In 2023, Lufthansa Group placed an order for the Airbus A350-1000 — the order was initially for 10 frames, before being increased to 15 frames the following year. The Lufthansa Group is undergoing a massive long haul fleet modernization at the moment, with both Airbus and Boeing planes on the way.
Along those lines, the first Lufthansa A350-1000 will join the fleet in the coming weeks (in a dazzling livery no less), and we now also have a sense of what routes the plane will fly, and how the cabin will be configured.
In this post:
Lufthansa has 15 Airbus A350-1000s on order
Between late 2026 and 2030, Lufthansa intends to take delivery of 15 Airbus A350-1000s. This is only one of several aircraft types the airline is acquiring, as it’s also taking delivery of Airbus A350-900s, Boeing 787-9s, and (eventually) Boeing 777-9s.
The expectation is that the first A350-1000 will be delivered in early October 2026. This plane will even feature the special 100th anniversary livery, as Lufthansa has seven of these flying, with one representing each fleet type.
The first plane will have the registration code D-AIFA, and it will be named “Deutschland” (since Lufthansa names all of its planes). This is a special plane for another reason, as it will be the 700th aircraft that Airbus has delivered to Lufthansa Group. How gorgeous is this plane?!?
On a slight tangent, I did recently see the 100th anniversary Boeing 747-8 in Frankfurt (FRA), and I must say, I think it might be the most breathtaking plane in commercial service. Is it just me?
Lufthansa A350-1000s will have 300 seats in four cabins
We’ve known that the Airbus A350-1000s will get the new Allegris cabins, including the new Allegris first class and Allegris business class. Up until now, the actual planned layout has been a bit of a mystery.
Fortunately aeroTELEGRAPH shares the details in an internal memo about what we can expect onboard. Lufthansa’s A350-1000s will feature 300 seats, spread across four cabins, as follows:
- Four first class seats (well, 3.5, really)
- 49 business class seats
- 35 premium economy seats
- 212 economy class seats
As a point of comparison, the A350-900s (the non-stretched version of the plane) features 267 seats, as follows:
- Four first class seats
- 38 business class seats
- 24 premium economy seats
- 201 economy class seats
So the stretched version has 11 more business class seats, 11 more premium economy seats, and 11 more economy seats (11 more seats across three cabins, what a funny coincidence). The airline is still maintaining only one row of first class, which is kind of “bleh.”
Lufthansa A350-1000 will be based in Munich
Lufthansa Airbus A350-1000s will be based in Munich (MUC), which is where Lufthansa bases all of its A350s. The plan is for them to start entering passenger service as of the IATA winter season, which kicks in as of late October 2026.
The expectation is that initial destinations will include Newark (EWR), Shanghai (PVG), Singapore (SIN), and Tokyo (HND), though the exact timeline with which each of those routes gets the aircraft remains to be seen. Meanwhile Chicago (ORD) is expected to be the fifth destination, with that service launching in the spring of 2027.
Bottom line
In 2023, Lufthansa placed an order for the Airbus A350-1000, and the first of these planes is expected to be delivered in early October 2026, entering service a few weeks later. The plane is expected to feature 300 seats across four cabins, though still only expect one row of first class seats. The Munich-based plane will initially fly to Newark, Shanghai, Singapore, and Tokyo.
I must say, Lufthansa knocked it out of the park with its centennial livery, and I can’t wait to see this plane flying.
What do you make of Lufthansa’s upcoming Airbus A350-1000 deliveries?
EWR before JFK? EWR I see the logic as it is United's hub but JFK-MUC was flown by A380s in summer months before this year but the new JFK Terminal 6 won't have A380 capable gates so was thinking A350-1000 would bridge gap between A350-900 and A380.
EWR over JFK.
Good point, . . . BUT from economics EWR just makes more sense! ESPECIALLY in the winter season while ALL airlines flying to the US (for obvious reasons) from Europe struggle to fill their planes with full fare paying passengers, EWR with not a "dead-end" final destination due to the UA hub, JFK needs demand too, especially at LH mainline with not the greatest calculations in the aviation industry!
Of...
EWR over JFK.
Good point, . . . BUT from economics EWR just makes more sense! ESPECIALLY in the winter season while ALL airlines flying to the US (for obvious reasons) from Europe struggle to fill their planes with full fare paying passengers, EWR with not a "dead-end" final destination due to the UA hub, JFK needs demand too, especially at LH mainline with not the greatest calculations in the aviation industry!
Of course, JFK always preferred on a personal basis too, but from LH perspective it does make sense to use on EWR vs. JFK.
In terms of economics the bigger variant makes total sense to STAR hubs, which is the majority of the deployed routes!
As we all know, LH mainline is in deep financial trouble! Least said, 1 big Cargo guy from Germany actually saved that carrier and heavily criticized it's head of operations, that alone tells a lot of the financial situation of that carrier! ;-)
To their luck, the German government was on Lufthansa's side, otherwise they would still have to fight and compete against airberlin these days. That airline NEEDS every possible penny they can save!
Regarding the livery; Ben I think the world of you but...... IMHO it's ugly.
Would love to see more of the retro Starliner 1960 livery.
Just saying.
Yet another airline gets their 350-1000 before Delta.
Lufthansa order their first batch of A350-1000s in March of 2023, Delta ordered their A350-1000s in January 2024, a full 10 months after LH. Yes Lufthansa will take delivery of their first A350-1000s before Delta because they were in line before Delta.
Lufthansa expected delivery of their first A350-1000 in early 2025, but because of Airbus delivery delays they won't receive their first A350-1000 until late Q3 of this year. Meanwhile Delta was supposed...
Lufthansa order their first batch of A350-1000s in March of 2023, Delta ordered their A350-1000s in January 2024, a full 10 months after LH. Yes Lufthansa will take delivery of their first A350-1000s before Delta because they were in line before Delta.
Lufthansa expected delivery of their first A350-1000 in early 2025, but because of Airbus delivery delays they won't receive their first A350-1000 until late Q3 of this year. Meanwhile Delta was supposed to take delivery of its first A350-1000 this year. They now expect their first A350-1000 to be delivered at some point in Q2 of 2027.
please stop being retárded, they ordered them before Delta
that euro white thrash livery is awful.
LOL. You have a way with words...
LH should make its centennial livery the standard livery.
It is gorgeous.
They'd never do it, and (unfortunately) understandably so: the weight difference is significant.
When ANZ had their all-black livery, the weight difference on a 777, just from the extra paint, was 182kg (400lbs) per aircraft, and also required extra (expensive) layers to prevent solar bleaching.
Doesn't seem like much, until you realize that between 15 aircraft, flying even only 1 round-trip per day: that'd be 1,993 tonnes of deadweight being hoisted into the air annually,...
They'd never do it, and (unfortunately) understandably so: the weight difference is significant.
When ANZ had their all-black livery, the weight difference on a 777, just from the extra paint, was 182kg (400lbs) per aircraft, and also required extra (expensive) layers to prevent solar bleaching.
Doesn't seem like much, until you realize that between 15 aircraft, flying even only 1 round-trip per day: that'd be 1,993 tonnes of deadweight being hoisted into the air annually, in exchange for no direct revenue.
Which is why nearly all large airlines use mostly Euro-white.
A380 as well
I don't understand why they're not going up to 2 rows of first, hopefully they don't make that same decision on the 777X.
It's not 'just you,' Ben. That 100th anniversary Boeing 747-8 in Frankfurt is lookin' fiiine.