The first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental has emerged from the paint hangar at Boeing’s Everett factory near Seattle resplendent in the Lufthansa livery. The fuselage is painted in the classic Lufthansa white, while the tailfin and the Lufthansa logo on the fuselage are painted in night blue. The Lufthansa emblem on the tailfin - an encircled crane in flight - is offset in night blue against a melon yellow background.

The aircraft will undergo initial test flights in November, and is scheduled to go into service in spring with the registration D-ABYA. The Boeing 747-8 has been stretched by six metres compared with the Boeing 747-400. The new Jumbo measures 76.3 metres in length, making it the world’s longest passenger airliner.

Lufthansa has ordered 20 Boeing 747-8s, which are due for delivery from the beginning of 2012 through to mid-2015, and also has options on a further 20 aircraft.