The era of the three-engine MD-11F aircraft type at Lufthansa Cargo has ended after more than 23 years.

The last MD-11F landed at Frankfurt Airport yesterday (17 October). Flight LH8161 from New York JFK International touched down ahead of schedule at 12:03pm local time on runway 07R, marking the end of commercial service.

The aircraft (registration D-ALCC) is the last MD-11F registered in Europe and will now be sold to American cargo airline Western Global Airlines.

“We are very grateful to our MD-11F fleet for over two decades of loyal service. We know that this particular aircraft has an incredible number of fans, throughout our colleagues at Lufthansa as well as among aviation enthusiasts worldwide,” said Lufthansa Cargo’s chairman of the executive board and CEO Dorothea von Boxberg.

“The decisive factor for the introduction of the MD-11F at Lufthansa Cargo in the late nineties was its significantly better fuel efficiency compared to the widebody freighter previously used. In the future, we will rely on the twin-engine Boeing 777F for the same reason.”

Lufthansa Cargo took delivery of its first two MD-11 freighters in June 1998. In total, the company operated nineteen MD-11s, including the last manufactured and the last delivered.

Lufthansa Cargo’s freighters were powered by three General Electric CF6-80C2D1F jet engines, each with 273.57 kN standard thrust. The maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) was 285.99 metric tons, resulting in a range of 7,242 kilometres.