The B747-8 is the only quadjet type with future at Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International), Group Chief Executive Carsten Spohr has said during a meeting with the staff.
As reported by Bloomberg and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Spohr told the employees during an online town hall that the carrier would shortly decide the fate of its largest passenger aircraft.
He underlined that the resurgence of COVID-19 cases combined with newly imposed and reimposed border restrictions wrecked passenger confidence with bookings for October currently at 10% of the 2019 level. Facing much slower than hoped for recovery, Lufthansa would most likely increase its planned fleet cuts beyond the 100 aircraft previously announced. The fuel-guzzling quadjets are expected to be the most affected by incremental reductions.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Lufthansa's quadjet fleet currently encompasses eight A380-800s (net of the previously announced phase-outs), seventeen A340-300s, twelve A340-600s, thirteen B747-400s, and nineteen -8s. All of them are owned by the carrier, the ch-aviation fleets ownership module shows.
Earlier reports indicated that while the future of A380s, A340-300s, and B747-400s at Lufthansa was highly uncertain, the carrier would potentially retain some of the A340-600s.
A spokesperson of the airline refused to comment on the details, saying that no firm decisions had been taken yet.
However, Spohr also indicated that with the increased likelihood of the accelerated retirements of its quadjets, Lufthansa could seek to accelerate deliveries of A350-900s from Airbus. The carrier already operates sixteen of these twinjets and has a further 25 units on order from the manufacturer. Spohr pointed out that the B777Xs, of which Lufthansa has 40 on firm order from Boeing (split half-half between B777-8s and B777-9s), were unlikely to start delivering before the second quarter of 2022, explaining the short-term focus on the A350s as a new widebody fleet.
