Lufthansa Group’s low-cost subsidiary – Eurowings – has confirmed that it will add the Boeing 737-8 MAX to its short to medium-haul fleet.
The Group have allocated 40 Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft to Eurowings, as part of a fleet modernisation programme. These will replace the existing Airbus A319 aircraft in the Eurowings fleet and older Airbus A320s as the airline seeks to reduce the total average age of its fleet.
These Boeing 737-8 MAX’s come from the order made by Lufthansa in 2023, where the airline signed for 40 firm orders, with 60 options.
Eurowings currently has 28 Airbus A319 in its main Eurowings arm, with 4 in Eurowings Europe.
These aircraft in turn burn less fuel, meaning fewer CO2 emissions, as well as a lower bill to operate the aircraft.
The new aircraft will be configured for 189 seats in a single class, with the type offering a longer range compared to the older aircraft it is replacing, allowing for deployments onto more medium-haul routes.
Delivery of the first Boeing 737-8 MAX to Eurowings is scheduled to begin in 2027 and will be completed with a total of 40 jets by 2032.
In Quotes
Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of the Lufthansa Group:
“Eurowings has established itself as the European point-to-point airline of the Lufthansa Group with a convincing strategy and thanks to its outstanding employees in an extremely competitive market. The company’s strategic focus on expanding its tourism business and its consistent expansion in Europe is paying off for the entire Lufthansa Group. Our decision today is a well-deserved and strong signal for a successful future of Eurowings.”
Jens Bischof, CEO Eurowings:
“Economic success makes Eurowings attractive for investment. At the same time, we have a responsibility to reconcile economic and ecological topics. With 40 state-of-the-art aircraft, we are laying the foundations for a successful Eurowings future that is geared towards ambitious sustainability goals. The largest investment in our company’s history shows that we are making rapid progress towards low-emission flying – through significantly lower fuel consumption, lower emissions and significantly less noise. The high cost efficiency of the new jets also enables us to continue to offer Eurowings customers fair and attractive fares. Without such a technological leap, an airline will hardly be able to operate successfully on the market in the 2030s.”
A major stepchange
With a list price of five billion dollars at list price, Lufthansa Group continues to believe in its low-cost arm to deliver passengers to the network and boost passenger numbers.
In some ways, whilst this is a fleet renewal, it is also a scale-up exercise, with those aircraft carrying up to 45 passengers more per flight – thus a capacity increase whilst making moves on retiring older smaller aircraft (it’s also worth considering that the A220-300 has very much taken the place of the A319neo in the Airbus line-up).
As the Lufthansa Group turns back to the Boeing narrow-body family (last operating the Boeing 737 classic line), it’ll be interesting to see if these aircraft stay within Eurowings – or go further into the group, as the airline has a further 60 options it can choose to exercise…
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