While nothing has been formally announced, it sounds like Lufthansa intends to introduce proper business class seats on some of its narrow body aircraft, rather than just the typical economy seats with a blocked middle (thanks to Chris and Klaus for flagging this)…
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Lufthansa could add recliner seats in A320 business class
Handelsblatt has a story on how Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr is suggesting that the airline may soon get all of its Boeing 787 Allegris business class seats certified. That’s of course great news, though there’s not actually any firm announcement there, just that he’s expecting good news soon.
Here’s what I find most interesting, though — Spohr is suggesting that the airline may soon introduce recliner business class seats on some of its Airbus A320-family aircraft. For context, all Lufthansa narrow body planes currently feature the typical intra-Europe cabins, where business class only consists of economy seats with blocked adjacent seats.
A few months back, Lufthansa low cost subsidiary Eurowings introduced real recliner seats on select A320s, with these planes flying between Germany and Dubai. This is a quirky layout — the planes have eight recliner business class seats (two rows of seats, in a 2-2 configuration), then they have the typical intra-Europe business class seats (several rows of economy seats with blocked middles), and then they have economy. It’s essentially a two-tiered business class cabin.
When Eurowings added this concept, the airline noted that this will “provide other airlines in the Lufthansa Group with important insights for the future configuration of new aircraft fleets.” It sounds like something might actually come of this, as Spohr has suggested that these trials are going well:
- Spohr has told employees that “we will do the same with Lufthansa Classic as we did with Eurowings,” and “I think we will start with two rows of seats”
- Interestingly, ITA Airways has A321neos that are super comfortable, with reverse herringbone seats in business class; however, those don’t seem to be doing well, with Spohr stating that “the routes that ITA is currently flying with the business class seat are losing money,” and “we are currently working with ITA management to see how we can optimize these routes”
If this happens, don’t expect these seats on short flights
While Spohr is suggesting that it’s more or less a sure bet that some A320s will be getting recliner seats in business class, I think it’s important to emphasize that this is highly unlikely to be a fleetwide change.
I imagine the intent with such a product would be to increasingly make Lufthansa’s narrow body planes more competitive on some medium haul routes, to destinations like Amman (AMM), Cairo (CAI), Istanbul (IST), Tel Aviv (TLV), etc.
Competitively, there’s no real desire to improve intra-Europe business class, since virtually all major airlines are in the same league with what they’re offering. There’s no reason to rock the boat and raise the bar, and the beauty of intra-Europe business class (for airlines) is how flexible it is, as airlines can adjust the size of the cabin with each flight.
What I find unusual with Lufthansa’s planned approach is that it sounds like the airline wants to have two types of business class products on the A320s, just as is the case on Eurowings. Does that suggest that Lufthansa would basically only sell the recliner seats as an upcharge over standard business class?
That’s challenging competitively, since that might not be appealing to a business traveler who books a connecting itinerary on the company’s dime, only to be asked to pay out of pocket to upgrade to a more comfortable seat. So it’ll be interesting to see how that’s all handled.
Bottom line
Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr suggests that the airline will be introducing real recliner business class seats on select Airbus A320s. The plan is for some planes to first get two rows of business class seats, which would be a total of eight seats.
The idea would be that these planes would be flown on some medium haul routes, where competitive dynamics would support a product like this. While I love the idea of Lufthansa introducing recliners on A320s, my concern is this two-tiered business class concept, whereby the recliner seats would likely be an upcharge over the standard business class, which is just a strange way to go about things.
So we’ll mark this as “developing” for now, but I look forward to learning more.
What do you make of Lufthansa’s plans to upgrade its A320 business class?
I think the idea may be that they pretty much always sell two rows of business class so if they need to use a plane for both longhaul and shorthaul for proper utilisation, they're no losing much by only having two rows.
ITA's example also proves the narrative about offering huge seat on short route being some sort of a competitive benefit incorrect.
With all the money being thrown at developing different airline seats (flat beds etc.) and concepts they sometimes showcase, isn't there any room in the marketplace for an adjustable short haul business class seat? Something that could maybe also be used for the premium economy market to make those cabins adaptable to route demand as well?
This doesn't come across as a particularly clever idea. Nobody is going to be happy paying a fortune to fly long haul with a connection to/from CAI/IST and being faced with choosing between an economy seat and paying even more for a recliner. Those who know their behavioural economics will probably be able to confirm that this is likely to make pax less happy than being told 'we only offer one type of seats on narrowbodies'.
Have you heard about the Frankfurt airport tour? Apparently, they take you on a bus through the tarmac, get you close to airplanes, etc... I have not tried it, but sounds cool. Might be interesting to try.