With the recent European approval of Lufthansa’s purchase of 41% of ITA, which is hoped to complete in the 2024 fourth quarter, this week’s Flight Friday looks at the flight hours of the “flag carriers” within the Lufthansa Group.
It comes as no surprise—Lufthansa has the highest number of flight hours. Flight hours from June 2024 are up almost 5% on June 2023; however, its flight hours are down 15% compared to June 2019. Some of this is attributed to having an in-service fleet that is almost 10% smaller than June 2019, as Lufthansa have moved some of its aircraft to other operators within the group. Lufthansa has over 150 aircraft on order, which will assist fleet replacement, and in some cases, growth.
ITA, which was ultimately born out of the embers of Alitalia, would become the joint second flag carrier within the group in terms of monthly flight hours. ITA would share the spot with Swiss International Airlines. ITA has a fleet that is almost 10% higher than Swiss. ITA’s monthly flight hours are up 35% on June 2023, aided by 25 extra aircraft in service.
Swiss International Air Lines has a similar size fleet to 2019 levels; however, its utilization is down 10% on 2019, but up 18% on 2023. Swiss have several Airbus A320neo family aircraft on order to help grow its narrowbody fleet; it also has A350s on order to replace some of its widebody fleet.
Austrian still has an in-service fleet that is 15% below pre-pandemic levels, and it is shows in the utilization, with June utilization down 14% on 2019 levels. The positive news is that Austrian’s flight hours are up 5% on June 2023. Austrian has five Boeing 787-9s on order which will bolster its fleet and help add aggregate hours to its utilization over the coming years.
Brussels Airlines has the lowest aggregate flight hours of all the flag carriers. However, Brussels also has the lowest in-service fleet number. With a fleet 10% lower than pre-pandemic, Brussels’ utilization is off almost a quarter compared to June 2019. Its utilization compared to June 2023 remains at the same levels as June 2023.
This data was put together using Aviation Week’s Tracked Aircraft Utilization tool.
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