Farewell to the A300 at Lufthansa.
Frankfurt based Lufthansa retired the last Airbus 300-600 Series on July 1st 2009, the final flight originating in Rome (FCO) arrived in Frankfurt (FRA) where a farewell party took place.
Lufthansa has a long history with Airbus. It was one of the first airlines to fly the original A300 back in the mid 1970's when this model was new, it was also the time Airbus Industries came in the airliner business to compete against Boeing in the large aircraft market, not surprising since German aerospace companies are part of the Airbus Consortium based in Toulouse, and since then it helped Airbus launching later models including the A310 (launched with Swissair), the A320 (launched with Air France) and the A340. Lufthansa was also an early customer for the Superjumbo A380, and also flies the A330 on long haul routes.
Lufthansa (and maybe Thai) is one of the airlines that have flown the A300 of all variants for the longest period of time in its history, it has indeed flown the type for over three decades. The smaller and younger A310 which was introduced in the mid 1980's was retired a decade ago. Lufthansa is one of the most important customers at Airbus (other important customers include Air France and Iberia), it has been since the mid 1970's and will continue to be for many more years to come. For a long time to come, the A319/320/321 will remain in service in the short and medium haul sectors and the larger A330 and A340 will remain in service int he long haul sectors on intercontinental flights. The A380 will enter service with the German airline in the near future on hi density long haul flights. The Boeing fleet will consist of the 747-400's followed by the all new 747-8I, as well as the MD-11 (only in the freighter version, the passenger version was not considered). The 737's will be phased out in 2012.
Lufthansa, known for its punctuality and excellent inflight service, is a member of the Star Alliance and was one of the founding members. It bought Swiss in the middle of the 2000's and is now in the process of buying Brussels Airlines, the latter two based in Zurich and Brussels respectively are to be members of the Star Alliance. Other members of Star include but are not limited to SAS, Thai, United, SAA and Austrian.
