Lufthansa Aircraft Makes Its Final Landing At Tulsa International Airport

A Lufthansa B747-400 made its final flight Tuesday, landing at Tulsa International Airport in the early afternoon. The airliner will be disassembled at the Tulsa facility of Lufthansa Technik Component Services.

The airliner, tail number D-ABVE, did a flyby before touching down in Tulsa.

This particular 747 made its first flight on April 19, 1990. On its last flight, it flew non-stop from Frankfurt, Germany to Tulsa in about 10 hours.

Lufthansa used it to fly passengers all over the world, including to New York, Moscow, Shanghai, Singapore, Buenos Aires and Johannesburg.

Lufthansa Technik Component Services has tripled its Tulsa workforce in the last year and a half. It's added new services as well including taking apart aircraft and selling the parts and engines.

This 747 is the 25th Lufthansa aircraft sent to the Tulsa facility for disassembly. LTCS specializes in repairing and overhauling aircraft parts, a capability the airline uses when it withdraws jets from service.

The first 24 aircraft sent to the Tulsa facility were narrow body aircraft -- mostly Boeing 737s --this is the first wide body aircraft the company has brought in for disassembly.

LTCS calls the program "2nd Life." It removes and recertifies engines and other components then sells them to third parties, a much more cost effective way of removing outdated aircraft from service.

10/14/2015 Related Story: Lufthansa To Bring Big Jet To Tulsa For Disassembly

"Project 2nd Life is an important contribution to further improve Lufthansa Technik's cost position and to provide first class component services for our customers" said Dirk Ripa, President and CEO of LTCS.