Second Lufthansa Boeing 747-8 sold to US Air Force leaves Germany

Lufthansa's second Boeing 747-8 sold to the United States Air Force has left Germany, flying to Pinal Airpark in Arizona under the special flight number LH9886. The aircraft, registered D-ABYG, made its last scheduled service on 31 August from Los Angeles to Frankfurt, followed by a test flight from Frankfurt on 10 September. The roughly eleven-hour ferry flight to Arizona took place on 26 September.

Lufthansa agreed at the end of 2025 to sell two Boeing 747-8s to the US Air Force for 400 million dollars. The first, D-ABYD, was handed over in January 2026 and has since been based at Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility, the military government airport serving Washington, D.C., where it is used for training flights. Most of those flights operate under the callsign Crane01, a nod to the aircraft's Lufthansa past: Crane means Kranich, the stylised bird in the airline's logo and the source of its nickname.

What will happen to the former D-ABYG at Pinal Airpark is not known. The first aircraft flew to Waco airport in Texas in mid-January and remained there for nearly two months. What work was carried out on it is unknown, but since 19 March it has operated under the military registration 25-32000.

An Air Force spokesperson said in January that the service was acquiring two aircraft to support training and spare parts supply as part of efforts to speed up air transport for the president.