Lufthansa Group has placed its first order for the Boeing 737 MAX 10, exercising options for 20 aircraft from an agreement signed with Boeing in 2023.
The Supervisory Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG approved the purchase on September 17, increasing the group's firm 737 MAX order from 40 to 60 aircraft. Deliveries of the MAX 10s are scheduled to begin in the early 2030s.
The original agreement covered 40 737 MAX 8s and purchase options for another 60 aircraft from the MAX family. Lufthansa Group has now exercised the first 20 of those options, leaving rights for another 40 aircraft.
The company has not disclosed which airline will operate the MAX 10s.
Eurowings will receive 40 MAX 8s
Lufthansa Group has already assigned all 40 MAX 8s from the original order to Eurowings, its point-to-point airline.
The decision was announced in January 2025, with deliveries planned between 2027 and 2032. The aircraft will replace Airbus A319s and older A320-family jets in what Eurowings describes as the largest fleet modernization in its history. The MAX 8s will be configured with 189 seats.
When Lufthansa Group originally ordered the aircraft in December 2023, it had already ruled out Lufthansa Airlines, Lufthansa City Airlines and SWISS as operators of the MAX. The group said their planned growth was already covered by existing aircraft orders and that the Boeing narrowbodies would be assigned to another operation.
Lufthansa Group has not said whether the same strategy will apply to the newly ordered MAX 10s. The aircraft are intended to gradually replace older A320-family jets across the group.
MAX 10 approaches certification
The order comes days before Boeing expects to complete certification of the MAX 10, the largest member of the 737 family.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said this week that certification is “very soon,” with all flight testing completed and only three Boeing deliverables remaining when he left Seattle. The FAA still has documentation to review before approving the aircraft.
Lufthansa's MAX 10s will arrive much later, with deliveries starting only in the early 2030s.
The group said the larger variant would provide greater seating capacity than the MAX 8 and reduce unit costs by approximately 20% compared with the older aircraft it will replace. Lufthansa valued the 20-aircraft order at approximately US$3.4 billion at list prices.
Lufthansa was historically closely associated with the Boeing 737 and became the launch customer for the original 737-100 in 1968. Lufthansa Airlines retired its last 737 in 2016, ending nearly five decades of operations with the type.
The MAX order announced in 2023 brought the 737 back into Lufthansa Group's fleet planning, but not to its namesake airline. The first 40 aircraft will instead introduce the type at Eurowings from 2027, while the operator of the newly ordered MAX 10s remains to be announced.
