Their sonorous humming in the sky belonged to the Hamburg harbor birthday like the sound of the ship's horns: As Germany's most famous vintage airplane the Ju 52 with the license plate D-CDLH (historically D-AQUI) has been a popular advertising medium for Lufthansa for decades.

The ever-popular tickets for the sightseeing flights over the Port of Hamburg and other missions will no longer exist in the future. The Lufthansa Group has stopped the passenger flights with the soon to be 83 years old machine for cost reasons.

"The operation of the Ju 52 was subsidized with high amounts year after year, and economic operation could not be achieved in the long term," the company justifies the step unpopular with fans. After all, the veteran belongs to the handful of airworthy aircraft of the extremely successful passenger and transport aircraft of the thirties, of which more than 9,000 civilian and military models were built.

Whether and on what occasions the "flying monument" will take off in the future is unclear. Normal passengers will not be able to board. There are no more tickets, "valid vouchers are reimbursed", says the responsible Deutsche Lufthansa Berlin Foundation.

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"Auntie Ju": Off for Hamburg sightseeing flights

The future concept must now be developed and approved by the Board, says Foundation Spokesman Wolfgang Servay. For example, sightseeing flights without passengers are conceivable, for example in large aviation events. For this year's port birthday but it will probably be nothing.

Much to the chagrin of their passionate pilots, the Ju will probably stand out less often in the future. "Starting the engines of a Ju 52 is always incredibly beautiful," enthused chief pilot Uwe Wendt on the occasion of the 80th birthday of "Aunt Ju" in 2016: "This is manual work and you also need muscle power."

Wendt told about the passengers, who often had their own memories of the plane, for example, during the transport of wounded in the Second World War. Although the Ju 52 was not developed as a military aircraft, aircraft of the type have also been used as auxiliary bomber.

Two classic cars, two problem children

Delivered in April 1936, the Ju was built at the Junkers factory in Dessau and is not the only classic car that worries Lufthansa. Already last year, the company has stopped due to excessive costs, the project in the US state of Maine to make a "Lockheed Super Star" from the year of 1957 fit for passenger flights again. The well-known as "Super Constellation" propeller engine with four engines proved to be bottomless, in the unconfirmed reports have already flowed 100 to 200 million dollars.

Missing plans, elaborate new constructions and more modern materials as well as complex approval procedures were the cost drivers for the former "Queen of the North Atlantic". The aircraft, which is always described as particularly beautiful, is to be dismantled and, according to the foundation, shipped to Germany later this year. Whether it will ever lift off is questionable and also the subject of the still pending new concept for the Lufthansa classic cars. But passengers will certainly not take them on board.

Just how dangerous the operation of old airplanes can become is shown by the as yet unresolved crash of a Ju 52 in the Swiss canton of Grisons last August. She was fully occupied with 16 passengers and four crew members, nobody survived. The wreckage showed rust damage that had remained undetected during routine inspections, according to the Swiss Federal Office for Civil Aviation. The authority prohibited Ju-Air from operating two more Ju 52 aircraft until further notice. It is hoped for a summer license for this summer, says the company in Dübendorf near Zurich.

11,500 flight hours since 1984

The Hamburg Ju has a varied history with stations in Norway, on South American oil platforms and at US air shows behind. Nobody knows the exact number of hours worked. For Lufthansa, which bought back the plane on the initiative of avid pilots in 1984 and extensively restored in the Hanseatic city, she has since completed around 11,500 hours.

Currently, the old lady is in a hangar in Munich and will be repaired during the winter. Most recently, damage has been detected to the engine mount, for which a new part must be built using modern materials. "You can not just order that from the manufacturer," says Wolfgang Servay. "You have to redevelop it with great engineering effort." It's just one of the reasons for the high cost of Ju's business.