Lufthansa Group outlines widebody retirement plans thru 2025

Lufthansa Group says that as part of its cost reduction plans, it will roughly halve the number of widebody aircraft types it operates over the next decade. The reduction in complexity will lead to lower crew training, maintenance and operational costs.

According to a Capital Markets Day presentation, by 2025, the Group plans to retire the following types from service:

B747-400s: thirteen in service at Lufthansa;
B777-200(ER)s: six in service at Austrian Airlines;
A340-600s: seventeen in service at Lufthansa;
A340-300s: ten in service at Lufthansa, five in service at Lufthansa CityLine, two in service at Brussels Airlines, five in service at Swiss, and four in service at Edelweiss Air;
A330-200s: seven in service at SunExpress Deutschland, four in service at Brussels Airlines;
B767-300(ER)s: six in service at Austrian;
MD-11(F)s: twelve in service at Lufthansa Cargo.

As such, by 2025, Lufthansa Group's widebody fleet will entail the following types:

A380-800s: fourteen currently in service for Lufthansa but which were previously slated to be retired in 2022/3;
B747-8s: nineteen currently in service for Lufthansa;
B777-9s: due for delivery;
B777-300(ER)s: ten currently in service for Swiss;
A350-900s: fourteen currently in service for Lufthansa;
A330-300s: sixteen currently in service for Lufthansa, twelve currently in service for Brussels Airlines; fourteen currently in service for Swiss, and two currently in service for Edelweiss;
B777-Fs: seven currently in service for Lufthansa Cargo;
B787-9s: on order but no destination carrier(s) specified as yet.

In March this year, the German holding ordered twenty B787-9s from Boeing - its first of the type - and twenty additional A350-900s from Airbus bringing its overall A350 backlog to forty-five of the type. It is presumed the incoming A350s and B787s will also find placement at Austrian, Brussels Airlines, and Swiss given the aforementioned plan to retire the bulk of their existing widebody fleets.