Lufthansa Cargo names Boeing 777 Freighter Konnichiwa Japan

May 28, 2019: Lufthansa Cargo has named its newest Boeing 777 Freighter, D-ALFF Konnichiwa Japan, meaning “good day, Japan”.

The naming ceremony took place at Tokyo’s Narita Airport in the presence of Peter Gerber, CEO and chairman of the executive board of Lufthansa Cargo; Dr Hans Carl von Werthern, the German ambassador to Japan; Yasuo Ishii, administrator of Narita International Airport; and Futoshi Osada, senior executive vice president of Narita International Airport Corporation.

Lufthansa has had a long standing association with Japan, servicing passengers since 1961. It has an air cargo joint venture with Japan’s ANA Cargo since 2014.

The name Konnichiwa Japan was chosen to symbolise Japan’s importance in the global air cargo market. A barrel of sake was opened and the aircraft was sprinkled with Japan’s national drink at the naming ceremony.

Gerber said, “The greeting ‘Konnichiwa Japan’ expresses the close connection between Lufthansa Cargo and Japan. We are very proud to have been flying to the Land of the Rising Sun with our own freighters since 1969, thus contributing to trade between these markets.”