Lufthansa CityLine introduced the first four of 12 84-seat CRJ900s into its fleet with a flight from Cologne-Bonn to Westerland.

Deliveries will continue through November and the fleet will be based at Munich, Lufthansa's second hub. With the arrival of the CRJ900s, CityLine will phase out 20 of its 43 CRJ200s and reduce its total fleet from 81 aircraft to 73. "CityLine will grow through larger aircraft," MD Thomas Draeger told ATWOnline in Cologne. It holds 12 CRJ900 options, but Draeger said there is no timeframe to convert them into orders. The decision will depend on the success of the type.

He also said the Regional will operate its 18 Avro RJ85s three years longer than expected, until 2012, and may even bring the fleet to 20. They will feed Frankfurt. Over the long term, however, LH Group will have to make a decision about replacing the approximately 60 RJs/BAe 146s operated by CityLine, Air Dolomiti, Swiss International Air Lines and Eurowings.

A source close to the airline told this website that LH is evaluating an order for new narrowbodies intended to replace not only the 146s but also its 737 Classics and older A320s.

Some 60% of CityLine's business comprises feeder service to FRA and MUC, where it will lease Hangar 4 for CRJ900 maintenance. It has based eight aircraft in Hamburg, offering fares to European destinations starting from ?99 ($125.9) including taxes.

Draeger did not rule out that the successful Project Hamburg model could be extended to places like Dusseldorf or Berlin. "Project Hamburg showed us that there is a good chance that we can win back some routes from low-cost carriers," he said, adding that LH no longer is interested in absorbing regional routes operated by Swiss out of Basel and Zurich. He expects CityLine's 2006 passenger traffic to be similar to the 6.5 million transported last year.