The introduction of Lufthansa’s new Allegris cabin concept hasn’t been without drama, to put it mildly. Right now, Lufthansa’s biggest issue is with its new Boeing 787 Dreamliners, which entered service a couple of months back, with one major problem — most of the business class seats haven’t yet been certified by regulators.
In early October, we saw the planes enter commercial service, though with most business class seats blocked. We know that Lufthansa’s goal was to get these seats certified by the end of the year, but that’s not looking so good anymore. I’d like to go over the latest details on that…
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Lufthansa’s 787 business class certification issues
In 2024, we saw Lufthansa introduce its new Allegris concept, with the most exciting development being the debut of the new Allegris business class, finally offering direct aisle access from all seats.
This product was launched on the Airbus A350-900, but that wasn’t without its challenges. First there were supply chain issues with getting the new seats. But even when the new business class, premium economy, and economy, were ready to go, the new first class wasn’t. So Lufthansa started flying these planes with the space of the first class cabin empty. Fortunately that has since been resolved, and the new first class has been in service for some time.
However, for much of 2025, Lufthansa has been facing a much bigger issue with its Boeing 787s, which are also supposed to feature the new Allegris cabins (though without first class). Lufthansa has around 15 new Dreamliners that have either been delivered or are preparing to be delivered, except most of the business class seats can’t be used.
What’s the issue? The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hasn’t certified some of these new business class seats. You might be thinking “wait, aren’t these the same seats as on the A350?” Sort of. Lufthansa’s Allegris business class seats are actually produced by three different seating manufacturers (yeah… don’t ask), and certification is required for each seat type on each aircraft type. So far, only one of those three types of seats has been certified on the 787.
To give a sense of just how bad things became, at an event in December 2024 (yes, a year ago), a Lufthansa executive acknowledged that a “scenario in which the seats are not approved at all is not out of the question.” Yowzers. While things are looking a little better nowadays, they’re still not looking good at all…
Lufthansa’s plan to fly 787s with Allegris cabins
Lufthansa has been dealing with a major aircraft shortage. The airline was relying on the Boeing 777X for its fleet renewal, but that plane has been delayed by at least seven years. Then Lufthansa had delays with its new Airbus A350s due to the Allegris cabins. Now Lufthansa is dealing with issues on the new Boeing 787s — the general Boeing delivery delays aren’t even an issue, but just the seat certification.
In recent weeks, Lufthansa has taken delivery of a handful of new Boeing 787-9s, with several more expected to be delivered in the coming weeks. These planes started to enter service as of early October 2025, primarily operating to destinations like Austin (AUS), Bogota (BOG), Hyderabad (HYD), and Rio de Janeiro (GIG).
For these services, the airline is currently selling just four business class seats per flight. Since Lufthansa has so many different seating types in Allegris, what’s going on here is that only the business class suites in the first row are available for sale and have been certified, while all the other seat types haven’t.
So those lucky enough to be in business class on these flights will get the absolute best seats. On top of that, these have to be some pretty unique flights, where you’re in a business class cabin with just four seats occupied.
The goal was for all the seats to be certified by the end of 2025, but what’s the latest on that? Handelsblatt reports on a town hall that Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr just had, where he shared the latest on this.
Lufthansa has now started selling all the seats in the 787 business class cabin for flights as of May 1, 2026, with the plan being to block all but four seats through April 30, 2026. However, at this point that just seems like an educated guess, and there’s nothing magical about that timeline, so it could be that the new cabins still aren’t certified by May, which sure could get messy.
Spohr acknowledged that a lot of the Allegris cabin issues are because during the pandemic, the airline cut costs, with the possibility of bankruptcy looming. That included cutting investments in getting the cabins certified. Spohr acknowledged that “we’re still feeling the effects today.”
However, he defended the decision to introduce a highly complex in-house product, rather than buying an off-the-shelf model, arguing that the average revenue generated for Allegris seats is up to 10% higher. I’d love to see his math on that, and how he arrives at that conclusion!
Bottom line
Lufthansa has had serious issues with getting its new Boeing 787s into service, due to lack of certification with the new business class seats. The airline has around 15 of these planes ready to go, but only four business class seats on each aircraft have been certified. So some of the planes have entered service, but 24 of the 28 business class seats have to be blocked, which can’t be great from a revenue perspective.
While the goal was to get these seats certified by the end of the year, obviously that timeline hasn’t stuck. However, Lufthansa has started selling the “full” Allegris cabins on these planes for flights as of May 1, 2026. So it sounds like the airline expects it will take several months for issues to be resolved. Even the May timeline may be too optimistic, though.
This Allegris rollout really hasn’t been very smooth, to put it mildly. First the airline had to fly A350s with the space of the first class cabin empty. Then Lufthansa parked brand new 787s for many months due to not getting the seats certified. Never mind that SWISS has introduced the same product, and will have to install a 1.5 ton weight in the back of A330s, because first class is too heavy.
What do you make of Lufthansa’s Dreamliner drama?
Not surprised from Lufthansa - an airline representing a country that has always been on the wrong side of history. Including recently being toxic Zionist sycophants.
There is no difference between an "anti-Zionist" and an anti-Semite. As exemplified by the recent attack in Australia (whose perpetrators were emboldened by the feckless PM's cowardly "recognition" of the non-existent state of Palestine), Jews need a homeland of our own because we are not safe in the world at large.
Not rocket science.
There absolutely is a difference between Anti-Zionism and anti-semitism.
What is a disgrace is far right nut jobs and Netanyahu supporting sycophants like yourself trying to exploit and monopolise a tragedy such as this.
"There is no difference between an "anti-Zionist" and an anti-Semite."
