Exploring Germany

The Last of the 747s: Why Lufthansa Still Flies the Jumbo

Lufthansa Boeing 747-8 passenger planes parked in a row at the airport.

Here we go again. Yes, those are Boeing 747 passenger jets out there—a whole row of them. Currently, Germany’s Lufthansa is the world’s largest operator of these iconic old birds, keeping the “Queen of the Skies” alive in an era of twin-engine efficiency.

Did you know the original 747-100 was introduced way back in 1969? Boeing manufactured more than 1,500 of these jumbo jets over five decades. However, the era of the four-engine giant is fading; American carriers officially abandoned the jumbo line in 2017.

I’m guessing Lufthansa keeps them alive for a variety of reasons. The 747’s high yield cabins maximize passenger numbers for long hauls. Its large belly cargo means revenue is measured in freight as well as in passengers. And Lufthansa’s experience in developing specialized tooling and expertise means they can maintain their fleet in-house, without outsourcing. Those are all good reasons to stick with what they’ve got going.

Today, only a few dozen 747s remain in service as passenger planes. The rest of the fleet has been scrapped or converted into freighters. Some have even more unusual second lives—like the Jumbo Stay Hotel at the Stockholm Arlanda Airport, where you can actually spend the night in a converted 747-212B. Personally, I can’t imagine it. After years of writhing in economy on long-haul flights, I would never choose to willingly sleep on a 747!

“Once I get you up there, where the air is rarefied
We'll just glide, starry-eyed
Once I get you up there, I'll be holding you so near
You may hear all angels cheer because we're together.”

Lyrics from “Come Fly with Me” by Sammy Cahn

Aachen, Germany

Aachen, Germany. Burial place of Charlemagne and bloody memory site from WW2.

Despite this train station pix, it’s really quite beautiful here. The city seems to be nestled into rolling forested hills. Hints of orange and yellow suggest autumn is in the air.

The geography is a bit more robust than what we’ve experienced in Belgium.

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Happy endings and not so happy endings

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Happy endings and not so happy endings

Vicki and I found two seats among the group. It was a warm crowd, members of a Methodist congregation from somewhere in the deep South, just a peach short of the Georgia line.

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A Bad Kohlgrub arrival

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A Bad Kohlgrub arrival

It was a short drive from Oberammergau to the village of Bad Kohlgrub. There, at the base of Hörnle Mountain, Marcus delivered Vicki and me to the Hotel Shillingshof. We pulled our rollybags out of the bus and waved goodbye to Marcus and the driver.

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We did but we didn't do Oberammergau

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We did but we didn't do Oberammergau

We walked into town dragging our rollybags. Across the river we found the village of Oberammergau rimmed by mountains as full of boutique hotels, galeries, and kitschy shops. I fingered my phone hoping to find an open wifi signal and a message with further instructions.

Steeple climb

Steeple climb

The awful happened.

Work on the Köln (Cologne) Cathedral sputtered and stalled. After 300 years of labor, this “structure of hope” outpaced its resources. It was unfinished, unfunded, and unroofed in places. The 25-meter wooden Domkran was idle atop of the South Steeple, an arm with no muscle. To make matters worse, the archives (read: building plans) were lost to French revolutionaries in 1794. The vision of a grand cathedral, conceived in the middle of the 13th century, was all but lost.

Structures of hope

Structures of hope

A light rain was falling in Köln (Cologne) when we hopped off the train. I zipped up my jacket and got final instructions. We aimed to meet at six for dinner.

“Do you have some Euros if you need to go to the bathroom?” She was taking good care of me.

I jangled the coins in my pocket. “All good.”

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Josephus knew about it and them

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Josephus knew about it and them

For those who are curious about the landscape of the biblical world, the Rhine River may seem to be a stretch, a reach, a foul ball. The Rhine (Grk Ρήνος, Lat Rhenus) is an unlikely entry in a Bible dictionary or atlas. It is unrecognized in the biblical text. And yet, this waterway and those who peopled its banks were known in the New Testament world, more by reputation than experience.

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This is us/them

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This is us/them

I sat with Moriah and Peter in a 160-year-old restaurant in Köln known as Brauerei zur Malzmühle. While we chewed crispy pork knuckle, grilled pork belly, and raw minced pork (do you smell a theme here?), a local family settled into a stained wooden table adjacent to ours. Somehow we stood out as foreigners and became a subject of their whispered conversation.