German airline Lufthansa announced this week it is retiring a fleet of aircraft to Tucson’s "boneyard."
Davis Monthan Air Force Base is home to the boneyard, the largest military-aircraft retirement location in the world. Commercial airlines from all over the world retire planes here, too.
The newest addition is from Lufthansa, which has just begun retiring its fleet of A340-600s to the yard. The carrier is planning to upgrade to A350-900s over the next five years.
The boneyard covers 2,600 acres of the Arizona desert and houses more than 4,000 aircraft.
The appeal of the location is its low annual humidity and rainfall, and an altitude of 2,500 feet, considered prime for preserving aircraft and engine equipment for potential reuse.
