For a couple of years now, we’ve known that Lufthansa plans to introduce new business class cabins on its Airbus A380s. While this project was first supposed to start in 2025, that timeline was ultimately delayed. There’s now an update, as the airline has formally announced when these planes will be retrofitted.
In this post:
All Lufthansa A380s get new business class by mid-2027
Lufthansa has confirmed plans to introduce a new business class product on its entire fleet of eight Airbus A380s. Rather interestingly, it’s only business class that’s getting new seats, while first class, premium economy, and economy, will remain the same, aside from some minor upgrades (like improved inflight entertainment).
So, when will these planes get new cabins? The first Airbus A380 (with the registration code D-AIMC) will be retrofitted as of February 2026, and is expected to enter service as of April 2026. The plan is that all eight A380s will be reconfigured by mid-2027.
What’s interesting is that Lufthansa isn’t introducing its new Allegris business class on these planes, but instead, is introducing another “off the shelf” product. Specifically, the airline has opted for the Thompson Aero Vantage XL product, which is in a staggered configuration.
Each seat will have direct aisle access, seat width of 58cm, and a bed length of at least two meters. Seats will feature bluetooth connectivity and flexible partitions.
As A380s are reconfigured, the business class cabin will shrink in size by 10 seats, from 78 seats to 68 seats. First class will continue to have eight seats, premium economy will continue to have 52 seats, and economy will continue to have 371 seats.
It’s pretty cool to note how Lufthansa has reversed course on the A380. At the beginning of the pandemic, Lufthansa grounded its fleet of Airbus A380s, and the intent was that these planes would be retired, and would only reenter service “in the event of an unexpectedly rapid market recovery.”
With the strong recovery we’ve seen in transatlantic leisure demand, the airline made the decision to start bringing back Airbus A380s as of the summer of 2023, and eight of the initial 14 are now back in service (six of them were sold). At first, the return of the A380s was mostly described as a temporary measure, in light of delayed Boeing 777-9 deliveries. The airline didn’t commit to keeping these planes around in the long run, though that changed over time.
In recent years it has become clear that the A380 will have a long term place in Lufthansa’s fleet. Clearly this investment in the business class product reflects that. Here’s how Heiko Reitz, Lufthansa Hub Manager for Munich, describes this development:
“Lufthansa operates the only strong A380 fleet in the EU, stationed at our 5-star airport. The retrofit underscores our commitment to providing a top flight experience on the long-haul aircraft that is so popular with our customers. The new premium seats offer more privacy and significantly more comfort than before. We look forward to offering our passengers this enhanced travel experience in Business Class starting in April.
Why are Lufthansa A380s not getting new Allegris cabins?
Lufthansa of course has its new Allegris cabins, including the new Allegris business class and new Allegris first class. These cabins debuted on newly delivered Airbus A350-900s, and we’re also seeing them on newly delivered Boeing 787-9s (though without first class).
So why is Lufthansa not installing its new Allegris seats on the A380s? Well, I’d assume it comes down to a couple of factors. The biggest reason is quite straightforward — Lufthansa has had a really tough time getting its new Allegris business class seats certified, as 787s have been flying around with most business class seats blocked for a long time now.
The idea is that by picking an “off the shelf” product, these seats are already certified, and therefore the airline can actually rely on getting them into service ASAP.
Second of all, I imagine that given the narrower fuselage of the A380 upper deck, it might’ve required even more complicated customization to fit the new Allegris seats up there.
For once, I’d say Lufthansa made a wise decision by just picking a generic product for its A380s. I think the big mystery is why Lufthansa just didn’t do this for its other planes, to avoid this entire mess. Separately, Lufthansa is reconfiguring its Boeing 747-8s, in a complicated two-part process. Initially, we’ll see the new Allegris business class seats on the lower deck, while the same business class seats will remain on the upper deck.
Bottom line
Lufthansa has formally announced plans to introduce a new business class product on its Airbus A380s. The first plane with these cabins should be flying in April 2026, with all eight super jumbos flying by the middle of 2027.
Rather than installing the new Allegris business class seats, the airline is instead installing a more generic product, the Thompson Aero Vantage XL seat, which is a significant improvement over the product you’ll currently find on these jets. As planes are reconfigured, business class capacity will be reduced by 10 seats, from 78 to 68.
Lufthansa sure is all over the place when it comes to modernizing its cabins. Either way, this change is good to see.
What do you make of Lufthansa’s new A380 business class plans?
Allegris was an expensive 5-star Skytrax marketing exercise, nothing more
Sorry, 4-star
Seat manufacturers don't want to develop a new product for A380 since there's very low demand, therefore, LH could only choose an existing product. There's no business class seat with a door certified for A380 in the market, and the options left would have been either Thompson Vantage XL or Safran SkyLounge(like Emirates).
As for 747-8, Lufthansa should develop a new product anyway. There are only 3 operators for this aircraft type - LH, CA...
