Discover Airlines is Lufthansa Group’s long haul leisure carrier based in Germany. The airline has been growing in recent years, as Lufthansa Group (unsurprisingly) sees a lot of potential with its low cost operations.
Last year, we learned how the Discover Airlines fleet will grow in the coming years, and that we’ll eventually see the introduction of a new business class product. There’s now an even more interesting announcement, as the airline is getting a new “flagship” aircraft.
In this post:
Discover Airlines will get four Airbus A350-900s in 2027
Discover Airlines has announced plans to grow its fleet to 40 aircraft by the middle of 2028. Most noteworthy of all is that the airline is expected to acquire four Airbus A350-900s in 2027. Discover Airlines’ long haul fleet otherwise consists of Airbus A330s, with the airline retiring A330-200s, and focusing on A330-300s.
So with the A350s, Discover Airlines will really start to have a next generation fleet. The airline notes how these planes will initially be used on existing routes, like to Orlando (MCO) and Windhoek (WDH). However, the plane also opens up new possibilities, like flying to South and Central America, Southeast Asia, and beyond.
Here’s how Discover Airlines CEO Bernd Bauer describes this:
“With the further development and expansion of our fleet – including the planned deployment of the Airbus A350 – we are further strengthening our existing offering, with even more comfort and attractive options for our guests. Additional aircraft, greater range, and a new cabin product will enable us to respond even better to the needs of travelers. We look forward to flying even more people on vacation in the future, while at the same time making an important contribution to strengthening the Lufthansa Group in the leisure and private travel segment. Now it is time for us to quickly create the conditions for integrating the Airbus A350 into our fleet.”
Discover Airlines isn’t the only Lufthansa Group leisure subsidiary to be getting A350s. SWISS’ leisure subsidiary, Edelweiss Air, is fully refreshing its long haul fleet, replacing A340-300s with A350-900s. In Edelweiss’ case, those are former LATAM jets, that were retired early.
What to expect onboard Discover Airlines Airbus A350s
In typical Lufthansa Group fashion, Discover Airlines has acquired most of its aircraft simply by being given Lufthansa planes as they’ve been retired. So most of Discover Airlines’ A330s have the typical Lufthansa business class, in a 2-2-2 configuration.
So you might be thinking that these A350s that Discover Airlines is getting also have those interiors, given that most Lufthansa A350s also have business class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration.
However, not surprisingly, there’s another angle here. In 2021, Lufthansa opportunistically picked up four ex-Philippine Airlines A350s, as the carrier was going through a reorganization. Lufthansa maintained the cabin interiors, which funny enough, actually elevated Lufthansa’s business class experience considerably, given that these planes have Thompson Aero Vantage XL seats.
There was always the question of what Lufthansa would eventually do with these planes, so it’s not surprising that they’re now going to a different subsidiary. Meanwhile Lufthansa’s A350s with the old business class are all eventually going to be reconfigured with Allegris cabins.
So when these four special A350s are taken over by Discover Airlines, you can expect that interiors will be maintained. It’ll be the first time that we see direct aisle access from all business class seats on the carrier, which is pretty cool.
Bottom line
Discover Airlines will be growing its fleet with four Airbus A350-900s, which will be acquired from Lufthansa. Specifically, the four former Philippine Airlines A350s that the airline picked up several years back will be headed to Discover Airlines, to be the carrier’s new flagship aircraft.
This is a cool development for Discover Airlines, and should represent the carrier’s best product yet.
What do you make of Lufthansa sending four A350s to Discover Airlines?
Surely, even “Lufthansa Hand-Me-Downs” are better than waiting years for a suspect new Boeing?
Maybe they will fly the ex Philippine Airlines planes to Manila!
Makes sense. New destination!
The hand me down A350s have a nicer Business Class product than the majority of the LH fleet with those old crappy seats from 1990.
You rang? (Kidding.)
Another episode of LH outsourcing further aircraft for cheaper labour
Good grief. Can't Lufthansa first just fix its own fleet, which is a hot mess? The A340-300s, A340-600s, and the B747-400s should have been retired long ago. Yes, they've announced retirements but all these sub-brands that aren't flag carriers are are the core of the LH Group's problems.
Spohr has stated that the strategy behind having all of these sub-brands is to break up the adverse effect that a labor strike would have on the company's finances and operations. Whether that strategy has been effective is another matter.
But, I think you're right.