Discover Airlines (formerly known as Eurowings Discover) has announced plans to expand its fleet and introduce a new passenger experience.
For those who don’t know Discover Airlines, this is a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group that offers leisure flights from Frankfurt (FRA) and Munich (MUC) to destinations in North America (including the Caribbean), Africa and the Mediterranean.
Discover Airlines expands fleet to 33 aircraft by 2027
Discover Airlines plans to expand its fleet in the coming years. Over the next three years (until mid-2027), the airline plans to increase its fleet from 27 to 33 aircraft. Nine aircraft will be added as three aircraft are scheduled to be retired in the next few years. In detail:
- Three Airbus A320s will join Discover Airlines’ fleet in 2025
- Six Airbus A330-300s will be gradually introduced into Discover Airlines’ fleet by mid-2027
- Discover Airlines will retire three Airbus A330-200s in 2026 due to expiring contracts, so these aircraft will be replaced by larger A330-300s.
Although Discover Airlines does not have a state-of-the-art fleet, the carrier’s fleet is at least standardized in terms of aircraft types, as it only uses A330s and A320s. In addition, with this development, Discover Airlines will completely retire the A330-200 and use only A330-300s as wide-body aircraft, resulting in greater fleet uniformity.
These aircraft will probably be purchased by Lufthansa as the airline is increasingly phasing out previous generation aircraft in favor of newer machines.
Bernd Bauer, CEO of Discover Airlines, describes this development:
“After our launch three years ago and the successful development of our airline, we are now taking the next steps to further consolidate our position as a holiday airline in Germany and to sustainably strengthen the Lufthansa Group’s market presence in the growing private travel segment. With additional capacity and the switch to a next-generation product, we will be able to serve the holiday and private travel segment even more comprehensively, efficiently and flexibly in the future. We look forward to accompanying even more people on vacation in the future.”
It is not surprising that the Lufthansa Group is continuing to expand Discover Airlines. The airline has a better cost structure due to cheaper labor contracts, so it is reasonable to expect this operation to continue to expand over time. Finding labor arbitrage opportunities is something of a specialty of the Lufthansa Group.
Discover Airlines is planning new business class
In addition to the fleet expansion, Discover Airlines is also planning to introduce a new product on long-haul routes. From 2027, the airline plans to present a new business class experience that offers direct aisle access from all business class seats. We can also look forward to a new entertainment system with larger screens and better resolution in all service classes.
There are no details yet on what kind of product we can expect, as the details are still being worked out. For now, Discover Airlines has simply kept the “inherited” interiors of the jets. Most of the airline’s long-haul aircraft feature Lufthansa’s old business class.
I assume that Discover Airlines will introduce the Lufthansa Allegris product. However, I could also imagine that the airline will simply introduce a more generic reverse herringbone product. Only time will tell…
Conclusion
Discover Airlines plans to add six aircraft to its fleet over the next few years, which includes the delivery of additional A330s and A320s. Additionally, Discover Airlines will introduce a new business class experience in 2027, although it appears the airline is still working out those details.
I expect that we will see significant growth at Discover Airlines over time and that even more existing Lufthansa routes may be replaced by the low-cost subsidiary.
What do you think about these developments at Discover Airlines?
