Lufthansa Group Launches City Airlines. What Is It?

The announcement is recent but the airline has been working on launching this new product for quite some time. The Lufthansa Group is launching a new division to its operations under the name City Airlines. So what is city airlines and how does it fall into the Lufthansa operations? When will it launch? Here’s what we know so far.

What is Lufthansa City Airlines?

It is a new division of Lufthansa. City Airlines, as the german carrier has named it, will operate officially as a standalone entity as it has its own Air Operator Certificate. However as you can easily guess it will in be in every aspect fully integrated with all of the LH operations as we will see shortly.

City Airlines will provide short haul flights from and to Lufthansa’s main hubs in Frankfurt (FRA) and Munich (MUC). Effectively the new division will fall in between Lufthansa CityLine’s operations and those of the main carrier.

My take on reason for starting up this new division is to better cater to those travellers having to make short trips from FRA and MUC but more importantly feeding traffic onto long haul flights departing from these two airports. At this stage though I find it as a rather confusing move as for now it looks like City Airlines and CityLine might overlap in many aspects of their operations.

When Will City Airlines Launch?

The airline, or new LH division, will commence operations in summer 2024. With the launch in sight Lufthansa is looking to hire pilots and staff in the coming months, starting in November. Applicants are being considered both internally and externally to the group, with possibilities of also switching over to City Airlines from CityLine.

What Planes Will LH City Airlines Use?

Initially the airline will be operating its routes, still to be disclosed, using a fleet of Airbus A319. Lufthansa is though also considering to operate City Airlines flights with other aircraft types in a second stage. Possibly using A220s or Embraer planes.

Will There Be Changes For Passengers?

Absolutely not from what I understand so far. You’ll still be booking your flights on the Lufthansa site or outlets and will be issued a single ticket for your trip regardless you are travelling on CityLine, City Airlines or Lufthansa’s main division.