Lufthansa Group is to allocate half of an order of 80 narrowbodies to equip its new subsidiary, Lufthansa City Airlines (VL, Munich), comprising 120 to 140-seater Embraer E-jets or A220s, according to Group Chief Executive Officer Carsten Spohr.
As reported by aeroTELEGRAPH, Spohr made the comment during an internal video call with employees on October 11. He confirmed that City Airlines would debut in 2024, initially using A319-100s, presumably sourced from its parent. The startup is to operate feeder flights from European cities to Lufthansa's hubs at Frankfurt International and Munich.
According to Spohr, the remaining 40 narrowbodies would likely be A320neo or B737 MAX to be distributed amongst one or more airlines in the Lufthansa Group.
Spohr said a decision on both orders would probably be made during this IATA winter.
His comment about B737 MAX raised eyebrows as Lufthansa operates an all-Airbus narrowbody fleet, with thirty-three A320-200Ns and seventeen A321-200NX on order.
The German airline's long-haul fleet is a mixture of Airbus and Boeing. In addition, it has ten A350-1000s and twenty-nine A350-900s, plus twenty-one B777-9s and thirty-one B787-9s on order, according to the ch-aviation fleets module.
Lufthansa Group declined to comment.
