Lufthansa to Equip City Airlines with 40 Narrowbody Jets

DALLAS — Lufthansa (LH) announced today that it will equip its subsidiary City Airlines (VL) with 40 new narrowbody jets, comprising Embraer E-jets and Airbus A220s.

City Airlines, a start-up airline founded by the Lufthansa Group in 2002 and expected to begin flying in 2024, is based at Munich International Airport (MUC). VL will operate feeder flights from European cities to Lufthansa's hubs at Frankfurt International (FRA) and Munich.

In a call to employees, Lufthansa Group's Chief Executive Officer, Carsten Spohr, said that LV will initially operate Airbus A319-100s, presumably sourced from its parent. According to ch-aviation.com, the airline will offer feeder flights from European cities to LH's hubs in Frankfurt (FRA) and MUC.

Fleet Information

Additional narrowbody jets will likely comprise Airbus A320neos and Boeing 737 MAX jets. LH currently operates an all-Airbus narrowbody fleet, with thirty-three A320-200Ns and seventeen A321-200NXs on order.

The German airline's long-haul fleet is a mixture of Airbus and Boeing aircraft. LH has ten A350-1000s and twenty-nine A350-900s, plus twenty-one Boeing 777-9s and thirty-one Boeing 787-9s on order.

City Airlines is not to be confused with Lufthansa CityLine (CL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG specializing in hub traffic at Frankfurt and Munich airports. CL supports the group's worldwide route network with flights to European capitals and regional cities.

Featured image: Embraer PR-ZFV Embraer EMB190-E2 SBBR/BSB (Factory Livery) (named Ozires Silva). Photo: Thiago Machado/Airways