Lufthansa Group will enter the narrowbody dedicated freighter segment with Lufthansa CityLine (CL, Munich) set to add its first two converted A321-200(P2F)s next year.
The German group underlined that the two aircraft would be fully and permanently converted rather than just have their seats removed. They will be based out of Frankfurt International and operate on short-haul regional routes under the Lufthansa Cargo brand, which will also be marketing the additional capacity.
"The selected aircraft type can transport 28 tonnes per flight, significantly larger cargo volumes than in the short-haul bellies of passenger aircraft. In addition to forwarders, integrators and postal operators, eCommerce providers will be customers for this offering," Lufthansa Cargo Chief Executive Dorothea von Boxberg said.
The aircraft will be inducted in early 2022 and will become the first narrowbody dedicated freighters operated by the German carrier holding. Group Chief Executive Carsten Spohr indicated during an investor briefing earlier this year that the holding was looking into adding narrowbody freighters. Lufthansa Cargo operates nine B777-200Fs and two MD-11(F)s.
Von Boxberg confirmed to aviation journalist Andreas Spaeth that the converted aircraft would be 16/17-years-old units but did not specify whether they would be aircraft currently operated by Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International). According to the ch-aviation fleets module, the German flag carrier operates twenty A321-100s, which are 26 years old on average, and forty-three A321-200s, which are 12.1 years old on average. The carrier owns all of these aircraft except for a single A321-200 leased from Tokyo Century, the ch-aviation fleets ownership module indicates.
Sources told Aero.de, a German aviation website, that Lufthansa is considering growing its narrowbody freighter fleet to four A321-200(P2F)s.
Lufthansa CityLine historically operated as a regional capacity provider to the Lufthansa mainline and currently uses thirty-three CRJ900s, nine E190s, and two E195s. However, since 2019 the airline has also been operating a small subfleet of narrowbody jets on behalf of its parent, currently comprising six A319-100s. Between 2015 and 2020, CityLine also operated up to eight A340-300s on behalf of its parent, plying long-haul leisure-heavy routes.
