Fleet

At the end of 2021, the Lufthansa Group fleet comprised 713 aircraft. The average age of the aircraft in the fleet was 12.7 years (previous year: 12.5 years).

In the 2021 financial year further important steps were undertaken to reduce the operational fleet in line with requirements.  This will help adjust the flight offer and the capacity of the  fleet to the reduced demand, which is expected to remain lower in the longer term as a result of the crisis. In particular, this entails the retirement of larger four-engine aircraft, which are less fuel-efficient. At the same time the Group is taking advantage of market opportunities to purchase modern aircraft at attractive conditions. Overall the speed of fleet modernisation is increasing.

The fleet shrank year-on-year by 44 aircraft. A total of eleven new aircraft were added to the fleet, compared with 55 retirements. The additions to the fleet covered ten new  aircraft (one Boeing 777F, five Airbus A321neos, three A320neos and one A220-300) as well as one used leased 777F. In contrast, 36 older, comparatively inefficient aircraft were sold in 2021 (five Boeing MD-11Fs, two 747s, three 767s, three A321s, six A320s, five A319s, four Bombardier CRJ900s and eight Bombardier Q Series) and the leasing agreements for 19 aircraft were ended. Since the start of the coronavirus crisis, 83 aircraft have been retired. In the same period, i.e. since the end of 2019, 33 aircraft have been added.

Lufthansa German Airlines including regional airlines, Germanwings and Eurowings Discover (LH), SWISS including Edelweiss (LX), Austrian Airlines (OS), Eurowings (EW), Brussels Airlines (SN) and Lufthansa Cargo (LCAG) as of 31 Dec 2021

¹⁾ Partly operated by AeroLogic, of which two aircraft attributed pro rata.

At year-end 2021, there were 175 aircraft on the Lufthansa Group’s order list. There are also options to buy a further 74 aircraft.

¹⁾ Excluding contracted leases.