Thursday, February 10, 2011

Lufthansa to name plane after pope's birth place

Lufthansa plans to name one of its new aeroplanes Marktl, after the birth place of Pope Benedict XVI, the German carrier said Monday. 

The pope was born on April 16, 1927 as Joseph Ratzinger in the small Bavarian town of Marktl, which today has a population of around 2,700 people.

Marktl, which lies just a few kilometres from the Austrian border, had conducted a long campaign to grace the skies on the side of a Lufthansa plane.

Lufthansa regularly names its planes after German towns or cities.