Lufthansa Launches A380 Business Class Refresh

Four months ago Lufthansa did not appear entirely sure about the future of the A380 in its fleet; the company literally put a question mark next to the type in its fleet simplification plan. Now we know the planes will stick around at least long enough to justify an interior refresh.

Key to the interior work is replacement of the business class cabin on Lufthansa’s A380s. The current 2-2-2 layout will be replaced with a 1-2-1 direct aisle access offering. The business class cabin will also shrink from the current 78 seats to a new 68-seat layout.

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Lufthansa’s new A380 business class seats will be sourced from Thompson Aero. The Vantage product offer increased privacy relative to the current cabin. In keeping with the Lufthansa ethos of not making business class too fancy, however, the new cabin will not offer privacy doors in its staggered layout.

The seating decision was made, in part, based on avoiding the certification mess that the Allegris cabin implementation faces. Allegris offers significant flexibility (and opportunity to up-charge) within the cabin. But the offering is complex to sell and, years on, still pending certification on the 787s.

The carrier explicitly called attention to the certification situation in announcing the new product, “Lufthansa can rely on an existing certification for this cabin upgrade, eliminating the need for a lengthy approval process. As a result, passengers will be able to enjoy the new Business Class onboard Lufthansa’s A380 within just a few weeks.”

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Choosing a stock seat also likely helps Lufthansa control costs for the refresh. That will make it easier to retire the A380s quickly in the future if circumstances dictate such a move.

The retrofit work also provides an opportunity for updates to the inflight entertainment and internet service on board. The company confirms an IFE update with Bluetooth connectivity as part of the configuration. There is also potential for the installation of the Starlink inflight internet service on board, though the timing of the cabin work would appear to be more aggressive than the Wi-Fi rework recently announced.

The first aircraft is expected to return to service in April 2026. The full fleet of eight planes will be refreshed by “mid-2027.”

Lufthansa also confirms plans for “new seats across all classes” on its 747-8 and A350-900 planes. That work will follow the A380 effort and is less surprising. Those types were expected to remain in the fleet per last September’s announcement.