Lufthansa to launch all-new business class seats on Boeing 777-9X

Next-generation business class will be the new in-thing for Lufthansa in future. Germany’s national carrier is planning to launch all-new business class seats on its Boeing 777-9X aircraft in 2020. Similar seats are also being introduced by Austrian Airlines and Swiss on their fleets.

Media reports said that a unified business class design is being contemplated by all three sibling airlines – Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines – because of the necessity to significantly lower costs and offer a more consistent travel experience to the customers, particularly on codeshare flights.

Lufthansa will be initially installing next-gen business class on the first of its 34 Boeing 777-9X aircrafts in 2020. It is however still unclear whether the new aircraft will be featuring first class.

Austrian Airlines is presently using the same basic seat design as that of Swiss. The business class cabins on both the airlines offer fully flat-beds to their respective customers in a staggered configuration prominently featuring the popular ‘throne’ seat.

Carsten Spohr, Chairman and CEO of Lufthansa, said, “The airline has started to work on the design. The business class seat will be technically the same. However, the seat covers and the cabin design will undergo a complete change. The airline wants to be different and maintain diversity on its aircraft. The 2020 seat design process is still in its nascent stage and something wonderful will be offered to the customers upon completion.”

Lufthansa recently completed its fleet-wide upgrade to its latest business class. Swiss has also announced that it will be launching its next-generation business class on its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft early 2016.