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The head of Hamburg Airport is actually a happy and optimistic man, but Michael Eggenschwiler's face has darkened more and more over the past few months.

Most recently, the Christmas business was practically canceled, only ten percent of takeoffs and landings took place.

And so there is a lot of money missing in the till - although the airport is borne by the state, the operating company still has to turn every penny.

And an aircraft that once wrote aviation history is now falling victim to these austerity efforts: On March 17, 1960, a Deutsche Lufthansa jet took off for the first time in Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel, namely the Boeing 707 that had been built in the USA the year before.

On March 17, 1960, passengers board a Boeing 707 at Fuhlsbüttel Airport. For the first time, a Lufthansa jet took off from the ground on that day

Source: pa

The aircraft was then used for around 15 years under the name “Frankfurt” and helped to make the flight and travel dreams of many Germans come true.

It flew a total of 15 years for the crane airline before it was decommissioned in 1975.

The long-haul jet then went to the Lufthansa base in Hamburg, where it was used as a “flying classroom” for training budding aircraft technicians.

Over the years, new training methods gained the upper hand, the last project in which Lufthansa Technik trainees were involved was the repainting of the aircraft in the colors of Hamburg Airport.

On the occasion of the “Hamburg Airport Classics” in summer 1999, the 46-meter-long Boeing 707-430 was acquired by Hamburg Airport for the symbolic value of one euro.

Swedish pilot Mikael Carlson (l) and flight captain Holger Karow at the celebration of the airport's 90th birthday in 2001

Source: picture-alliance / dpa / dpaweb

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With the new “HAMBURG AIRport” logo and with the help of the “Hamburg Airport Friends” support group, the B707 has now also been used as a location for several films.

The B 707 played a role in the ZDF production “Deutschlandspiel” (2002) on the 10th anniversary of German reunification.

Her part was that of a fictional government machine of the then General Secretary of the CPSU, Michael Gorbatschow, during a visit by Erich Honecker, then Chairman of the GDR State Council.

But it was also used as a location for the comedy film “Kick it like Beckham” (2001), the feature film “Im Schatten der Macht” (2003) about the last days before Willi Brandt's resignation or for “Rocca changes the world” (2018) used.

"Now the decision has been made"

But now the end of this aviation dream is imminent - the last remaining copy from the Lufthansa fleet will be scrapped this spring.

In a message from Hamburg Airport on Wednesday, it says: “The Corona-related economically difficult situation is forcing Hamburg Airport to adjust costs and structures - the maintenance costs for the historic long-haul aircraft also had to be put to the test.

Now the decision has been made: the machine with the D-ABOD label will be recycled. ”There have been several unsuccessful attempts to find other customers or operators.

Inventory will be auctioned

Aviation fans could also bid for individual items, the Hamburg auction house Dechow was commissioned, and here too it should start in the course of spring.

According to the announcement, particularly interesting individual parts of the machine and elements from the cockpit could come under the hammer, but also “selected lighting elements or parts of the flaps on the wings”.

In this way, the traditional B 707-430 could at least in parts be brought back to life and preserved for posterity.