Lufthansa A380s won’t get new Allegris business class

Lufthansa’s A380 superjumbos are set to get a new business class seat – but it won’t be the long-awaited Allegris business class.

While those Allegris business class seats and suites will feature on all new Airbus and Boeing deliveries, along with being retrofitted to the current A350s, Boeing 787s ands Boeing 747-8 jets, the A380s will introduce another business class seat into the Lufthansa mix.

Lufthansa's current A380 business class is on the way out...

It’s a short-term solution, Lufthansa’s Heads of Customer Experience Kai Peters told Executive Traveller on the sidelines of Lufthansa’s A350 Allegris launch at Munich.

“We won't keep the aircraft for very long in the fleet,” Peters confirms, noting the A380 was "more or less out of fleet, we decided to bring them back because we needed the capacity” due to ongoing delays with the delivery of the Boeing 777-9.

“When we brought them back we looked at how many years they will fly” – and it seems the answer was not long enough to warrant upgrading them to Allegris, which Lufthansa says will be prioritised to new and refitted jets at a rate of two per month from 2025.

Lufthansa won't add its new Allegris business class to the A380.

“You need capacity to build all these Allegris and therefore we decided on a different product,” Peters said.

However, the superjumbo’s dated 2-2-2 business class will be replaced by “a new business class, with all aisle access.”

That new Lufthansa A380 business class seat is already in the works, with Peters revealing “it's a standard seat design from one of our manufacturers” – although he declined to share when the A380 refit would take place.

The A380s will keep first class as-is.

The A380s will retain their exiting first class, premium economy and economy seats, although Peters added “we’ll also have a completely new entertainment system.”

David Flynn travelled to Munich as a guest of Lufthansa.