Lufthansa to sell two 747-8s and retire more 747-400s
Lufthansa is selling two 747-8s and retiring two more 747-400s, with the -400 leaving the fleet by 2027 and the -8 staying into the 2030s.
Lufthansa — by a wide margin the largest passenger 747 operator left — is thinning its fleet.
The airline plans to sell two 747-8s, the first going to an undisclosed buyer in January 2026, and to withdraw two more 747-400s from scheduled service.
The timetable
The 747-400s are on the way out: Lufthansa’s fleet plan has them gone by 2027, alongside the A340-300, with the A340-600, A330-200 and 767-300 leaving by 2026.
The 747-8 is a different matter. Lufthansa has been clear that it expects the type to remain a core part of long-haul operations well into the 2030s.
That distinction matters. The -400s are 1990s aircraft nearing the end of their economic lives. The -8s were delivered from 2012 onward, and Lufthansa took 19 of the 48 ever built.
What is left worldwide
There is no authoritative live worldwide count because aircraft move between service, maintenance and storage. Current first-party disclosures instead provide dated operator snapshots. Those sources confirm four scheduled passenger operators and substantial freighter fleets, but they should not be blended into a falsely precise global total.
The active Boeing 747 fleet tracker records the latest official counts located for Lufthansa and the other major passenger and cargo operators.
Related
- Airlines that flew the 747 — who still does
- The 747-8 Intercontinental
- Where the 747s went
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the primary and institutional references below.
- Lufthansa Group fleet at 31 December 2025 — Lufthansa Group
- Boeing 747-8 aircraft information — Lufthansa
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