Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) has approved the purchase of twenty-five A320 Family aircraft from Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) for its Swiss (LX, Zurich) and Eurowings (EW, Düsseldorf) subsidiaries respectively.

Lufthansa Group said in a statement that it had approved an order for 15 A320neo aircraft for its Swiss subsidiary with ten options. The aircraft will begin arriving from 2019 onwards and will be used as replacements for the carrier's existing fleet of twenty-three A320-200s.

Similarly, an order for ten A320ceo was approved for Eurowings ahead of its repositioning as a regional LCC later next year. The aircraft will be delivered to Eurowings in 2016 and 2017 and will replace older Bombardier CRJ900s.

In a related development, Germany's aero.de newswire reports that Lufthansa has now registered the name "WorldWings" as a trademark leading to speculation this will be the name of the airline's proposed new long haul, low-cost subsidiary. The carrier is set to make its debut in Autumn next year with Cologne/Bonn a strong potential first hub.