The Lufthansa Supervisory Board approved orders for 35 new aircraft at its meeting on March 16t. Thirty of the aircraft from the Airbus A320neo family are for the Passenger Business, the other five orders are for Boeing 777 freighters for the business segment Logistics. Investment in new aircraft strengthens the competitiveness of airlines in the Group. Besides greater fuel efficiency, all the models on order will help lower operating costs as well as noise levels and emissions.
The total orders will include twenty five A320neo and five A321neo aircraft destined for continental European traffic in the Passenger Business. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2016. The aircraft come with improved aerodynamics and new engines. They burn around 15%t less fuel than today’s comparable models. Moreover, their noise emissions lie cumulatively between 10 to 15 dB below current noise limits and further improve noise reduction compared with the present fleet.
The business segment Logistics will receive five new Boeing 777 freighters, which are slated to join the fleet from 2013. They will be utilised to seize growth opportunities fuelled by rising demand. Aside from their high fuel efficiency, the noise footprint of the new freighters is smaller than that of the existing fleet. The Boeing 777F is the most modern freighter of its size.
The orders in total are valued at list price at close to four billion US dollars. They will be funded from the Group’s own assets or from external financial resources.
