With nine brand-new Airbus A350-900s having been delivered with Allegris cabins, including eight featuring the new First Class product, Lufthansa is now focusing on retrofitting its existing widebody fleet with these luxurious new seats. The first aircraft slated for this upgrade will be the Boeing 747-8, with the program commencing later this year. Commenting on this development, Lufthansa Airlines CEO Jens Ritter said:
"We are completely reinventing the Lufthansa First Class travel experience with Allegris and making it even more exclusive. Our new First Class, with its unique suites, defines the concept of privacy like never before and is unrivaled worldwide. We are also investing in exclusivity and comfort on the ground by completely redesigning our First Class check-in areas and lounges in Munich and Frankfurt. "
A complex retrofit
Rumors about an Allegris retrofit on Lufthansa's Boeing 747-8 widebody quadjet aircraft have been circulating for some time now, with One Mile At A Time reporting on it last month. Interestingly, their coverage highlighted that this would be a complex procedure extending beyond simply taking one aircraft out of service at a time and returning it once retrofitted.
According to One Mile At A Time, Lufthansa will initially only retrofit the business class cabin on the lower deck of its newer jumbo jets with Allegris, amounting to 48 seats. However, for now, the upper deck's business class cabin, featuring 32 flatbeds, will retain its current configuration.
This transitional phase is expected to last until 2027 when Lufthansa plans to retrofit the upper deck business class cabin with Allegris seats according to German aviation expert Andreas Spaeth quoted by One Mile At A Time. This period will also see refreshing first-class cabins in line with new standards; however, installing seats on narrower upper decks poses particular challenges.
Lufthansa's Boeing 747-8 fleet overview
Current fleet data from ch-aviation indicates that Lufthansa's Boeing747 -8 aircraft average around11 .4 years old.The airline operates19of these four- engine widebodies;17are actively serving while two(D - ABYH & D - ABYI) remain under maintenance in China(Xiamen Gaoqi & Beijing Capital Airport respectively).
Lufthansa received its747 -8s between April2012(D - ABYA)& April2015(D - ABYU).Accordingly,aeroLOPA reports them configured across four classes holding364 passengers: eight first-class suites located at each iconic nose section alongside80 business-class flatbeds plus32 premium economy recliners complementing244 economy seats overall.
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