Lufthansa group orders Airbus A220, Boeing 737 MAX

Dallas: Lufthansa Group has ordered forty A220-300s from Airbus for its new short- and medium-haul unit Lufthansa City Airlines (VL, Munich), alongside forty B737-8s from Boeing for an undisclosed subsidiary other than Lufthansa or Swiss.

The group said the order, approved by the Supervisory Board on December 19, also includes options for twenty more A220-300s. The holding ordered its first thirty A220-100s (then still known as the CS100) in 2009, all earmarked for Swiss. The carrier completed the deliveries in May 2021. After variant conversions, it currently operates nine A220-100s and twenty-one A220-300s, according to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module.

Lufthansa City Airlines is due to launch in Summer 2024 as a new short- and medium-haul capacity provider for the mainline and a sister carrier to Lufthansa CityLine (CL, Munich). Its fleet currently comprises a single A319-100. The first A220-300 will be delivered in 2026. The carrier plans to base the new type out of both of its Frankfurt International and Munich bases.

In turn, the B737 MAX will be allocated to an undisclosed carrier.

"Since the planned growth path for both Lufthansa Airlines including Lufthansa City Airlines and Swiss is already backed by aircraft orders, the Boeing 737 MAX will be used in one of the Lufthansa Group's other flight operations. The decision on this will be made at a later date," the holding said.

The first B737 MAX is due for delivery in the third quarter of 2027. Lufthansa Group does not currently operate any Boeing narrowbodies, having retired the last B737-300s from Lufthansa's fleet in 2016. Austrian Airlines (OS, Vienna) and Brussels Airlines (SN, Brussels National) also operated B737s in the past but retired them even earlier.

The order also includes options for sixty more B737 MAX.

Deliveries of all A220s and B737 MAX are to complete by 2032.

Lufthansa Group also added an additional forty A320neo Family options without placing any new firm orders yet.