Lufthansa has said goodbye to its Boeing 737 fleet after 48 years.

A B737-300, with registration D-ABEC (“Karlsruhe”), flew from Frankfurt to Hamburg on special flight LH9922, where Lufthansa bid farewell to its B737 fleet during a joint event with Lufthansa Technik.

After a special ceremony, captain and fleet commander Ulrich Pade and his crew flew back to Frankfurt with a group of media representatives as well as a number of employees on board.

The flight landed this afternoon at 17:10.

“Lufthansa has always taken innovative approaches to cater customers’ needs and to take advantage of market opportunities, which is why we played a key role in the B737’s creation and development.

“We will continue to pursue this innovative approach with the latest generation of aircraft,” said Harry Hohmeister, Lufthansa, head of hub management.

Over the last decades, Lufthansa has had a total of 148 B737s of almost all generations.

At the beginning of the 1960s, the then chief executive officer of Lufthansa Technik, Gerhard Höltje, pushed the project forward and supported the joint development of a short and medium-haul jet with Boeing.

The cabin design and the positioning of the engines under the aircraft’s wings were based on the long-haul aircraft of the time.

With the start of the winter schedule, all six remaining B737-300 aircraft had their last commercial flights on October 29th.

The planes will be transferred to Florida in the coming weeks, where they will be resold.

In future, Lufthansa will offer continental services with a single type of aircraft, which will result in synergies in various areas, such as pilot licensing, cabin crew and planning and provision of spare parts.

The Lufthansa A320 family currently consists of around 150 A319, A320 and A321 aircraft and also includes four aircraft of the latest generation – the A320neo.

On February 19th, 1965, Lufthansa was the world’s first purchaser of 22 Boeing 737-100s.

Almost three years later, on February 4th, 1968, Lufthansa landed the first B737 in Hamburg.

The Boeing 737 quickly became the standard model size for short-haul aircraft.

The B737-200 model was manufactured in various passenger and freight versions.

The first B737-300 model was delivered to Lufthansa in 1986 and offered a high level of comfort, efficient fuel consumption and low noise levels compared to other aircraft of the time period.