Lufthansa Group just announced the purchase of a total of 40 state-of-the-art aircraft for the group’s airlines. The 20 Boeing 787-9 and 20 additional Airbus A350-900 planes will primarily be replacing four-engine aircraft which are their legacy A340s and B747s. The new planes will be delivered between late 2022 and 2027.
The order has a list-price investment volume of 12 billion USD but as is usual with such orders, Lufthansa Group has negotiated a significant price reduction and the parties have agreed not to disclose the actual purchase price.
“By replacing four-engine planes with new models, we are laying a sustainable foundation for our future in the long run. In addition to the cost-effectiveness of the A350 and B787, the significantly lower CO2 emissions of this new generation of long-haul aircraft was also a decisive factor in our investment decision. Our responsibility for the environment is becoming more and more important as a criterion for our decisions,” says Carsten Spohr, CEO and Chairman of Lufthansa Group.
The decision regarding which airline will deploy the aircraft at which hub will be made at a later date as will the cabin configuration of their new 787-900 aircraft. Currently their existing A350s have a 2-2-2 configuration in business which is fairly dense. This is essentially the same business class product as they have on their 747-800s. It’s not industry leading by any stretch though it is comfortable.
The arilines of the Lufthansa Group currently operate a long-haul fleet of 199 aircraft (as of December 2018), including twelve Airbus A350-900 aircraft. Beginning in 2020, Lufthansa will also be introducing the new Boeing 777-9.
Sale of six Airbus A380 aircraft
As part of this deal Lufthansa is also selling back six of its 14 Airbus A380 planes to Airbus. The aircraft will be leaving Lufthansa in 2022 and 2023. This is another blow to the A380 which was recently cancelled. We have had some great flights on A380s, especially the configuration of Emirates and Qatar so hope the plane doesn’t end up being a mainstay of long haul discount airlines. We think it can still be an amazing experience.
