Lufthansa’s group CEO Carsten Spohr said on Monday that the core airline is struggling as the group’s new “problem child” as a result of delivery delays and higher costs that put it as a disadvantage compared to regional rivals. The 
Lufthansa
Group as a whole includes Austrian Airlines, SWISS, Eurowings and Brussels Airlines for instance. With a 10% decrease in shares over the last six months according to Reuters, Lufthansa’s financial situation is fragile with profit warnings given rising costs having a severe impact.
Lufthansa
- IATA/ICAO Code
-
LH/DLH
- Year Founded
-
1953
- CEO
-
Carsten Spohr
Boeing delivery delays
In a meeting in Frankfurt, Spohr said that the airline was hoping to receive more than 40 aircraft from Boeing by now, including both its first 777X and additional 787s. As quoted by Kurt Hoffman, he said:
“We are waiting for 43 Boeing aircraft that we should have flown now already. This includes the 777X and 787s.”
Photo: Tom Boon | Simple Flying
The airline believes it has been hit “disproportionality” hard by the delivery delays. According to ch-aviation data, Lufthansa has 168 planes on order, of which 95 are with Boeing. This includes several aircraft types, distributed as below.
- 40 737-8
- 21 777-9
- 34 787-9
Instead of the new aircraft, Lufthansa has had to maintain a number of aircraft in service that would otherwise have been retired. Spohr said:
“We’re flying 23 aircraft that we didn’t want to fly anymore.”
This primarily concerns older Airbus planes. This could most likely refer to its Airbus A340s, which average around 20 years of age. This is an assumption, though, as the exact aircraft type is not clear though, as Spohr did not specify.
777X delays
Originally, the 777Xs were meant to arrive in 2023. Given certification delays, Boeing had pushed its anticipated deadline for 2025 for delivery to Lufthansa. However, in May, it emerged that Lufthansa was not expecting to take delivery of its first example until 2026. The core division’s CEO Jens Ritter said:
“We no longer believe that we will get the first aircraft in 2025. We think it will be here for the summer timetable 2026 at the earliest.”
In 2022, Lufthansa signed an agreement to purchase seven 787-9s to “compensate for delayed 777-9s” and the related capacity gap that has been created. The planes were “originally intended for other airlines, in 2025 and 2026.” It seems, though, that delivery delays have now been extended to the Dreamliner.
Photo: Lufthansa
Axing Beijing
Lufthansa intends to turn the business around by 2026, in time for its 100th birthday. It says that this is essential not only for its own success but also for that of the group as a whole.
Its recent struggles are no secret. This includes intercontinental service concerns, symbolically represented by the recent announcement that it would be axing its Frankfurt to Beijing route, as reported by Simple Flying on Sunday. This came as a result of weakened competitiveness on Lufthansa’s end, unable to compete effectively against Chinese airlines given rising costs thanks to Russian airspace closure.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
Shifting away from its issues, the group did recently invest in ITA Airways
a deal approved by the European Commission in July. The two airlines are currently working out the details of the agreement in the context of Brussels’ demands for sacrifices to safeguard competition in Europe. By stretching its wings across Europe, Lufthansa hopes to reanimate its finances.