Lufthansa orders 20 widebodies, 787-9 and A350-900

Lufthansa Group said on May 11 that its supervisory board approved an order for 20 additional long-haul aircraft, split evenly between 10 Boeing 787-9s and 10 Airbus A350-900s. The German airline group put the list-price value of the order at $7.7 billion and said deliveries are due between 2032 and 2034. The decision adds to one of the largest fleet renewal programs in Europe and extends Lufthansa’s practice of buying long-haul jets from both Airbus and Boeing. The company said the aircraft will replace older models starting in 2032. ### Why did Lufthansa split the order between Airbus and Boeing? The May 11 order was divided equally between Airbus and Boeing, rather than concentrated with one manufacturer. Lufthansa said the A350-900s and 787-9s are both “highly efficient twin-engine long-haul jets,” and Carsten Spohr, chief executive of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said the purchase was “a sustainable investment in the future of the Lufthansa Group.” (newsroom.lufthansagroup.com) Carsten Spohr said the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 are “more fuel-efficient, quieter, and have lower emissions than their respective predecessors.” Lufthansa also said fleet standardization reduces complexity and can lower maintenance and operating costs, while creating synergies in crew licensing and spare-parts management. (newsroom.lufthansagroup.com) ### How does this fit into Lufthansa’s existing long-haul fleet plan? Lufthansa Group’s investor-relations fleet update said the group had 737 aircraft at the end of 2025, with an average age of 14.4 years. The same filing said 23 new aircraft were added in 2025 and 21 were retired, with long-haul additions including seven Boeing 787-9s and two Airbus A350-900s. (newsroom.lufthansagroup.com) The 2025 fleet data also showed Lufthansa Group operating 36 Airbus A350s and 14 Boeing 787s at year-end, while saying 219 aircraft were on order at that point. Lufthansa said in its May 11 release that, including the new order, the group now has 232 aircraft on its order list, including 107 next-generation long-haul aircraft. (investor-relations.lufthansagroup.com) ### Is this a new relationship with either manufacturer? Boeing said in a 2021 statement that Lufthansa Group’s initial order for 20 787-9s was placed in 2019 and that a later purchase took the group’s 787-9 order book to 25 aircraft. Airbus said in March 2023 that Lufthansa Group signed an agreement for 10 A350-1000s and five additional A350-900s, taking its A350 order book higher as it expanded long-haul renewal plans. (investor-relations.lufthansagroup.com) Lufthansa’s own fleet-modernization page says the group added the Airbus A350-900 at the end of 2016 and the Boeing 787-9 in the summer of 2022. That means the latest purchase builds on aircraft types already in service, not a new fleet introduction. ### What did Lufthansa say the aircraft will replace? (investors.boeing.com) Lufthansa said the new A350-900s and 787-9s will replace “older and therefore less efficient models” starting in 2032. The company did not identify in the May 11 release which specific aircraft families would leave the fleet as a result of the new order. (lufthansagroup.com) The group’s 2025 fleet table showed 31 Airbus A340s and eight Airbus A380s still in service, alongside 27 Boeing 747s. Lufthansa also said 11 A340s were sold during 2025. ### Where will the new jets fly? Lufthansa said on May 11 that the decision on “which airline and which hub” will receive the ordered aircraft will be made later. (newsroom.lufthansagroup.com) That leaves open whether the jets will go to Lufthansa Airlines or another carrier within the group, which includes SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and Lufthansa Cargo. (investor-relations.lufthansagroup.com) Deliveries are scheduled from 2032 through 2034, Lufthansa said, and those allocation decisions will come before the aircraft enter service. The order was announced in a company release on May 11, and a May 19 YouTube segment discussing the move cited the same aircraft types and timing. (newsroom.lufthansagroup.com)