Over the past week Lufthansa Group made 3 separate announcements concerning the fleet, including new orders and an update for existing orders.

The first announcement dealt with SWISS and their decision to order 3 additional 777 aircraft.   These 777-300ERs will join the 6 777s already on order from Boeing and will begin to show up in the fleet during 2016.   The 777 aircraft will allow SWISS to start retiring a portion of the 15 A340-300 aircraft currently in service.

SWISS now has 9 777-300ER aircraft on order.

Next, Lufthansa provided an update on their A350 order.  Beginning at the end of 2016, the first of 25 A350s will start showing up in the fleet with the first handful of the type operating out of Munich and will allow for the gradual phase out of A330 and A340 aircraft.    Ultimately Lufthansa will have 25 A350s in the fleet based in Frankfurt and Munich.   One outstanding feature of the A350 is the fact that it will only take 3/4 of a gallon of fuel to carry one passenger 62 miles (2.9 liters per 100km).   That equates to a 25% increase in fuel efficiency over most new aircraft today AND it’s 30% quieter.

LH’s new A350 will bring a distinct new look to the fleet in Frankfurt and Munich.

To round out the busy week of announcements, SWISS announced that it will be the first operator of the new Bombardier CS series beginning in the first half of 2016.   In 2009, SWISS was announced as the launch customer for the type.

SWISS’ new Bombardier CS100

For those of you attending the Paris Air Show, Bombardier will have a CS100 on display in SWISS colors.   Bombardier also plans to bring the SWISS CS100 to Zurich after the air show as part of its tour.  Hopefully, all of the delays are behind the program and we can finally start seeing these new planes replace the aging Jumbolinos!