Summary
- While Lufthansa has had problems with aircraft deliveries from Boeing, it is still rooting for the plane maker to make a successful comeback.
- Lufthansa is confident that all of its Boeing planes meet the required safety standards.
- The carrier’s CEO has denied any interest in Chinese aircraft for now.
Lufthansa, which operates a diverse range of aircraft, has not been too happy about the delivery delays from Boeing in recent times, its CEO admitted. But he emphasized that airlines are still hoping for a strong Boeing comeback for the sake of the entire industry, and also ruled out getting any Chinese aircraft for the next few years.
Frustrated but still rooting for Boeing
The Lufthansa Group had one of its best financial years in 2023. However, there were several hiccups along the way, including employee strikes and delivery delays from Boeing. The US plane maker has been plagued with production issues for some time now, and all the latest events in 2024 have only added to its problems.
Photo: Kevin Hackert | Shutterstock
When asked in an interview with The Neue Zürcher Zeitung about the impact Boeing’s aircraft delivery delays have had on operations, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said,
“This is extremely annoying and costs us a lot, a lot of money. However, I am sure that Boeing will get the problems under control. The industry needs two strong providers. Everyone has an interest in Boeing being able to build great aircraft more reliably again soon.”
He also expressed his confidence in the safety of the Boeing aircraft that the carrier flies, highlighting that half of the planes taking off multiple times daily worldwide are made by Boeing and how flying is still one of the safest modes of transport.
Spohr added that every aircraft ordered by Lufthansa is accompanied by its engineers during the production process to ensure that its quality standards are met.
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No Chinese aircraft in the near future
While the commercial aircraft industry is largely dominated by Airbus and Boeing, there are other smaller players that also meet the demands of many airlines. Chinese aircraft manufacturer COMAC also has two aircraft types that are currently flying – the short-range regional jet ARJ21 and the medium-range C919.
COMAC now has orders for C919 from all three big Chinese carriers and recently also bagged a significant order from Tibet Airlines. Even Ryanair has shown interest in COMAC over the years, and the plane maker is also working on a widebody plane to compete with the popular Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 jets.
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The aircraft is set to compete with the Airbus A350 and Boeing 777 in the long-haul market, along with its C919 narrowbody jet and the upcoming C929.
Still, no major global airline has placed an order with the Chinese manufacturer, and it looks like Lufthansa also has no such plans as well. When asked if Lufthansa could contemplate buying a Chinese aircraft, Spohr ruled out the possibility for now, commenting,
“Given the safety standards that we set at the Lufthansa Group, I don’t think that’s realistic for the next few years.”
Money lost to strike
Apart from Boeing delivery issues, Spohr also spoke about how the recent strikes cost the company around half a billion Euros. He said that the larger question of Germany needing the right to strike was for the politicians to decide, but he was in favor of the maintenance of certain minimal services, such as security checks at airports, among other things.
He also added that the airline group allocates the strike costs to the respective airline to avoid putting the employees of other airlines at a disadvantage.
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