UPDATE: Lufthansa To Keep First Class On Most Longhaul Flights
May 01 2012 - 3:04PM
Dow Jones News
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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