Carsten Spohr: Lufthansa CEO points to good prospects for the Boeing 737 MAX

It has been known since mid-October: Lufthansa will order 80 short- and medium-haul aircraft. 40 will be Embraer E2 or Airbus A220 for City Airlines. The other 40 aircraft include the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX.

While the A320 Neo family is already part of the group’s fleet, the Lufthansa Group is not yet a 737 Max customer. At a press conference on the quarterly numbers, Lufthansa President Carsten Spohr said on Thursday (November 2): “Depending on how the campaigns turn out, we may have more diversification in the company on short-haul routes, just like on long-haul routes.”

“The right path for an airline of our size”

In other words: Airbus is having a hard time getting both orders. “We remain, as we always have been historically, a customer in Seattle and Toulouse,” the CEO said. “I think this is the right way to go for an airline of our size.”

Almost none of the world’s major airline networks rely on just one manufacturer for short-haul routes. Spohr explained that the 737 MAX, which Boeing manufactures and delivers in Seattle and the surrounding area, has a good opportunity with the Lufthansa group.

Not only for Frankfurt and Munich

City Airlines’ 40 Embraer E2 or Airbus A220 aircraft will likely be received first, Spohr said. The 40th destination for the A320 Neo or 737 Max has not yet been determined. “We also have more time,” the CEO said.

These aircraft are in demand not only in Frankfurt and Munich, but also in other hubs of the group – potentially Vienna (Austrian Airlines), Zurich (Swiss) and Brussels (Brussels Airlines). Therefore, not all 40 planes will go to one airline, Spohr said.

Spohr once said goodbye to the last Boeing 737

In fact, Lufthansa was already a Boeing 737 operator in the past. The German airline operated all models from the Boeing 737-100 to the 737-500. Lufthansa’s last 737 flight to date took place in the fall of 2016. The crew then received a bouquet of flowers from Carsten Spohr.