Last year, Lufthansa Group placed an order for 10 Airbus A350-1000s, in addition to some other wide body aircraft. The airline group has just increased that aircraft order by 50%, to 15 jets. Reading between the lines, it sure seems like the jets are now going to both Lufthansa and SWISS, so let’s go over the details.
Lufthansa Group orders more wide body jets
Back in March 2023, Lufthansa Group placed an order for an additional 22 jets with Airbus and Boeing, worth $7.5 billion at list prices. This deal included the following:
- 10 Airbus A350-1000s; this was the first time Lufthansa Group had ordered these
- Five Airbus A350-900s; Lufthansa Group already has 28 of these in its fleet, and has 26 on order
- Seven Boeing 787-9s; Lufthansa Group already has five of these in its fleet, and has 34 on order
The latest update is that as of December 2024, Lufthansa Group has topped up its A350-1000 order with an additional five of these aircraft, so the company now has firm orders for 15 A350-1000s.
In total, Lufthansa now has nearly 100 new wide body aircraft on order, including the A350-900, A350-1000, 787-9, and 777-9. Lufthansa Group expects to take delivery of its first A350-1000 in April 2026, and all 15 of the planes should be delivered by 2030.
It’s important to keep in mind that these orders are for Lufthansa Group overall, rather than necessarily specifically for Lufthansa. Some of these jets will be going to Austrian and SWISS.
A350-1000s will fly for Lufthansa, maybe SWISS
What does Lufthansa Group plan to do with its 15 Airbus A350-1000s? We know that the plan is for the first 10 A350-1000s to be based in Munich, and for them to complement A350-900s. Furthermore, all A350-1000s are expected to feature first class, and will be flown in premium heavy markets. Here’s to hoping that A350-1000s get two rows of Lufthansa’s new first class, rather than just one.
But what about the latest A350-1000s that have been ordered? What I find interesting is that in 2023, when the first order for 10 of the jets was placed, the renderings were in the Lufthansa livery. With this latest order, Lufthansa Group is simply providing renderings in the generic Airbus livery.
So that suggests to me that Lufthansa Group might not plan on putting those five extra jets with Lufthansa. The logical conclusion would be that maybe five A350-1000s end up flying for SWISS, as the carrier’s new flagship aircraft. When it comes to new aircraft, we know that SWISS is getting at least 10 new A350-900s, which will be delivered starting in 2025.
I imagine Lufthansa Group is intentionally leaving some flexibility as of now, since those five deliveries will happen between 2028 and 2030, so who knows what the fleet situation looks like at that point, in terms of delivery delays. After all, the 777-9 has been delayed by at least six years, and counting.
How Lufthansa Group’s long haul fleet will evolve
With Lufthansa having so many new aircraft on order, what exactly is the plan for fleet modernization? The intent is that the airline group will retire six subfleets in the coming years, including:
- Boeing 747-400s, which fly for Lufthansa
- Boeing 777-200s, which fly for Austrian
- Boeing 767-300s, which fly for Austrian
- Airbus A330-200s, which fly for Edelweiss and Discover Airlines
- Airbus A340-300s, which fly for both Lufthansa and SWISS
- Airbus A340-600s, which fly for Lufthansa
None of this should come as much of a surprise. We know that in the future, Lufthansa will focus on A350s, 787s, and 777-9s, SWISS will focus on A330s, A350s, and 777s, Austrian will focus on 787s, Edelweiss will focus on A350s, and Discover Airlines will focus on A330-300s.
Bottom line
Lufthansa Group has quite a few aircraft on order, and the airline group has just upped its order for Airbus A350-1000s by 50%, from 10 jets to 15 jets. We know that the first 10 A350-1000s will fly for Lufthansa and will be based in Munich. Only time will tell what happens with the remaining five jets, though it sounds like they might fly for SWISS.
While the number of planes that Lufthansa Group has on order sounds impressive, actually getting them into service is proving much more challenging (as we’re seeing with Lufthansa’s 787s).
What do you make of Lufthansa Group’s A350-1000 order?