Lufthansa Group has been on a shopping spree lately, and that’s continuing with yet another new aircraft order! This is one I’m especially excited about.
In this post:
Lufthansa orders A350-1000s & more
Lufthansa Group has announced that it has ordered an additional 22 jets with Airbus and Boeing, worth $7.5 billion at list prices. This deal includes the following:
- 10 Airbus A350-1000s; this is the first time Lufthansa Group has ordered these
- Five Airbus A350-900s; Lufthansa Group already has 21 of these in its fleet, and now has 33 on order
- Seven Boeing 787-9s; Lufthansa Group already has three of these in its fleet, and now has 36 on order
In total, Lufthansa now has over 100 new wide body aircraft on order, including the A350-900, A350-1000, 787-9, and 777-9. As far as the delivery timeline for these 22 new jets go, Lufthansa Group is simply stating that they’ll be delivered in the mid-2020s onwards.
The press release about this order also states that Lufthansa Group is in advanced negotiations to acquire further long haul aircraft that could potentially be made available on shorter notice. That’s potentially pretty exciting.
It’s important to keep in mind that these orders are for Lufthansa Group overall, rather than necessarily specifically for Lufthansa. Some of these jets will be going to Austrian and SWISS.
Lufthansa Group will retire six subfleets
None of this should come as a surprise, but in the announcement it’s made clear that Lufthansa Group plans to retire six subfleets as these planes are delivered, including:
- Boeing 747-400s, which fly for Lufthansa
- Boeing 777-200s, which fly for Austrian
- Boeing 767-300s, which fly for Austrian
- Airbus A330-200s, which fly for Edelweiss and Eurowings Discover
- Airbus A340-300s, which fly for both Lufthansa and SWISS
- Airbus A340-600s, which fly for Lufthansa
There’s nothing truly new here. As you can tell, this means that Austrian’s current long haul fleet will be completely retired, while the long haul fleets of Lufthansa and SWISS will be partly refreshed.
A350-1000s will fly for Lufthansa from Munich
Airbus A350-1000s are an exciting development for Lufthansa Group. This is the largest version of the A350, and it’s the first time that the company will acquire these jets. The plan is to deploy these planes in premium-heavy markets, and it’s expected that A350-1000s will feature first class.
That’s exciting, since Lufthansa’s first class footprint has generally been shrinking. While SWISS has first class on all long haul jets, Lufthansa’s long term plan was to have first class on:
- All Boeing 747-8s, which are based in Frankfurt
- Some Airbus A350-900s, which will be based in Munich
- Airbus A380s are also being brought back, and they’ll be based in Munich, but it’s anyone’s guess how long they’ll stay in Lufthansa’s fleet
Lufthansa Group has revealed that the plan is to base all 10 A350-1000s in Munich, and use them to complement A350-900s. This means that in the long run, Lufthansa will have at least 20 aircraft based in Munich with first class. That’s awesome!
Lufthansa has long operated different long haul fleets out of Frankfurt and Munich, and that trend should be continuing:
- As flagship aircraft, Lufthansa will have Boeing 747-8s and Boeing 777-9s based in Frankfurt; however, keep in mind that the Boeing 777-9 is delayed quite a bit, and if there are even more delays, maybe we’ll see a change in plans
- Lufthansa will then base A350-900s and A350-1000s in Munich, with the -1000s being used for the highest demand destinations
- While Lufthansa hasn’t been terribly clear about first class plans for the 777-9s, I’m holding out hope that most or all of the 777-9s end up getting first class
Also, here’s to hoping that the A350-1000s get two rows of Lufthansa’s new first class, rather than just one.
For those wondering about the plan at SWISS, the airline will be retiring its A340-300s, and in the long run will be flying 777-300ERs, A330-300s, and A350-900s. SWISS is getting at least 10 A350-900s, and the plan is for all long haul aircraft to eventually feature the new cabins, which will be marketed as “SWISS Senses.”
Bottom line
Lufthansa Group has just ordered 22 long haul aircraft. In addition to ordering more A350-900s and 787-9s, the company has also ordered A350-1000s for the first time. This is exciting, since these jets are expected to feature first class.
The plan is for these aircraft to join Lufthansa’s fleet, and to be based in Munich, complementing A350-900s. That means in the future we’ll see at least 20 Munich-based aircraft with first class.
What do you make of Lufthansa Group’s A350-1000 order, and the plan to base these in Munich alongside A350-900s?
It may not be that "awesome." It just another plane order.
Ok, they bought/leased a lot of aircraft.
Now they need a new product fleetwide. I am looking at you, Lufthansa. Stop making my seat sore from your seats. Slimline by Recaro has had its day. Ditch them.
Start serving better meals in J and F. Start serving proper meals in Y.
Clean your bathrooms. They are now really grotesque.
I figured it make more sense for LX to transfer their 77Ws to LH for crew familiarization before they get their 779s and let LX get the initial orders of the A35K, but what do I know. Moving on, while there are still plenty of 77Ws that are still young (AA and UA), a lot of 77Ws are getting long in the tooth (AF and BR). So it'll be interesting to see who orders what.
LH crew will just train along the LX/OS crew. Abit over 1yr ago i was on a AF A350 from LIM-CDG and Italian Pilots for ITA were on the flight training.
No need to transfer planes between airlines.
Not just for crew familiarization and training, but for product consistency as well as maintenance costs. LHs 779s will obviously be 10-abreast. And does LX need the extra seats of a 77W? It's one less type to deal with from a maintenance standpoint, but like I've said, what do I know. Just a thought.
