Employees from Lufthansa Technik in Germany have marked a significant milestone in their quest to bring life back to a vintage Lockheed L-1649A Starliner. Now fully reassembled and supported by its own landing gear once more, the iconic 1950s propliner is due to take center stage at Lufthansa’s centenary celebrations to be held in early 2026 once repainted in the German carrier’s full scheme as worn by the type back in the day.
In 1957, the Lockheed ‘Super Star’ (as the type became known within the company) joined the Lufthansa fleet, offering the Senator class as the most exclusive mode of travel for the first time. The main focus of the service was the connection between Germany and New York, which could be flown non-stop across the Atlantic for the first time, making the aircraft a technical pioneer. With its four piston engines, the Super Stars began a new era of transatlantic air travel. These flights, which could last up to 17 hours, took off from Hamburg, where the airline’s maintenance base was also located.
The roll-out of the newly renovated Super Star therefore took place at a location of equal importance to Lufthansa and Lufthansa Technik.
Lufthansa Super Star GmbH (LSSG) was established as a subsidiary company of the Lufthansa Group in 2015 with the aim of restoring the aircraft, originally a Trans World Airlines 1957-vintage machine) to airworthy condition. Work on the aircraft originally began where the aircraft was stored at that point in Auburn, Maine. However, in 2018, after investing over 150 million euros into the project, along with over ten years of labor, the plans to return the Lockheed Super Star to the air were discontinued due to a lack of funds and soaring costs.
However, unwilling to confine the aircraft to the scrapper, LSSG vowed to continue its good work in restoring the airplane to a high static-only condition. In 2019, the aircraft was shipped to Bremen in Germany, where it was stored until February 2021 when it was transported to Paderborn. Then, in October 2023, it was relocated once more in sections to Lufthansa Technik’s base in Hamburg for full re-assembly and for its preservation efforts to be completed.
The re-assembly process in the hangar in Hamburg was always destined to be a painstaking and lengthy process. The larger of the aircraft components, including the fuselage sections, wings, and the type’s iconic triple tail structure arrived at Lufthansa Technik in October 2023 accompanied by 292 crates of smaller parts. Since then, a team of dedicated engineers has slowly pieced the aircraft back together, not sparing any detail in their work.
The restoration includes fully functioning lighting and flight controls, with steel cables connecting to fully movable rudders and flaps. Additionally, the cockpit has been meticulously recreated to appear as it did when the aircraft was first delivered in 1957. While the passenger cabin retains much of its 1950s bygone-era charm, some more modern conveniences have been added to give the airplane an updated feel.
The original passenger seats, for example, have been replaced with fully restored seats acquired from a retired Lufthansa A340. The seats have been extensively redesigned and upholstered in wine-red leather, while the cabin’s curtains and carpets have been replaced with vintage print fabrics, maintaining the aesthetic look of the era.
With its lengthy process of renovation largely completed, the aircraft was rolled out of Lufthansa Technik’s hangar in Hamburg on Friday, January 17, 2025, welcomed by hundreds of wellwishers, supporters of the campaign to renovate her, and Lufthansa Technik employees.
What’s next for the Super Star?
Now that it has been rolled out, the aircraft will be dismantled once again into larger segments in the coming weeks before being transported to Münster/Osnabrück Airport (FMO) in July 2025. There, and once it has been fully repainted from its current primer green into vintage 1950s-era Lufthansa colors, the Lockheed Super Star is scheduled to be transported onwards to arrive in Frankfurt in October 2025.
Together with the legendary Lufthansa Junkers Ju 52 D-AQUI, ‘Super Star’ will be the main attraction of a new Lufthansa Group conference and visitors center opening in spring 2026. The opening will come just in time for the 100th anniversary of Lufthansa’s founding in 1925. The Lufthansa Technik statement adds, “Thanks to a glass façade, the exhibits will also be clearly visible from the outside.”
