An Airbus A350-900 with the registration D-AIVC was christened in the name of the city of Munich by the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder today at Munich Airport. The plane is now taking off from the Bavarian hub for Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.

The AUA parent recently brought all of its Airbus A350s to the Bavarian capital after parts of the fleet were stationed in Frankfurt due to the pandemic. In addition to the current 17 aircraft of the type, a total of four more Airbus A350s are coming to Munich. Lufthansa is leasing these four A350s, which were previously in service for Philippine Airlines. One of these leased Airbus A350s was transferred from Frankfurt to Munich this week and was christened “Munich” in the state capital. A little later, the plane with flight number LH494 will leave the airport at around 15:45 p.m. and fly towards Canada to touch down at Toronto-Pearson Airport at 18:30 p.m. local time.

Passengers on this first flight can look forward to significantly improved Business Class with a 1-2-1 configuration. The seats come from Thompson Aero and were already installed in the planes of Philippine Airlines. The design of the seats was adapted for use under the German flag. These shine in a subtle shade of blue.

The seats also offer a significantly larger screen for the in-flight entertainment system and various charging options with USB ports and sockets in Business Class. In addition, the seats offer a massage function, a completely flat bed surface that is around two meters long and more space in the back area. These seats will also offer more storage options. However, nothing will change in the service concept for the time being.

Six aircraft have already been christened Munich

The A350 is the sixth aircraft to bear the city's name. This means that Lufthansa can already look back on more than six decades of flying a “München”. On October 11, 1960, a Lufthansa aircraft was given the name of the Bavarian state capital for the first time. The “baptism” at that time, a Boeing 707 with the registration D-ABOF, was christened at what was then Munich-Riem Airport. Godmother was Ilse Vogel, the wife of the then Mayor Hans-Jochen Vogel. The fifth "Munich" was the Airbus A380 with the registration D-AIMB, which was christened on July 28, 2010 by Edith von Welser-Ude and which is no longer part of the Lufthansa fleet.