Lufthansa Group’s German leisure subsidiary – Discover Airlines – has unveiled its fleet plans for the next few years, as well as teasing a new long-haul product.
Let’s investigate.
Discover Airlines is planning to grow its fleet to 33 aircraft, by mid-2027. To achieve this, they are adding six Airbus A330-300 and three Airbus A320. The Airbus A330s are scheduled to enter service by mid-2027, while the Airbus A320s will already enter service in 2025.
There is more than a little fleet shuffling going on, with the airline removing three of its smaller Airbus A330-200 aircraft during 2026, due to expiring leases.
Currently, Discover Airlines operates:
- 14 Airbus A320ceo (Ex Lufthansa and Eurowings)
- 3 Airbus A330-200 (Ex Qatar Airways, Sun Express)
- 13 Airbus A330-300 (Ex Edelweiss, Qatar and Lufthansa).
With three aircraft leaving, and nine taking their place, the Discover Airlines fleet should be bolstered to 33 aircraft by the end of the end of 2027.
Since its launch, Discover Airlines has relied on Airbus A330s on long-haul routes and Airbus A320s on short and medium-haul routes. Thanks to their capacity, range and efficiency, both aircraft types are ideal for the growing leisure travel segment.
Promises of a new long-haul product
Interestingly with the announcement of six more long-haul aircraft, Discover Airline announced plans for a “latest generation” product in its business class.
The airline is promising an “All Ailse Access” product, which will feature comfort, as well as a new entertainment system with larger screens and better resolution in all three travel classes.
And before anyone asks for renders, that’s as much as Discovery Airlines revealed – other than further details on the product renewal are currently being finalised and will be announced at a later date.
In Quotes
Bernd Bauer, CEO of Discover Airlines said:
“Following our launch three years ago and the successful build-up of our airline, we are now taking the next steps to further consolidate our position as a leisure airline in Germany and to sustainably strengthen the Lufthansa Group’s market presence in the growing leisure travel segment. With additional capacity and the upgrade to a next-generation product, we will be able to serve the leisure travel segment even more comprehensively, efficiently and flexibly in the future. We look forward to accompanying even more people on their holiday in the future,”
A gradual expansion – but we’ll see on the business class product…
It seems that Lufthansa Group is pouring resources gradually into Discover Airlines, rather than pumping it full of resources it could not use. It’s also a way for the airline to combat the resurgent Condor, which has gone through a fleet reorganisation to streamline and modernise its operations.
As for the improved business product, there are various ways Discover can go – they can go for a version of Allegris (providing there is space in the production pipeline with its suppliers), they can go for the normal 1-2-1 option, or they could go for something completely new and novel.
Or they can upcycle from Lufthansa and take some of the non-standard Allegris style interiors and transfer them to these inbound aircraft.
We’ll await with bated breath what Discover Airlines does..
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