Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE, DLAKY) is looking to remove first class seats from some planes but will retain the luxury product on 70% of its longhaul fleet, a senior executive said Tuesday.

The German flag carrier has already cut the number of first class seats on its planes to eight, and is among a shrinking band to retain the offering as rivals react to waning demand and corporate travel restrictions by opting for an improved business-class product.

"The first-class cabin is still an integral part of our product portfolio," said Nico Buchholz, Lufthansa's head of fleet planning, speaking at a ceremony to mark the delivery of the first passenger version of the Boeing Co. (BA) 747-8I jumbo jet.

Lufthansa has a dedicated terminal at its Frankfurt hub for first-class passengers, who can be ferried to the planes in luxury sports cars, and Buchholz said all the revamped jumbos it has on order would retain a cabin. However, the airline is examining removing the first-class seats on some of the older 747-400 planes in its existing fleet.

The airline plans to operate the first new 747-8Is from June between Frankfurt and Washington D.C.. Buchholz said it will also be used for flights to Los Angeles and Chicago, as well as yet-to-be-determined points in India.

The executive said the new Boeing would coexist happily with the larger Airbus A380 it also operates.

A senior Boeing executive said Tuesday that the new 747, which like its 787 Dreamliner was delayed by production and design problems, would remain the largest plane in its product line-up.

Elizabeth Lund, general manager of the 747 program, said the 747-8I would be about 100 seats larger than a revamped version of its 777 under consideration, or any replacement of the best-selling twin-aisle jet.

She said Boeing is in talks with the cargo units of Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. (0293.HK) and British Airways--which both fly the freighter version of the new 747--about where the passenger variant "might fit in for the future". Both have large 747-400 fleets and are using the new freighter plane to evaluate the passenger model.

With its new jumbo entering service with Lufthansa in June, Lund said that she expects order activity to lean toward the passenger model. She adds Boeing has distributed 25 new proposals to customers for new jumbos in the last 30 days.

"We expect to make announcements this year," she said.

The 747-8I hasn't received any orders this year. Korean Air Lines Co. Ltd. (003490.SE), Nigeria's Arik Air and the leasing arm of General Electric Co. (GE) are the only others to have made firm orders.

Boeing is accelerating 747 production to 2 airplanes per month from 1.5 per month and will hold at that rate for the "foreseeable future", she said, with the next "significant" delivery slots open at the end of 2013.

She said that the airplane maker needs to provide production guidance to its supply chain 12 to 14 months ahead of a delivery depending if a customer selects the passenger or freighter version of the jumbo.

-By Doug Cameron, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4135; doug.cameron@dowjones.com

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