Munich International Airport!!! Home of the Airbus A350-900 and The Airbus Airbus A350-1000.
There is No Question About It when Comes to Lufthansa’s Game Plan!!!
Lufthansa is Turning Munich International Airport into a MEGA HUB AIRPORT!!!!
End of Story
Tim W.
San Diego, California
If Elon Musk bought Boeing, he would drive it into the ground the same way he is doing with Twitter. At least Twitter has no national security implications. Boeing on the other hand....
China does have a competitor to the 737 and 320 in the C-919. Watch for that to expand with China's ambitions. Unless the US government decides to ban exports of engines and avionics to China.
I wonder if the A350-1000s will be used to move up 747-400 retirement that at the moment can't happen till ~2026 once 777-9s are delivered in decent numbers. By the way, the reason the 779s don't have First is that they are replacing the 744 fleet on the high density low premium markets. Lufthansa 747-400s are actually configured with more seats than their 747-8s
What an impressive wide body collection that the Lufthansa group has and will have. The new first class looks very executive in a classy way.
Great article! I've got a few corrections/additions:
- A330-200 fly for Eurowings Discover (and ITA)
- A330-300 fly for Lufthansa, Swiss and Brussels
- Airbus A340-300 fly for Lufthansa, Swiss and Edelweiss
- Swiss will be getting 10x A359 from 2025 to replace its fleet of A343 and 5x A333
- Edelweiss will also be getting some A359 to replace its aging A343 fleet (probably at the end of the decade)
Great article! I've got a few corrections/additions:
- A330-200 fly for Eurowings Discover (and ITA)
- A330-300 fly for Lufthansa, Swiss and Brussels
- Airbus A340-300 fly for Lufthansa, Swiss and Edelweiss
- Swiss will be getting 10x A359 from 2025 to replace its fleet of A343 and 5x A333
- Edelweiss will also be getting some A359 to replace its aging A343 fleet (probably at the end of the decade)
- In the future Frankfurt will *probably* be an only Boeing hub (for longhaul) with B748, B789 and B779 and Munich a A350 only hub. Assumption on my part: LH mainline A333s will be transferred to Discover and Brussels (LH doesn't plan to retrofit them with Allegris in the next few years)
- At the introduction of Allegris this week Lufthansa stated that the B779s are likely to get the Allegris First Class and the Dreamliners will be the only subfleet which won't have a first class overall (including around half of their A359s)
Greetings from Frankfurt :)
Latest today, we now know that Swiss will be retrofitting the A330s with the new Allegris seats meaning those are staying at the airline for a very long time, probably to be replaced by the A330neo.
The A350 has enjoyed a recent run of new orders for both the -900 and -1000 versions and in doing so at airlines that are exclusively choosing the A350 as their new generation widebody as well as the majority of orders for carriers like LH Group that are splitting their new orders between the A350 or A330NEO and the Boeing 777X and 787.
The A350-900 has trailed the 787-9 in sales but, in conjunction...
The A350 has enjoyed a recent run of new orders for both the -900 and -1000 versions and in doing so at airlines that are exclusively choosing the A350 as their new generation widebody as well as the majority of orders for carriers like LH Group that are splitting their new orders between the A350 or A330NEO and the Boeing 777X and 787.
The A350-900 has trailed the 787-9 in sales but, in conjunction with the A330-900 which has similar size and efficiencies to the 787-9, Airbus' new generation widebody sales are comparable to the 787-9.
The 787-10 has also led the A350-1000 although the Airbus model is much more capable and likely will be even as Boeing increases performance of the 787 models.
Airbus is adding production capacity for both the A350 and A330NEO, likely allowing them to price more aggressively and offer better delivery times than the B787 which continues to be plagued by delivery delays and production problems.
There are still several potential orders out there which should lean to Airbus including from RIA and Delta.
Airbus and Boeing are both producing incredibly capable and efficient new generation aircraft; it is great to see airlines add more and more of each company's products.
Where did Lufthansa say they weren't putting first on the the 777X
mmk says nothing of the 787 order
As I more regularly use Austrian I’m really curious which planes will be slotted for them in the end. Very good news as while I enjoy the service and boutique feel of OS, the 767 is tight in J and the planes are getting old.
@ Stuart -- Just speculation on my part, but I think Austrian will likely get an all Boeing 787 fleet. Rumor also has it that the five interim Lufthansa 787s (initially intended for Hainan Airlines) will eventually be transferred to Austrian.
Lufthansa Group already stated that Austrian is most likely to get Dreamliners to replace its aging fleet of B763s and B772s. But this won't be the 5x (+2) B787-Whitetails ordered by Lufthansa.
Greetings from FRA
You should write an article about crew rest compartments
This would indeed be interesting!
Boeing has become so absolutely hopeless. Who could have seen that Airbus would come to so completely dominate large orders like this and Boeing would be unable to sell or even deliver it's derivatively designed airplanes? The 777-9 program is a total humiliation after the 737Max which was several steps beyond humiliation, and no new designs until at least the next decade. Just hopeless.
Maybe China can challenge Airbus-there needs to be more than one aircraft builder.
Elon Musk needs to buy Boeing.
Why? It's not like Tesla hasn't had its share of problems and its models are desperate need of a refresh.
"Elon Musk needs to buy Boeing."
Given how well he's doing with Twitter, Airbus would love to see that.
he will literally drive it into the ground
"Elon Musk needs to buy Boeing."
...Airbus, is that you??