Lufthansa Boeing 747s Get Allegris Cabins, With Bizarre Two-Part Plan

Lufthansa is in the process of introducing its new Allegris cabin concept, which includes an all-new first class and all-new business class. While these cabins are debuting on newly delivered Airbus A350-900s (and eventually Boeing 787-9s), Lufthansa has limited plans to retrofit existing aircraft.

There is one exception — Lufthansa intends to introduce its Allegris concept on Boeing 747-8s, and the airline will even start the process of installing these cabins before the end of the year. But the carrier’s plan for reconfiguring these jets is wild, as planes will fly with both new and old business class seats at the same time.

Many Lufthansa planes won’t get Allegris cabins

For some background, at least officially, Lufthansa doesn’t have plans to introduce its new Allegris cabin concept on a vast majority of existing aircraft:

• Lufthansa has brought back A340-600s temporarily due to the carrier’s aircraft shortage, but these planes will likely be retired again in the coming years, and won’t get new cabins
• Lufthansa has brought back eight A380s, which will be sticking around; these planes are expected to get a different new business class product, but they won’t get the new Allegris cabins
• Lufthansa A340-300s will eventually be retired, while A330-300s will likely eventually leave Lufthansa’s fleet (and maybe be used by Discover Airlines), so there aren’t plans to invest in these cabins beyond the current generation business class
• Lufthansa has only a small subfleet of 747-400s remaining, and they’re expected to be retired in the coming years, so won’t be reconfigured
• Lufthansa hasn’t announced plans to reconfigure existing A350-900s and 787-9s with the new Allegris cabins, though I imagine that could change over time

How Lufthansa Boeing 747-8s will get Allegris seats

Lufthansa has plans to retrofit its Boeing 747-8 fleet with the new Allegris seats in all cabins. Lufthansa has 19 of these jets, and they’re an average of roughly 11 years old. While other airlines are largely retiring 747s, Lufthansa was one of the few airlines to order the updated 747-8, and the carrier is committed to keeping these planes around.

According to Andreas Spaeth, who has amazing knowledge of German aviation (and contacts at Lufthansa), Lufthansa has plans to start reconfiguring its 747s before the end of the year. Specifically, two 747-8s are expected to get new cabins before the end of 2025. However, the plan for updating these planes is anything but straightforward:

• Initially, Lufthansa plans to install its Allegris business class seats on the lower deck of the 747-8; there will be a total of 48 of these business class seats there, which is the same number of business class seats that you’ll currently find
• However, for the time being, the airline will maintain the old business class seats on the upper deck, so you’ll continue to find 32 business class seats there, in a 2-2 configuration
• On top of that, the first class cabin won’t be updated for the time being, and will remain in the nose

But that’s only step one of this project. Then at some point in 2027, the airline plans to update first class and upper deck business class. The upper deck will eventually get the new Allegris business class seats, and on top of that, there will be three Allegris first class seats.

This is kind of a wild plan, no? I can’t think of another airline that has ever kept both an old and new business class product on a plane, and I’m really curious how Lufthansa will go about selling those cabins. Will there just be a surcharge for all lower deck Allegris seats, or will the airline somehow sell this as two totally different products? I suspect it’s the former, but I guess we’ll see…

Why Allegris is complicated on the Boeing 747-8

Why would Lufthansa reconfigure its Boeing 747-8s in a two-step process? The 747 can be a challenging plane for installing premium cabins, given the curvature of the nose, plus the narrower upper deck. This is kind of a recipe for disaster when combined with Lufthansa’s overly engineered Allegris concept.

Installing the Allegris business class seats on the lower deck is super easy, since the 747 lower deck cabin is even wider than the A350 or 787 cabin, so there’s room to spare.

The much more challenging thing is installing this on the upper deck, which is somewhere between a wide body and narrow body in terms of width, and you have a single aisle. I would have to imagine that Lufthansa’s plan is to simply install the Allegris seats on the upper deck in a 1-1 configuration. Essentially with the below seat map, just picture the cabin without the center section. This will no doubt represent a significant capacity reduction over what’s offered now.

I am a bit surprised to hear that Lufthansa only plans to introduce three Allegris first class seats on the 747-8, as I had previously heard that maybe there would be six. It seems like even with the challenging shape of the nose, you could do at least a couple more than that, no?

Will the size of the first class cabin somehow be reduced, with galley space moved forward, or something? Either way, it’ll be 2027 before we deal with that. It’s going to be a significant capacity reduction, though, if we go from eight to three first class seats.

Bottom line

Lufthansa’s Boeing 747-8s will be getting the new Allegris cabins, which is exciting. The good news is that this project will start this year, and two planes are expected to be reconfigured before the end of the year.

The bad news is that this is a two-step process. Lufthansa will initially install Allegris business class seats on the lower deck. Then in 2027, the airline will install Allegris business class on the upper deck, and Allegris first class in the nose.

As a Boeing 747 lover, I am very happy to see Lufthansa keeping the jet around in the long run. However, the plan for reconfiguring these planes has to be one of the strangest we’ve ever seen. I don’t think the industry has ever witnessed a new seating concept with as many logistical challenges as this one. The sad thing is that all of these issues could’ve been avoided. Oh well…

What do you make of Lufthansa’s plans to reconfigure Boeing 747-8s?