Lufthansa, here is the new business class on board A350s

It took off today from Munich., the German carrier's second hub, in the direction of Toronto Lufthansa's first Airbus A350 with the new business class cabin on board. LH implemented a similar choice as ITA Airways, that is, it took advantage of an airline's difficulties to add 4 km0 aircraft to the fleet, or almost.

The reason is simple: not having to wait years To get the new aircraft And get planes at a bargain price, or almost. In this case, the 4 A350/900s had been ordered and withdrawn by Philippine Airlines, a carrier that is in serious financial difficulty and has decided to reduce its fleet by divesting some aircraft. In the case of ITA Airways, the A350s never flew and were never taken over by those who originally ordered them.

The new business class

Lufthansa's choice was to repaint the planes, change the logos and interior color schemes, but not to touch the cabin layout. LH had already planned to renovate its business class cabin, now among the most agée around, this would be Due to debut aboard Boeing 777x aircraft. (planes that will, however, arrive no less than 5 years late) and on A350s ordered directly from Airbus.

Delays in the former and the pandemic grounding of A380s forced the carrier to plug an emergency situation, so it decided that the 4 Airbuses will wait to be reconfigured once the new cabin is ready to be installed. Until then, therefore, you will have a different and significantly better product on these planes compared to what is found on everything else in the fleet, including 747s.

In fact, this debut marks the beginning of an extensive Lufthansa cabin renovation program. Next year, the airline will introduce a new flagship product in all travel classes, from Economy to First Class.

The main change is that, finally, all passengers will have access to the aisle thanks to a 1-2-1 configuration, as opposed to the current situation in which window-side passengers are "forced" to climb over their seat neighbor. In all, the cabin will also be much smaller having only 30 seats compared to the nearly 50 today aboard the A350s already flying for the German carrier.

Interestingly, these 4 aircraft, the only ones in the fleet to be different in configuration, will be based only in Munich. A total of 21 A350s will be positioned in Munich, specifically. these 4 will be used primarily on routes to Canada: Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

In conclusion

Lufthansa desperately needs to revamp premium cabins, today both business and first are definitely the least attractive in the European landscape and definitely much less competitive than the competition from carriers such as Qatar, Singapore or ANA.

This is a small step in the right direction, although the bulk of the work will be done starting next year. With this redesign, the German carrier will return to offering a premium product to all its passengers. I I can't wait to be able to board the Queen of Heaven and to find a renovated and attractive cabin as the images circulated suggest.