Final departure of Luftwaffe A340 16+02 to the USA

After another mechanical malfunction on a crucial flight for the Government in mid-August 2023, the Luftwaffe (GAF, German Air Force) quite suddenly decided to retire both of its Airbus A340-313X transports.

The full story on this decision was published earlier by Scramble Magazine on 16 August. Until then, the long range transports were used by the Flugbereitschaft des Bundesministeriums der Verteidigung (FBS BMVg).

Since their retirement both A340s, 16+01 (274) Konrad Adenauer and 16+02 (355) Theodor Heuss have been stored and their flights have been taken over by their successors, Airbus A350s 10+01 (468) Konrad Adenauer, 10+02 (526) Theodor Heuss and 10+03 (416) Kurt Schumacher. Interesting that they gave the same names to two of the A350s.

It seems that A340 16+02 has now found a new home in the USA. On 25 September the Airbus made its last flight with its Luftwaffe callsign, GAF918, from Hamburg to Cologne Bonn Airport. The plane left German soil on 27 September, flying from Cologne Bonn to Washington Dulles Airport (VA) and from there to Roswell (NM).

Neither the identity of the new owner, nor the future of the A340 is currently known to us.

Photo of the goodbye salute by Team Luftwaffe