Lufthansa Cargo's D-ALCA

This quarter's edition of "HNL RareBirds Classic" features Lufthansa Cargo's MD-11F, D-ALCA (c/n 48781, l/n 625), departing Runway 8R for AKL, when they flew cargo for Air New Zealand from FRA to AKL, with stops at ORD and HNL. The flight would continue westbound back to FRA.

48781's History:

Jun 1998: Delivered to Lufthansa Cargo as D-ALCA.

Aug 2021: Sold to Western Global Airlines as N781SN (f/n 781).

Dec 2022: Stored at RSW [Southwest Florida Airport, Fort Meyers, FL] for five months.

May 2023: Stored at SHV [Shreveport Regional Airport, Shreveport, LA].

Jan 2025: Returned to service with Western Global Airlines.

Lufthansa Cargo's D-ALCE

Our April edition of "HNL RareBirds Classic" takes us back to July 2004, with Lufthansa Cargo's [LH/GEC] MD-11F, D-ALCE "Marhaba Turkey" (c/n 48785, l/n 629), departing from Runway 8R for AKL. It was a code-share with Air New Zealand to fly cargo from Europe to New Zealand, with US stops at ORD and HNL.

D-ALCE was delivered to Lufthansa Cargo in October 1998, and remains with the German cargo carrier today in the standard livery. The above WOW special livery was worn from 2003 to 2008, and was the only GEC MD-11F to wear it. Other MD-11Fs had a small WOW decal applied near the aft passenger doors.

Lufthansa Cargo's D-ALCJ

The November edition of "HNL RareBirds Classic" takes us back to May 2004, when this Lufthansa Cargo MD-11F, D-ALCJ (c/n 48802, l/n 642) taxied to Runway 26L on Taxiway RT. Lufthansa Cargo [LH/GEC] used to have round-the-world cargo service, which was a code-share with Air New Zealand that stopped off at HNL from ORD, and continued to AKL as GEC8400.

D-ALCJ was originally delivered to Lufthansa Cargo in March 2000.

Lufthansa Cargo MD-11F D-ALCB

A couple of years ago, Lufthansa Cargo used to fly a MD-11F between HNL and AKL as part of a codeshare with Air New Zealand. This flight was part of a round-the-world routing that passed through HNL 2 or 3 times a week. The flight usually just stopped over in HNL for a couple of hours before leaving. Here D-ALCB is seen taxiing out for takeoff back on October 31, 2004.