Flight International - 04

Interiors Update
Lufthansa offers a different Klasse
German carrier banks on €2.5 billion investment in new cabins
and product differentiation to boost its long-haul business
Graham Dunn Berlin
Just a few years ago, airlines
were stumbling through the
pandemic, hesitant to make
long-term plans amid incredible
uncertainty.
But Lufthansa’s €2.5 billion ($2.6
billion) long-haul product investment
– disclosed on 28 February in
Berlin – is another signal that airlines
are finally looking beyond the crisis.
Alongside the sheer scale of the
programme – Lufthansa plans to
retrofit existing long-haul aircraft
and to receive more than 80 new
widebodies with enhanced interiors
– the airline’s updated product
strategy banks on the appeal of
customisation and choice.
Its new “Allegris” cabin products
straddle four classes – from economy
to first. But the carrier will also
offer various seating options within
the same classes, for instance
including seven distinct products
within business class.
“We are out of the pandemic,”
Lufthansa Airlines chief executive
Jens Ritter tells FlightGlobal. “We
are working on our future, and this is
an expression of our understanding
of premium. It’s a premium product,
but it’s individual and smart.”
Lufthansa will debut its new
business-, premium-economyand
economy-class offerings on
a Boeing 787-9 this year that is
expected to arrive in September; it
is likely to operate on routes to the
USA, says Ritter.
The jet will have 28 business-class
seats (including four suites), 28
premium-economy and 231 economy
seats – 34 of which will have
extra legroom.
Meanwhile, the latest iteration of
the first-class product will appear
on newly-delivered Airbus A350-
900s next year. Those aircraft will
be configured with three first-class
suites (seating up to four passengers
each), 38 business-class
seats (including eight suites), 24
premium-economy seats and 201
economy seats, including 22 with
more room to stretch.
Lufthansa
“All our new aircraft, like the
A350 and the Dreamliner, will get
the new product, but we will also
retrofit the current fleet,” including
A330s, A350s and 747-8s, Ritter
adds. Lufthansa hopes to complete
the retrofit programme in the
2025-2026 period, by which time it
is scheduled to be taking delivery
of new 777-9 widebodies.
In total, the project involves some
27,000 new seats.
Suite spot
Notably, Lufthansa’s new business-class
offering will include seven
distinct options: single and double
suites, two seats that combine
into a “double” seat, seats that convert
into an “extra-long bed”, seats
with extra space, window seats,
window seats with a baby bassinet,
and even a “classic” business seat.
Another innovation includes the
option to heat or cool the seat, a
functionality also available in first
class. Lufthansa’s head of customer
experience design Kai Peters says:
“That’s something you know from
your car, but you haven’t seen it in
an aircraft before. We are the first
to introduce it.”
Three manufacturers will provide
Lufthansa’s new business-class
seats: Stelia Aerospace, Collins
Aerospace and Thompson
Aero Seating. “It is good for us,
Business-class seating offers
seven options, including suites
otherwise you are dependent on a
single source,” says Ritter.
Lufthansa’s new first-class cabins
will have a “Suite Plus” – double
cabins with doors, ceiling-high
walls, tables and two seats that
combine to make a double bed. Ritter
says demand for first-class seats
remains strong. “We are convinced
our passengers will book our new
first-class, especially when they
have the choice between [a] single
suite and double suite,” he says.
Lufthansa’s new premium-economy
seats, made by Zim Aircraft
Seating, will be enclosed in a fixed
shell, so that trays and screens will
not be affected when a passenger
in front reclines their seat.
Recaro is developing its new
economy seat, which Lufthansa
Group intends to install on aircraft
operated by its other subsidiaries.
Passengers will be able to pay
for economy seats with additional
legroom and for adjacent economy
seats to remain unoccupied.
Ritter believes Lufthansa’s launch
timing is ideal: “Especially after the
crisis, the business passengers are
coming back, the corporate travellers
are coming back. But also the
leisure traffic [is] at a high level.
Those families that would like to fly
on holidays to the US and leisure
destinations, they ask [for] and
demand… a premium product.” ◗
38 Flight International April 2023