^ Utter bullshit.
This airline is such a mess, it's hard to keep track. Not to mention their fleet/metals being all over the place, including both A380s and B747s, though they are now selling some...who the heck knows if anyone is really in charge there.
If at least the soft product made up for the seats debacle (either extremely dated or not certified), unfortunately the food in business class is subpar and the crew is at best...
This airline is such a mess, it's hard to keep track. Not to mention their fleet/metals being all over the place, including both A380s and B747s, though they are now selling some...who the heck knows if anyone is really in charge there.
If at least the soft product made up for the seats debacle (either extremely dated or not certified), unfortunately the food in business class is subpar and the crew is at best cold, when not outright hostile. That is when they even care to speak English.
I’d love to see his math on that, and how he arrives at that conclusion!
In the airline I work for, heads would surely be rolling for this.
However, due to its labor laws, the people who are accountable for this mess probably got promoted away instead. They'll now apply their ingenious strategies to other parts of the business. Stay tuned!
10% higher revenue with only 4 seats sold per flight?? I would love him to manage my portfolio when he is so good at accounting!
The worst part of the roll out of Allegris is not the seat, but the total lack of accountability at the top. How is he still in his job?
Spot on. And hole many people don’t remember, I’m here to remind them of the Berlin airport debacle.
Germany, known for its efficiency and attention to detail, is cracking at the very top. Poor management and a culture of awarding contract to ill equipped contractors is hurting it badly
I mean, at least they're flying the 787s instead of owning them and not even using them.
But just 4 business class seats is pretty funny...
They are losing even more money flying them if they can only sell 4 business class seats.
Congratulations to Ford on coming out as trans!
Actually?
Actually?
Actually?
Wait! What?
I wonder where she got this information? It makes sense.
My two cents: they sold the two 747-8s so the certification process will go smoother
Spohr-nicated.
>arguing that the average revenue generated for Allegris seats is up to 10% higher. I’d love to see his math on that, and how he arrives at that conclusion!
That is because he is comparing the new seats with their old 2-2-2 footsie class seats :)
The level of incompetence paired with hubris at Lufthansa is mind-boggling …
If I were a board member/investor I wouldn't sleep until Allegris was abandoned, 'normal' seats were on order, and Spohr was fired.
That’s not the kind of board members Lufthansa has. They don’t lose sleep on things like this.
What a great win for the environment, flying planes around 1/2 empty.
Wait until you hear that SWISS has to install 3000 lbs of balast in planes to counter the heavy Allegris first class (A330 only I think). Those CO2 offsets are needed even more!
They need to get those planes delivered so they can stand up more low-wage subsidiaries!
I have just boarded the aircraft for the MUC-FRA segment, and they are selling the first row and PE section as business class tickets.
and as a HON you get the first row :-)
Yes, as a HON member, I was able to secure a front-row seat.
The seat itself was decent—if we're judging purely on the front row, it was better hardware than BA's First Class...
Of course, the cabin, empty except for four people, was utterly bizarre...
the 10% increase in fares in Allegris is likely due to the constrained amount of seats available for sale.
and even if the math really does "math" having so many extra costs and losing so much revenue certainly means that the payback will be sometime in the 2040s
And while Lufthansa fights this fight, every other major European airline now has business class with a door. Even when these seats are finally certified they’re still an outdated product.
For real. Flew Air France updated 773 in J with the door. Superb.
And, KLM... J gets those cute delft blue houses...
@1990:
I guess Carsten's goose is cooked.
For how many decades are people going to blame their incompetence on the COVID Pandemic?
Well, at least they aren't going on 15-minute rants blaming their predecessor.... *COUGH*
Ha!
If it’s this problematic with the 787 how are they ever going to get the seats certified for the B747-8i?
The clever thing to do would be to admit defeat, introduce a new off-the shelf but customised seat and call it a day.
You can’t convince anyone that selling just 4 business class seats isn’t heavily loss making. I’d have kept the A340s flying longer instead of having just 4seats to sell from Nov-April.
I’m no expert, but I can’t think of anything else like this. Could this be the messiest/most botched product launch in all of aviation?
Interior product launch, maybe. For product launch more broadly, it might be a tie between the DC-10 and the 737 MAX.
777X has to be up there at this point. Was supposed to start flying, what, 4 years ago?
I was thinking more for interiors. While not excusable, it’s typical for aircraft to be delayed.
Even if you had asked me to imagine how to bungle a new cabin rollout I don’t think I could have come up with this (planes flying with empty space in place of first class, old and new business class in the same plane at the same time, cabins where all but 4 business class seats are blocked off, etc).
Again and again, all the talk from Lufthansa about the innovation in Allegris and it's literally just a customized and less efficient Recaro R7 or Safran Optima seat...except the 777X seat map looks identical to Safran and I have to wonder how they're not being sued for IP theft at this point.
The bigger disgrace is that Carsten Spohr is still flying as Lufthansa’s CEO.
This Allegris is such a bullshit tbh.
They should have taken a proven (and cheaper) 1-2-1 business class (like JAL, United, American, Delta, British or even TAP) that it is already on the marked and much improve the soft product to compare with the likes of Emirates, Qatar and Etihad...
It would stand-out in the middle of the European companies. Look at Air France, for instance. It is pretty much their playbook.
They could have just installed the same Super Diamond seats that are on the first 5 787s which will stay when those planes are transferred to Austrian. Those seats are great...I got to fly on one and was very happy with the hard product
"24 of the 28 business class seats have to be blocked" ... wut ...the heck!?!
@All Due Respect was right; Luftkafka.
Luftcaca would also seem applicable.
Zing...
giggity