Lufthansa Group is locking in its first Boeing 737 MAX 10s, converting 20 purchase options into firm orders and lifting the group’s total firm MAX backlog to 60 aircraft as it keeps modernizing the short- and medium-haul fleet.
According to the Lufthansa Group newsroom, the supervisory board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG approved exercising 20 options for the 737 MAX 10. Those options sat inside the group’s 2023 Boeing agreement for 40 firm 737 MAX 8s plus 60 family options. Exercising the first 20 leaves 40 options still unused on paper while the firm book moves from 40 to 60 Boeing narrowbodies—40 MAX 8s and 20 MAX 10s.
Simple Flying reports the same arithmetic: deliveries of the newly firm MAX 10s are scheduled for the early 2030s, giving planners a larger-capacity Boeing single-aisle than the MAX 8 already on order. Lufthansa Group says the MAX 10s will gradually replace older Airbus A320-family jets across its airlines rather than signal a wholesale exit from Airbus. The group still runs a large A320 fleet and continues to take Airbus metal; the Boeing buy is framed as dual-sourcing capacity for Europe’s denser sectors.
Compared with the aircraft it is meant to replace, Lufthansa Group cites roughly 30 percent lower fuel burn and about 20 percent lower unit costs thanks to the MAX 10’s higher seat count. The newsroom values the order at a list price of about $3.4 billion. Which airline inside the group will fly the jets first—and which stations will host them—has not been named yet.
The move sits inside a broader factory-fresh pipeline. Lufthansa Group says it expects more than 250 new aircraft by 2035 as it refreshes short-haul economics and trims carbon intensity on intra-European flying. Adding the largest MAX variant keeps Boeing in that mix with a type sized for routes that need more seats than a MAX 8 without jumping into a widebody.
Certification timing for the MAX 10 remains an industry watch item after Boeing’s broader single-aisle recovery narrative, but Lufthansa’s early-2030s delivery window is long enough that the order reads as capacity planning rather than an immediate schedule rewrite. For now, the hard news is the firming of 20 MAX 10 options, a 60-jet MAX firm total, retained leftover options, and an official brief that older A320-family frames are the gradual replacement target.
Fleet planners across Europe will watch which Lufthansa Group carrier takes the first MAX 10s and whether the type clusters on high-density domestic German sectors, Alpine leisure peaks, or thicker city pairs into Southern Europe. Until assignments land, the September supervisory-board vote is the clearest signal that Boeing’s largest MAX will join the group’s future single-aisle toolkit alongside the already ordered MAX 8s.
For passengers, the near-term cabin experience does not change: the jets are still years from entry into service. What changes now is the capital commitment—Lufthansa Group is paying to keep a high-capacity Boeing narrowbody in its long-range fleet plan while it continues to fly and order Airbus A320-family aircraft in parallel.
Sources: Lufthansa Group newsroom, simpleflying.com. AI-generated hero image for illustration.
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