Lufthansa has announced a 48 plane order and while that isn’t all that remarkable compared to many aircraft orders these days, it’s an order that highlights two emerging developments in the airline world.  The Lufthansa order is for all Airbus equipment and it isn’t all for Lufthansa.

Some of this order is for its SWISS subsidiary (A320 family and A330), its Germanwings subsidiary (A320 family) and Lufthansa is getting more of the A320 and A330 family for itself.   The Airbus family concept is clearly allowing Lufthansa to take advantage of greater buying power as well as greater flexilibility amongs its various operations. 

Lufthansa can shift equipment to various subsidiary operations as demands change and can reconfigure that requipment relatively easy to meet the requirements of each subsidiary.  While many already knew and predicted this behaviour, it’s really remarkable in that its now become kind of matter of fact for an airline like Lufthansa.

This isn’t something Boeing really offers.  Not yet.  Boeing offers its 737 family, yes.  But it doesn’t have that type transition flexibility between a narrowbody family and a medium range/ long haul widebody family.  Not quite. 

The 787 and 777 will offer reduced transition times between the two types and that’s a good thing.  But there is no such animal between the 737 and its bigger siblings.  In addition, there is no real such thing between the 787/777 and the new 747-8i either. 

Boeing builds a great airliner and arguably they build a more cost efficient airliner in many respects when considering the aircraft and the trip itself.  What Boeing hasn’t yet instituted is a product line that is friendly across all kinds of operations that a large airline might have. 

It’s a core strength of Airbus and, frankly, a differentiator that, I think, will prove itself more and more valuable over the next two decades. 

The 737 replacement is a good place to start.  This will be a family of aircraft designed to meet the needs of airlines from about 150 seats up to 220 seats where the 787 will take over.  The 787 is advanced enough that making the 737 a baby 787, operationally speaking, could offer some additional value to airlines in the coming years. 

US Airlines haven’t exactly gone for this kind of family concept.  Not yet.  Northwest and United Airlines and US Airways all bought Airbus but they bought them without intending to realize the family concept from narrowbody to widebody.  I think that will change.  As we see SuperLegacy airlines develop, I think we’ll see a desire to harmonize more, not less over time.  More on that tomorrow.

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