Lufthansa considers downgauging order book to smaller types

Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt Int’l) is in talks with both Airbus and Boeing about switching some its outstanding widebody orders to smaller types, Lufthansa Group Chief Executive Carsten Spohr said during a London School of Economics German Symposium. “We are putting many four-engined long-range aircraft out of the fleet and this creates a certain need for smaller long-range aircraft,” he said. As reported by Bloomberg, Spohr said that both manufacturers had responded constructively but did not go into details, He did, however, underline that demand for business traffic may never return to pre-COVID levels as many companies have now embraced remote virtual communication technologies. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Lufthansa’s order book for widebody aircraft consists of twenty-six A350-900s (on top of 17 already delivered), twenty B777-9s, and twenty B787-9s. It has none of the smaller A330neo on order. Spohr said the airline was in separate discussions with Embraer, although he did not offer any further details as to the substance of these talks. Lufthansa CityLine operates nine E190s and two E195s, Air Dolomiti – fifteen E195s, and Austrian Airlines – seventeen E195s. None of the group carriers has any firm orders for more Embraer regional jets. Swiss, in turn, operates nine A220-100s and twenty A220-300s, and has one more -300 on order from Airbus Canada. There are no other regional jets operated by any of the group’s carriers.