The Lufthansa group has placed an order for 48 Model Aircraft with Airbus and Embraer that are going to be operated by the mainline carrier as well as its subsidiaries.
The order is for a total of eight Airbus A330-300s, 32 A320 family aircraft and eight Embraer 195s. Three A330s are allocated to Lufthansa Model, while five will be operated by Swiss International Air Lines. Lufthansa will also get 20 more Airbus 320 family aircraft, Swiss will take two more A320s and two A321s. The eight Embraer 195s are going to be operated by one of the regional subsidiaries. Low fare unit Germanwings will receive eight more A319s. Deliveries will start in 2012, Lufthansa said in a statement.
Lufthansa will partly use the aircraft for replacement. The mainline carrier has to phase out older A320s and Boeing 737s. The oldest 737 is now 24 years old and the youngest 15 with a large part of the fleet having been delivered around 1990/91. The oldest A320s are 21 years old. CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber said the airline will also look at growth opportunities, but wants to remain flexible in case the market deteriorates.
One of the significant aspects of the deal is who does not get new aircraft: Austrian Airlines. The carrier cannot grow capacity as a part of the European Commission approval of the 2009 takeover by Lufthansa in which the Austrian government assumed €500 million ($656.8 million) of Austrian’s debt. It has also been told by the parent company that it needs to be profitable before it will receive new Model Aircraft. The regulatory restrictions expire in 2012.
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