Lufthansa will be offering new long-haul cabin layouts on its widebody aircraft, with the roll-out beginning in 2023. Every cabin class will see a significant improvement, with business class and first class receiving the largest upgrades. Lufthansa has dubbed the new long-haul cabin design "Allegris". Business and first class passengers will now have the opportunity to travel in a premium suite with high levels of privacy.

First class suites

For the first time, Lufthansa will be rolling out enclosed suites onboard its aircraft. First class will have walls that reach "near ceiling height," with closing doors that will almost cut the suite off from the rest of the cabin. The seat is almost a meter wide, more than double that of most of its long-haul economy seats today. Naturally, the seat also converts into a bed. Interestingly, the suite also contains a personal wardrobe.

While the suite is fairly private, it has been designed in a way that a travel companion can join for meals, with a large dining table folding out, and a seat opposite the main seat. As can be seen in the photo above, the suites have a large screen. As is slowly becoming the norm, these will be compatible with a passenger's own Bluetooth headphones. Lufthansa intends to reveal further details about the suite in the new year.

Business class also gets suites

The business class cabin will also be getting suites, though these won't take up the entire cabin. Instead, the front row of the business class will be a sort of premium business. Here, suites will have privacy walls and doors not found in the remainder of the cabin. Like in first class, there will be a personal wardrobe for these passengers and a 27-inch screen. Lufthansa hasn't confirmed it, but this could be to offer a first-class like product on aircraft without a first class cabin.

Non-suite business class seats will also be upgraded under the Allegris program. It appears that Lufthansa will finally roll out its long-awaited staggered business class product, first announced in 2017 and initially due to roll out in 2018 (spot the difference in the two designs below - 2017's renderings are on the left, and 2022s are on the right). All business class seats will have direct access to the aisle, wireless charging, and Bluetooth headphone capabilities. Further details on the business class product will be made known next spring.

In reference to the current improvements, Lufthansa Group CEO, Carsten Spohr, remarked,

"We want to set new, unprecedented standards for our guests. The largest investment in premium products in our company's history underpins our claim to continue to be the leading Western premium airline in the future."

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Upgraded economy offerings

Under the Allegris program, economy and premium economy will also get an upgrade. The premium economy class will receive the new hard shell reclining seats, similar to those recently rolled out across the SWISS Boeing 777 fleet. These seats slide forward to act as a recliner for passengers without impacting the space of the traveler behind. Passengers in premium economy will get a 15.6-inch screen and noise-canceling headphones.

Lufthansa was recently trialing an offer on some Boeing 747 services where a passenger could purchase a block of three seats, and would be given a blanket and pillow so they could sleep across a row. This trial was clearly a success, as Lufthansa is now expanding the initiative. The Allegris product will offer specific "sleeper rows" in the economy cabin. Here a leg rest will fold up to increase the space that a passenger has to lie on. Passengers will find standard economy seating behind these sleeper rows.

Upgrading many aircraft

Lufthansa plans to have the Allegris cabin installed on more than 100 new aircraft anticipated by the airline group, including the Boeing 777-9. However, the cabin will also be retrofitted onto existing group aircraft that aren't due to be retired soon, such as the Boeing 747-8. There likely won't be a case for putting the cabin on aircraft such as the Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A340-600, whose days are already numbered. It is unclear if the seats will make it onto the Airbus A380 fleet. Rolling out the new cabin will be no small task. The Lufthansa Group expects that more than 30,000 seats will need to be replaced.

What do you think of these Lufthansa's new cabin concept? When will we see it installed on an aircraft? Let us know in the comments below.

• 

  Lufthansa

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  LH/DLH

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Frankfurt Airport, Munich Airport

  Year Founded:

  1953

  Alliance:

  Star Alliance

  Airline Group:

  Lufthansa Group

  CEO:

  Carsten Spohr

  Country:

  Germany