The nose landing gear of a Lufthansa Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner collapsed on Thursday while the aircraft was parked at a boarding gate at Frankfurt Airport, causing the front of the fuselage to sink to the tarmac and injuring four people. The incident occurred at around 12:45 p.m. local time at Gate A15, as ground crews were preparing the aircraft for flight LH450 to Los Angeles. No passengers had boarded at the time.
Lufthansa said the nose gear "unexpectedly retracted" while the aircraft was stationary, causing significant damage to the plane's nose and, according to witnesses, bringing both engines close to the ground. The four injured — two cabin crew members and two employees of a ground services company — were taken to hospital, though later reports indicated they were subsequently released. Security camera footage circulating on social media captured the moment the aircraft's nose dropped, showing airport workers in the immediate vicinity reacting to the sudden collapse. The flight to Los Angeles was cancelled, the area around Gate A15 was cordoned off, and emergency vehicles attended the scene. Frankfurt Airport, Germany's largest and a major European hub, reported knock-on delays affecting dozens of other flights.
The aircraft involved, registered D-ABPQ and named "Herne," is nearly new: it was delivered to Lufthansa on 17 January 2026 following test flights that began in October 2025, and is fitted with the airline's premium Allegris business-class cabin. Lufthansa began operating the Boeing 787 Dreamliner from its Frankfurt base in October 2025 and keeps around ten of the wide-body jets there. The nose landing gear system is manufactured by a French aerospace components supplier. The plane's list price can reach 300 million dollars.
The incident draws comparisons to a similar event in June 2021 at London's Heathrow Airport, where the nose gear of a British Airways Boeing 787 collapsed while the aircraft was parked at a gate. That investigation concluded the gear had retracted inadvertently during routine maintenance, and led to revised maintenance protocols for the type. Lufthansa has not offered any hypothesis on the cause of Thursday's collapse and said it is investigating in cooperation with the relevant authorities, with technicians dispatched to the scene. The aircraft will remain out of service pending a full technical assessment.
The episode adds to a difficult period for Boeing and for the 787 programme more broadly. The Dreamliner has faced scrutiny over manufacturing quality issues in recent years, and public attention has intensified following the June 2025 crash of an Air India 787-8 shortly after take-off in the Indian city of Ahmedabad, which killed more than 290 people on board and on the ground. Investigations into that disaster are ongoing. For now, Lufthansa has not linked Thursday's gear collapse to any broader systemic issue and has focused its public statements on the welfare of those injured and the ongoing inquiry.