Lufthansa will lease two Air Baltic Airbus A220s starting March 2019. The aircraft will support Lufthansa’s fleet during the busy summer months.
What are the specifics?
The two Airbus A220-300 will be wet-leased from Air Baltic. This means that Air Baltic will provide the aircraft and the crews to operate them. Currently, Lufthansa does not have any A220 aircraft in its fleet.
According to Lufthansa’s latest schedule, the two Airbus A220-300 will be based at Munich’s Franz-Josef-Strauss Airport (MUC). The aircraft will serve the following destinations: Bucharest (OTP), Budapest (BUD), Luxembourg (LUX), and Lyon (LYS).
More specifically, these are the flights that will be operated on Air Baltic's aircraft:
Origin |
Destination |
Flight Number |
Departing |
Arriving |
Munich |
Bucharest |
LH1652 |
09:00 |
11:55 |
Munich |
Bucharest |
LH1654 |
15:25 |
18:20 |
Munich |
Bucharest |
LH1656 |
21:30 |
00:25 |
Bucharest |
Munich |
LH1657 |
06:25 |
07:25 |
Bucharest |
Munich |
LH1653 |
12:50 |
13:50 |
Bucharest |
Munich |
LH1655 |
19:25 |
20:25 |
Munich |
Budapest |
LH1674 |
06:45 |
08:00 |
Budapest |
Munich |
LH1675 |
08:40 |
09:55 |
Munich |
Luxembourg |
LH2322 |
19:45 |
19:50 |
Luxembourg |
Munich |
LH2323 |
20:30 |
21:35 |
Munich |
Lyon |
LH2248 |
10:35 |
11:55 |
Munich |
Lyon |
LH2250 |
14:45 |
16:05 |
Lyon |
Munich |
LH2249 |
12:40 |
13:55 |
Lyon |
Munich |
LH2251 |
16:45 |
18:00 |
Air Baltic
Air Baltic is the flag carrier of Latvia. As a matter of fact, the Republic of Latvia owns 80% of the airline's shares. The airline's headquarters are in Riga; its hub is at Riga International Airport.
Air Baltic's fleet consists of 14 Airbus A220-300s, 12 Bombardier Q400s, 6 Boeing 737-300s, and 2 Boeing 737-500s.
The A220-300s seat 145 passengers and have a range of 4,575 km.
Air Baltic is a big fan of the A220. In fact, as reported by Simple Flying, the airline is planning on replacing all of its aircraft with A220s in the next few years. The airline likes the aircraft because it is "[b]uilt for speed, [and] designed for comfort." The aircraft is efficient and quiet and "provides ample seating space for unparalleled comfort."
However, Air Baltic's A220s are not the only aircraft Lufthansa will lease this summer.
Which other aircraft will Lufthansa lease this summer?
Germany’s aviation magazine "aeroTELEGRAPH" reported that Lufthansa will wet-lease a total of 5 aircraft. In addition to the two aircraft provided by Air Baltic, the German flag carrier will also get aircraft from Sun Express and Air Nostrum.
The Turkish airline Sun Express will provide two Boeing 737s. These aircraft will be based in Munich and serve Athens and Palma de Mallorca.
Spain's Air Nostrum will provide one Bombardier CRJ1000. This aircraft will be based in Frankfurt and serve Luxembourg as well as Zagreb.
Why will Lufthansa lease the aircraft?
Lufthansa is trying to be proactive this year. Last summer the airline had to deal with numerous delays and cancellations. Even Lufthansa's CEO Carsten Spohr had to admit that the airline did not provide "five-star service" during that time. This year, however, the five aircraft will help alleviate some of the issues.
Furthermore, some Lufthansa passengers will likely be very happy when they find out that their flights will be operated on an A220.