Lufthansa LH459 Airbus A350 damages runway lights on landing at Munich Airport

Lufthansa flight LH459 (callsign DLH459), an Airbus A350-900 registered D-AIVE, departed San Francisco International Airport (KSFO) at 10:04 p.m. local time (05:04 UTC) on August 18, 2026, bound for Munich Airport (EDDM). The aircraft climbed initially northward before turning right to a southeast heading and reaching a peak cruise altitude of 42,140 feet during the roughly 10-hour, 37-minute transatlantic and transcontinental flight.

ADS-B data reviewed by SkyMeter shows the aircraft began its initial descent from 42,111 feet at about 5:02 p.m. local Munich time (15:02 UTC), dropping through 32,572 feet roughly five minutes later and continuing a sustained descent at rates reaching 1,830 feet per minute. The track shows the aircraft turning from a southward approach heading to westward near Munich Airport before touching down. According to airlive.net, the aircraft damaged runway lights during the landing, on the same Munich runway involved in a separate Boeing 787 incident only days earlier.

The flight covered the KSFO-to-EDDM route in approximately 10 hours and 37 minutes, with the recorded track ending at 5:41 p.m. local time at Munich Airport as the aircraft taxied in. The full flight replay for DLH459 on August 18, 2026, is available on SkyMeter.