Airbus A350 The Supervisory board of Lufthansa Airlines, approved the purchase of 59 ultra-modern aircrafts - 34 Boeing 777-9Xs and 25 ...
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| Airbus A350 |
Lufthansa also has option for 30 A350-900 aircrafts and has the flexibility to convert some of the order to the larger A350-1000.
The first of these new aircraft will be delivered as early as 2016. Older Boeing 747-400s and Airbus A340-300s will be phased out by 2025.
The investment amount for the Lufthansa Group's latest order totals EUR 14 bn at list prices and is the largest single private-sector investment in the history of German industry.
The new aircraft will be operated by ultra-modern, powerful, low-noise engines – the Airbus A350 by the Rolls-Royce 'Trent XWB 84' engine and the Boeing 777-9X by General Electric's 'GE-9X' model. The noise footprint of the new models will be at least 30 per cent lower than today's aircraft.
The Boeing 777X will be the largest and most-efficient twin engine jet in the world with 20 percent lower fuel consumption and 15 percent lower operating costs than today's 777.
The launch of the 777X family is targeted for later this year and entry into service around the end of the decade.
Advanced technologies incorporated include a new composite wing, all-new engines and superior aerodynamics that will result in the incredible fuel efficiency promised by the 777X family. The 777-9X, with around 400 seats, will be the largest and most efficient twin-engine commercial jet in the world with the lowest operating cost per seat of any commercial airplane and no competitor in its market segment.
The A350 XWB (Xtra Wide-Body) is an all-new mid-size long range product line comprising three versions and seating between 270 and 350 passengers in typical three-class layouts.
"Less fuel consumption, less CO2 emissions and less noise: The aircraft on order will enable us to make a quantum leap in efficiency and to enter the 2-litre class", commented Christoph Franz. No other aircraft type will fly as economically as the A350-900 and the Boeing 777-9X in terms of kerosene consumption per passenger and 100 kilometres flown. This order underscores the company's desire to invest in the latest technology to help the environment. The 59 new aircraft will consume an average of just 2.9 litres of kerosene per passenger and 100 kilometres flown. That is around 25 per cent less than aircraft available today and it will have a positive impact on the Group’s carbon footprint. Unit costs will sink by approximately 20 per cent compared with predecessor models.
GE9X engines for the 34 B777X aircrafts are valued at more than $2.5 billion USD list price. This is the first selection for the new GE9X, which is part of the highly successful GE90 engine family.
The GE9X engine will be in the 100,000 pounds thrust class with a 10 percent improvement in fuel burn over today's GE90-115B. Key features include: a 132" fan diameter; composite fan case and fourth-generation composite fan blades; next-generation 27:1 pressure ratio high-pressure compressor; a third-generation TAPS (twin annular pre-swirl) combustor for greater efficiency and low emissions; and ceramic matrix composite (CMC) material in the combustor and turbine.
The Rolls-RoyceTrent XWB engine deal is worth $1.5bn, including TotalCare® service support, to power 25 Airbus A350-900 aircraft.
The Trent XWB, specifically designed for the Airbus A350 XWB, powered the first test flight of the A350 XWB at Toulouse on 14 June this year.
In March, the Group approved the purchase of around 100 short and medium-haul aircraft. This order included six new Boeing 777-300ERs for Swiss, which are also intended to replace older Airbus A340-300s at the airline.
Following the aircraft order already placed in March of this year, the Group currently has a total of 295 brand-new aircraft on order with a list value of EUR 36bn. These should be delivered by 2025.
Lufthansa operates a wide-body fleet of around 107 aircraft, among them ten ultra-modern Airbus A380s and nine Boeing 747-8s as well as the Airbus A330-300 (18 aircraft). The fleet also includes Airbus A340s (48) and Boeing 747-400s (22). In addition to these, the Group subsidiary Swiss has 31 wide-body aeroplanes, while Austrian Airlines' wide-body fleet consists of 12 aircraft.
