Summary
- Lufthansa Group is considering ordering 80 aircraft, with some potentially expanding City Airlines’ fleet.
- City Airlines, a Lufthansa subsidiary, received its AOC but has yet to start out flying. It plans to launch in 2024.
- The group goals to cut back feeder costs with the brand new airline.
The newest Lufthansa Group subsidiary, City Airlines, is yet to take off the bottom despite having its Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) and a single aircraft, an Airbus A319. There have been some developments with a possible fleet acquisition for the airline.
In keeping with reports by aeroTELEGRAPH, Lufthansa Group’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Carsten Spohr said in an internal video message to its employees that the group is seeking to potentially order 80 aircraft. Forty of those aircraft could either be from the Airbus A220 or Embraer E2 aircraft families, as Lufthansa is seeking to make a group-wide order for smaller narrowbody aircraft.
Launching City Airlines
Lufthansa initially launched City Airlines in 2022 and officially unveiled the airline in March 2023. The carrier received its AOC from Germany’s Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (LBA) in June 2023, when the authority updated its list of approved airlines.
In keeping with ch-aviation data, City Airlines has a single aircraft in its fleet, an Airbus A319, registered as D-AILX. The web site marked it as currently in maintenance, because the aircraft, delivered to Lufthansa in 1998, was initially transferred to Lufthansa CityLine in May 2023. Nonetheless, shortly after, City Airlines took delivery of the A319.
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In August 2023, Lufthansa and Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), a German pilot union representing its pilots, agreed to a brand new deal lasting until at the very least 2027. Nonetheless, neither the airline nor the union’s announcement in regards to the agreement included any details in regards to the way forward for City Airlines. At the identical time, Lufthansa’s release stated that it plans further growth
Selecting between the A220 and E2
Throughout the Lufthansa Group, several airlines fly passengers with each the Airbus A220 and Embraer E-jet and E2 aircraft families.
Air Dolomiti, Lufthansa’s Italian subsidiary, operates two Embraer E190 and 17 E195 aircraft, while Austrian Airlines also has 17 E195s. The aforementioned Lufthansa CityLine also has seven E190s. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Swiss International Air Lines, trading as SWISS, has 30 Airbus A220-100 and A220-300 aircraft and wet leases seven A220-300s from Latvia’s airBaltic.
ITA Airways, which can be within the means of being purchased by Lufthansa, also utilizes seven Airbus A220s, with 16 aircraft of the sort to be delivered in the long run. Helvetic Airways also wet leases a few of its Embraer E190-E2 aircraft to SWISS, ch-aviation data showed.
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Along with ordering aircraft for City Airlines, the group will even have to take a look at replacing the aging Embraer E-jets. The 43 aircraft of the sort that Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airlines, and SWISS operate are all older than ten years, raising the query: does the group keep the fleet and cockpit commonality and transition from the E-jet to the E2 aircraft family or proceed introducing a brand new cockpit type, namely the A220?