Jets in waiting mode Lufthansa's new premium seats are becoming a financial burden

Lufthansa is hoping that the new "Allegris" cabins will provide an answer to the criticism of a lack of comfort. But the seats are causing problems. When and whether approval will be granted at all is currently questionable - brand-new jets or not.

New interiors for Lufthansa jets at last: in order to counteract the dissatisfaction of many travelers with the cabin equipment, the airline has been announcing a facelift for its jets for some time. Thanks to the new "Allegris" cabins, complaints about the lack of comfort on Lufthansa aircraft should soon be a thing of the past.

However, the anticipation of the new seats is currently giving way to considerable annoyance, as reported by "Der Spiegel". Although aircraft manufacturer Boeing already has 13 finished Boeing 787 jets in stock in Charleston, USA, six of them with "Allegris" cabins, it is still completely unclear when they will be able to take to the skies.

This is because the new seats are currently in the sights of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) - and the FAA has something to criticize about the models from manufacturer Collins Aerospace. As the seats are currently awaiting approval, the delivery of the aircraft is also in waiting mode.

Lufthansa still has a loophole

Among other things, approval depends on a crash test to ensure that the seats guarantee passenger safety even in the event of an accident. To do this, they have to withstand loads of up to 16 times the earth's gravitational force.

Even Lufthansa does not know exactly what will happen next. Apparently, it is not impossible that the seats will not be approved at all. Either way, the aircraft are unlikely to be ready to fly before summer 2025.

Lead plates as a remedySwiss' new First Class gets jets out of balance

There is only one loophole left for Lufthansa: the aircraft may take off if the "Allegris" cabins in business class remain free. The Economy Class and Premium Economy seats could be fully occupied. However, this would mean financial losses for Lufthansa. Although compensation payments will be made, these will not outweigh the predicted additional revenue from the new seats.

"Allegris" cabins are also causing problems at Swiss

Lufthansa hopes that the "Allegris" cabins will upgrade the business class area for long-haul flights. Although fewer seats will remain in business class after the conversion, the airline expects higher prices to generate more revenue. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr is also planning to expand the popular Premium Economy intermediate class.

Apart from the slow approval of the "Allegris" cabins from Collins, the new seats also caused problems. At Swiss, the seats have to be fitted with lead weights to ensure the jets' center of gravity after the conversion to the "Swiss Senses" cabin interior.

Free coffee on board Lufthansa is probably history

While Lufthansa is eagerly awaiting the new seats, another of the airline's innovations is already history. Since the middle of the year, Lufthansa has been testing whether free tea and coffee will be served on board again in future.

However, there will probably not be more than a test run. At an internal event, Carsten Spohr calculated that every passenger across the Group generates a net profit of seven euros. This means that as soon as each passenger incurs one euro in additional costs, the total profit is reduced by a seventh. Above all, on-board sales would suffer from the free service. Spohr therefore questioned whether free drinks could become standard.

Either way, passengers can expect higher costs in 2025, as recently predicted by the umbrella organization of airlines IATA and the German Aviation Association (BDL). Higher costs for wages, materials, air traffic control and security checks are the main reasons for this. Nevertheless, it is expected that the number of five billion passengers worldwide will be broken for the first time.