At the end of the 1950s, Lufthansa's Lockheed Super Star aircraft were travelling between Germany and North America. To keep up the memory of these iconic aircraft, the Deutsche Lufthansa Berlin-Stiftung purchased three Lockheed Starliner in 2007. The following year, work began in the US state of Maine to make one of them airworthy again.
But Lufthansa stopped the project in 2018 and brought the aircraft to Germany in 2019 for storage. Until now, it was unclear what the whole project cost were. Estimates mentioned an amount in excess of 100 million euros.
Too complicated and expensive
Now Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr answered a question to the cost at the Group's General Meeting on Tuesday (May, 5): «The total cost of the project from 2007 to 2019, after we have stopped the project and brought the aircraft back to Bremen, is 150 million euros.» A large part of this, however, had been borne by external donors and sponsors.
Spohr explained that the restoration to an airworthy state had proved too complicated and costly. In the future, the plane is to be exhibited. Where and with what concept, he said, would be announced at a later date.
