Lufthansa has yet to decide whether the five Boeing 777 freighters to be ordered by the carrier will operate for its Lufthansa Cargo division or its AeroLogic venture.
The supervisory board of the carrier has approved the acquisition today, for delivery from 2013.
Lufthansa Cargo has 18 Boeing MD-11 freighters, powered by General Electric CF6 engines. While some of the trijets are up to 19 years old, others are as young as nine years.
The carrier is a partner, with DHL Express, in the Leipzig-based logistics venture AeroLogic which operates a fleet of eight leased 777Fs.
A spokesman for Lufthansa says the German carrier is undecided whether the additional 777Fs will be deployed with AeroLogic or used to replace some of the MD-11Fs.
Lufthansa also disclosed plans to order a total of five Airbus A321neo and 25 A320neo aircraft, but the spokesman says it has not set a timeframe for an engine selection.
The aircraft are being offered with the CFM International Leap-X powerplant or the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G geared turbofan.
With deliveries not scheduled until 2016, the spokesman says there is plenty of time to assess the options. He adds that the carrier will also consider the engine decisions made by other A320neo customers.
Airbus values the A320neo-family deal at $2.8 billion. Chief operating officer for customers John Leahy says the type will "fit seamlessly" into Lufthansa's A320 fleet.
He also says the total commitments, over 330, to the A320neo represent "the fastest rate of sales for any commercial aircraft ever".
Lufthansa has an order backlog which includes 60 baseline A320s.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
