Lufthansa orders planes for $12 bln

FRANKFURT - Agence France-Presse

Lufthansa, Europe’s biggest airline, said it plans to order eight long-haul aircraft and 100 short- and medium-haul aircraft from Airbus and Boeing for a total $12.1 billion.

The purchases still have to be approved by Lufthansa’s supervisory board. Delivery
is scheduled between 2015 and 2025, the airline said in a statement.

That brings the total number of new aircraft that Lufthansa has ordered until the end of 2025 to 239 for a total price of 23 billion euros, which the carrier will pay for in cash or via loans.

At the same day, Russian leasing company Ilyushin Finance inked a deal to buy 32 Bombardier CS300 aircraft for $2.56 billion, with an option to buy 10 more jets, the Canadian manufacturer announced.If IFC exercises the option, the value of the sale will rise to about $3.42 billion.

IFC’s director general Alexander Rubtsov said the jetliners are the first large, non-Russian aircraft the company has ordered.