Lufthansa has announced a $19 billion order to replace its ageing fleet with 34 Boeing 777-9X and 25 Airbus A350-900 aircraft.
The German flag carrier hopes that these 59 wide-body jets will help it cut fuel consumption and shrink unit costs by about 20 per cent.
It said that the Airbus side of the order for 25 A350-900s may be altered to include some of the larger A350-1000 model. Lufthansa has never operated a B777-9X before.
As reported last month, Lufthansa is looking to retire its B747-8 aircraft after less than a decade of service (see news, June 4). The B777-9Xs and A350s will pick up this slack.
But it's not all good news. With this huge order for B777-9Xs, it's almost certain that LH will join the unpopular "ten-across in economy club".
Boeing is engineering the cabin of this latest version of the B777 to that airlines can more easily install ten across seating in the economy cabin.
Lufthansa subsidiary Austrian Airlines has already configured its small fleet of B777s ten-across in economy, while fellow subsidiary Swiss is likely to follow suit when it takes delivery of the B777-300ER variant.
So far in 2013, Lufthansa has made more orders with Airbus than any other carrier, with 125 on the books.
Taking all firm orders and future options into account this figure rises to 232 aircraft – one more than the 231 Airbus aircraft currently in the Lufthansa fleet.
The A350 XWB (Xtra Wide-Body) can seat between 270 and 350 passengers in a typical three-class layout. Airbus claims the A350 offers a 25 percent improvement in efficiency compared with existing aircraft in the size category.
The aircraft is scheduled for entry-into-service by 2014.
To see a video of the first A350 XWB taking flight, click here.
Scott Carey
