its complex design elements from the 1950s. "One of the major challenges was painting the legendary parabolas – a central element of Lufthansa’s historical design." The airline addressed this by using "historical documents from the company archive" and developed "a detailed paint plan developed by the Graphics Solutions department at Lufthansa Technik in Hamburg" to guide APS during repainting.

Support also came from Mankiewicz, a Hamburg-based manufacturer that supplied about 500 liters of special paint free of charge for this effort.

The Lockheed L-1649A Starliner played an important role for Lufthansa after it received its first units in 1957. These planes enabled non-stop flights between Hamburg and New York City that lasted about 17 hours and introduced passengers to ‘Senator Class’ service. According to Lufthansa, these aircraft were "technologically (...) a masterpiece," measuring over 35 meters long with a wingspan exceeding 45 meters—making them notably wide for their length. Maintenance operations for these planes were based in Hamburg.

Lufthansa began storing vintage airliners at a Bremen warehouse starting in 2019. Last year, it announced plans to feature these restored planes—including both the Starliner and Junkers Ju-52—in an exhibition marking a century since Deutsche Luft Hansa’s founding at Frankfurt Airport.