Lufthansa completes revamp of long-haul cabins

Lufthansa has completed the renovation of its long-haul aircraft cabins, including the roll-out of a new business class product.

The project, which Lufthansa called the “most extensive cabin renewal programme in the company’s history”, included the refitting of 106 Lufthansa long-haul aircraft with new business and economy class seats, plus a new first class cabin in 76 of the jets.

Since 2011, Lufthansa has invested an average of around EUR1.5 billion (US$1.7bn) in the refurbishment of its long-haul cabins, which included modifying or installing around 39,000 seats: 600 in first class, 7,000 in business class and more than 27,600 in economy.

In addition, 3,600 new premium economy seats are being installed and from this autumn onwards, passengers on all long-haul Lufthansa flights will be able to travel in premium economy.

The new business class product now features seats that recline to form 1.98-metre-long fully-flat beds.

In addition to the new seating, Lufthansa is also improving its in flight services. The airline has installed broadband in-flight Wi-Fi on all its long-haul aircraft, while business class passengers can look forward to a new F&B service which is being introduced progressively on all its Airbus A380 flights and routes to the Gulf and Asia. This will involve the passenger’s table being set individually by the cabin crew and the food and drinks served directly from the galley.

“For Lufthansa, the new, high-standard integrated passenger comfort is a further important step on the way to becoming the first Western five-star airline,” the airline said in a statement. The Lufthansa offer is already being rated by passengers with very good scores, as the Skytrax customer survey confirmed in 2015,” it added, referring to its recent wins at the Skytrax awards.

Lufthansa said the project has cost it approximately EUR1 million per day since the start.