Lufthansa Upcycling Collection Takes Off With 35,000 Aviationtags

Cologne, 3 September 2019 - Lufthansa WorldShop has upcycled a retired Airbus A340-600 D-AIHO into limited-edition lifestyle and design products. On board the first Lufthansa Upcycling Collection: 35,000 Aviationtags by bordbar.

It took almost 10 weeks for the Lufthansa Airbus A340-600 D-AHIO to be dismantled to a stage where the individual parts could be further processed into an entire range of strictly limited-edition travel accessories and furniture. At the time of its launch, the Airbus was the longest passenger aircraft in the world at a length of 75.5 metres - 92 per cent of these 75.5 metres have now been recycled for the Lufthansa Upcycling Collection, ready to start a new life in a new format.

Sustainability, upcycling and the idea of giving old aircraft components a new purpose are second nature to bordbar. In the scope of its long-standing partnership with Lufthansa, countless aircraft trolleys have already been transformed into designer furniture - and the fuselage of a Boeing 747 into a highly successful Aviationtag edition. No coincidence then that the first Lufthansa Upcycling Collection also has 35,000 Aviationtags on board. This entailed old parts of the outer skin of the Airbus A340-600 D-AHIO being dismantled and cut to size at the bordbar manufactory in Cologne until they could be punched into the typical Aviationtag shape and then polished, before finally undergoing precise laser engraving. Each of the strictly limited-edition Aviationtags now features the aircraft type, aircraft registration number, edition number, edition size and, of course, the Lufthansa logo with its iconographic crane.

250 square metres of aluminium fairing from the Airbus A340-600 D-AHIO are now ready to start their new life as a key or luggage tag - and as collector's items, because a good share of Aviationtag’s clientele are true-blue aviation enthusiasts. But actually almost anyone who loves to travel will succumb to the charm of these small tags. Because Aviationtags enhance their owner’s everyday lives with an unmistakable feeling: the feeling of taking off into the distance towards new experiences with that tangible extra tailwind behind you. Transforming a retired aircraft into collector’s items with emotional and what’s more practical value – that is the very definition of sustainability.

Whilst the Aviationtag website features an entire range of aircraft from a variety of different airlines that are waiting to be given a new home in the trouser pockets and collector's display cases of this world in the future, the Airbus A340-600 D-AHIO edition is available exclusively at Lufthansa WorldShop’s airport stores and online shop.

When they founded bordbar design GmbH more than ten years ago, the two friends and passionate aviation geeks Stephan Boltz and Valentin Hartmann fulfilled their dream of turning discarded aircraft trolleys into functional design furniture. Over the years they built up a global network within the aviation industry and their passion for aviation grew unabated. Finally, in 2016 they had the idea of giving decommissioned aircraft a new lease on life as well as aircraft trolleys: Aviationtag was born - a pocket-sized piece of aircraft history. Once the project reached cruising altitude in 2018, it was time to bring Tobias Richter, another experienced airliner, into the company cockpit. He now navigates the Aviationtag division as Vice President.