Lufthansa Technik AG ('Lufthansa Engineering', often referred to simply as “LHT”) provides worldwide maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services for aircraft, engines, and components. It is a subsidiary of the

Lufthansa Group Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding ...

. Headquartered at

Hamburg Airport Hamburg Airport , known in German as ''Flughafen Hamburg'', is a major international airport in Hamburg, the second-largest city in Germany. Since November 2016 the airport has been christened after the former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt. ...

, its other important German sites are in

Frankfurt Airport Frankfurt Airport (; german: link=no, Flughafen Frankfurt Main , also known as ''Rhein-Main-Flughafen'') is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centres ...

and

Munich Airport Munich International Airport- Franz Josef Strauß (german: link=no, Flughafen München) is an international airport serving Munich and Upper Bavaria. It is the second-busiest airport in Germany in terms of passenger traffic after Frankfurt A ...

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

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

, and

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. Overseas, it has sites located in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

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 the government for international operations. Hi ...

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding ...

. West German officials decided that, in advance of forming a new national airline, the establishment of a new maintenance base at

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 by the social change this brought about. Jet airliners were able to fly much higher, faster, and farther than older pisto ...

via its adoption of the

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 2 ...

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 the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

(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 a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two u ...

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 (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global a ...

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, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. The ai ...

and

Sabena The ''Societé anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne'' (French; ), better known by the acronym Sabena or SABENA, was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its base at Brussels National Airport. After its ba ...

establish joint maintenance agreements for the

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, ...

. 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 European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

, 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 acces ...

with

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n firm

LG Electronics LG Electronics Inc. () is a South Korean multinational electronics company headquartered in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, South Korea. LG Electronics is a part of LG Corporation, the fourth largest '' chaebol'' in South Korea, and often considered ...

to market

LED screen A LED display is a flat panel display that uses an array of light-emitting diodes as pixels for a video display. Their brightness allows them to be used outdoors where they are visible in the sun for store signs and billboards. In recent ...

s for

inflight entertainment In-flight entertainment (IFE) refers to the entertainment available to aircraft passengers during a flight. In 1936, the airship '' Hindenburg'' offered passengers a piano, lounge, dining room, smoking room, and bar during the -day flight betwee ...

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 technologies, performance ma ...

to include MRO work on the

Airbus A350 The Airbus A350 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The first A350 design proposed by Airbus in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the A330 ...

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 promises cost savings over routine or time-based preventive maintena ...

practices. The company has developed a particular focus on the

Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Paci ...

region, reportedly seeking out local partners with which to expand its MRO footprint there. Similar efforts have been made in

Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-e ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

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 owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a ...

, BizJet International, that undertakes such work in the

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

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 refuelling and military transport aircraft based on the civilian Airbus A330. A total of 16 countries have placed firm orders for approximately 68 aircraft, of which 51 h ...

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

Boeing Business Jet Boeing Business Jets (BBJ) are versions of Boeing's jet airliners with modifications to serve the private, head of state and corporate jet market. In 1996, Phil Condit, president of The Boeing Company, and Jack Welch, chairman and CEO of Genera ...

787 787 may refer to: * Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a jet airliner * AD 787, a year * 787 BC, a year * Mazda 787/787B, a Japanese rotary-engine race car which won the 1991 Le Mans Race * Porsche 787, a race car from the 1960s * 787 series, a train model o ...

. 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, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the fam ...

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 defined as frequencies in the range 26.5–40 gigahertz (GHz), i.e. wavelengths from slightly over one centim ...

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 ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

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

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

, 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'' 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", it is the world's olde ...

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 A380 Werft FRA

** 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 Aguadilla (, ), founded in 1775 by Luis de Córdova, is a city and municipality located in the northwestern tip of Puerto Rico, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, north of Aguada, and Moca and west of Isabela. Aguadilla i ...

, in northwestern Puerto Rico, and employs 200 technical workers. This center for the maintenance of airliners started operations on July 21, 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 (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...

. 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. (stylized as spirit) is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. carrier headquartered in Miramar, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. Spirit operates scheduled flights throughout the United States, the Caribbean and Latin Americ ...

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

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