Seat manufacturers don't want to develop a new product for A380 since there's very low demand, therefore, LH could only choose an existing product. There's no business class seat with a door certified for A380 in the market, and the options left would have been either Thompson Vantage XL or Safran SkyLounge(like Emirates).
As for 747-8, Lufthansa should develop a new product anyway. There are only 3 operators for this aircraft type - LH, CA and and KE. Both LH and CA have the old Collins Diamond seat, and KE has Collins Apex Suite seat which is the only 747-8 seat with direct aisle access.
Since Apex Suite has been discontinued a loooong time ago, the old Collins Diamond is the only seat available and certified for 747, and of course it'll be absurd to retrofit with this.
Therefore, if LH wants to keep 747-8, they should develop a whole new product for this small fleet. The development and certification cost will be a lot higher than any other aircraft type, probably more than a double. Could even be triple or quadruple.
BA will start fitting the Collins Super Diamond suites on their A380 later this year.
Right, that will be the first ever A380 business class seat with a door. Super Diamond itself already exists on Qatar A380, but adding a door is a whole new certification process. BA must have invested a lot for that. They have a bit bigger A380 fleet than LH and will keep the aircrafts longer than LH. For Lufthansa, A380 retrofit is an interim solution until they get 777-9.
Likely reason #3 (actually #1): Their wet dreams of monetising Alegris via a dozen of different seat options backfired or at least don't work.
Not industry leading but looks good enough. Pleasantly surprised by the amount of effort put into making the finishes match Allegris branding. IMO a lot of the latest generation widebody Business Class seats focus more on adding gimmicks than meaningful improvement. As much as I enjoyed Q Suites, I kind of realized that they are just modified staggered seats at the end of the day. As long as the bed is flat and reasonably spacious...
Not industry leading but looks good enough. Pleasantly surprised by the amount of effort put into making the finishes match Allegris branding. IMO a lot of the latest generation widebody Business Class seats focus more on adding gimmicks than meaningful improvement. As much as I enjoyed Q Suites, I kind of realized that they are just modified staggered seats at the end of the day. As long as the bed is flat and reasonably spacious and comfortable, and there is direct aisle access, you don't really need that much more in the hard product
This is embarassing, this is the same tier of seat that Condor has had for years now.
It's a shame LH gets to get away with their Germany/European hub monopoly.
What on earth is going on with this airline?! LOLZ
@Ben
These are the same seats that Edelweiss and Discover will introduce on their A350s and A330s respectively. I wish they had chosen these seats for the whole Lufthansa group. Allegris is a mess.
Ben - any updates on LH 748 retrofits? Flight Radar 24 indicates D-ABYA has returned from Xiamen and has returned to commercial service. It appears that D-ABYC is the 2nd craft that is currently in China undergoing the Alegris upgrade, albeit on just its lower deck.
Off the shelf, good. But Vantage XL? Pretty weak choice, an older generation seat, and from the photos they've picked pretty much the most bare-bones version possible. Still lagging the market.
LH is always 7-10 years late behind competition and cheap. They also have a set of customers who are loyal / hub captive or just anal about not choosing non-German airlines. So they can get away with this.
I'd argue Vantage XL is better than 90% of Allegris seats.
@Kacee
Are these the same seats Delta has on their A350-900s and A33-900s? If so then they are old now. Lufthansa should have introduced a more modern version.
Seat manufacturers don't want to develop a new product for A380 since there's very low demand, therefore, LH could only choose an existing product. There's no business class seat with a door certified for A380 in the market.
Agree - looks like the cheapo version of the Vantage XL seat. The ones installed in SAS Business offer much more privacy and look generally classier.
Typical LH move …
They could have fitted these COTS product on A330/B787 on day 1.....
Seems nice. We'll see if they can actually pull this off by April 2026 or even mid-2027.
Taking more than a year to retrofit only business class on eight aircraft.
At least families will be able to sit together.
*deep breath*
*suppresses years of annoyance towards Lufthansa's pretentious antics*
Not a bad decision, good to know that these A380s are getting a new lease of life, and I'd be quite happy in one of these seats (even though they're far from the world's best).
It's really odd that they've repeated British Airways's mistake of not updating the first class cabin alongside it (even if it was an off the shelf solution).
I feel like they might come to regret that as the gap between the business class cabin and the first class cabin will no longer be signficant enough to warrant a high premium (much like BA first class vs Club Suites).
BA are finally rectifying it...
It's really odd that they've repeated British Airways's mistake of not updating the first class cabin alongside it (even if it was an off the shelf solution).
I feel like they might come to regret that as the gap between the business class cabin and the first class cabin will no longer be signficant enough to warrant a high premium (much like BA first class vs Club Suites).
BA are finally rectifying it with the new FC on their A380s but LH seem to be locking themselves into the same issue.
Lufthansa really are my least favourite European airlines, they seem to be in the habit of finding the level as which something is "good enough" and then doing slightly worse than that on purpose!