The Lufthansa Boeing 787-9, which was damaged in an incident at Frankfurt Airport in June 2026, is being repaired and is expected to be reintegrated into regular scheduled service later this year.
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr announced this during the press conference on the first half of the year's financial results. Immediately after the incident, the extent of the structural damage to the fuselage and landing gear system was unclear, which is why a total loss of the aircraft could not be ruled out for a time.
The incident occurred on June 4 at Gate A15 of Frankfurt Airport, when the nose landing gear of the long-haul aircraft named "Herne" collapsed during ground preparations for flight LH450 to Los Angeles. No passengers were on board at the time of the accident, but several crew members and ground staff sustained injuries. An initial interim report by the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU) suggests that a faulty or missing locking pin may have triggered the unintended retraction of the landing gear during the towing or parking procedure. The aircraft had only been delivered brand new to the airline by the manufacturer in January 2026.
To compensate for the loss of long-haul capacity in the middle of the summer flight schedule, the airline had to quickly draw on existing reserves. Lufthansa reactivated an Airbus A340-300 aircraft, which was originally intended only as an operational reserve to maintain the flight schedule to North America. The repair of the Boeing 787 requires the involvement of specialists from the manufacturer, as the carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) structure of the fuselage in the area of the nose wheel suspension must undergo precise testing and repair procedures.
Aviation and safety experts point out that incidents at parking positions not only cause direct repair costs in the tens of millions, but also raise complex insurance issues between the airline, airport operator, and ground handling services. The exact sequence of maintenance and preparation steps at the aircraft site remains the subject of ongoing investigations by aviation authorities. The aircraft is expected to return to service after all technical inspections and test flights have been completed.