One of the freshest cabin designs of recent years has been launched by the Lufthansa Group whose members are Lufthansa mainline, Eurowings, Swiss, Austrian and Brussels Airlines.
Airbus says that Lufthansa is the first carrier in Europe to fly the Airspace Cabin (which was launched in 2017) on an A321 neo aircraft.
Congrats @Lufthansa on raising passenger experience with the 1st flight of an #A321neo with the new #AirspaceCabin!
Good to see our long-term partner leveraging #A320neo's innovations by being the 1st operator of the type in 2016 and now the 1st in Europe to fly it with Airspace. https://t.co/fZDQjvZaxF— Airbus (@Airbus) September 3, 2021
The cabin will feature on new A320s as they are delivered from Airbus, so it will be some time before it appears on the majority of short and medium-haul flights.
This cabin will be in service from tomorrow on one of Lufthansa’s flights from Frankfurt to Fuertventura.
I believe most readers will find the main advantage to be in the form of enhanced cabin space for those who carry lots of hand luggage.
Lufthansa says that “the huge overhead bins have a 40 per cent larger volume”.
The latter “can even hold 60 per cent more suitcases, as they can be stacked vertically in the bin.”
That is a major improvement which will meet the needs of today’s travellers.
Cabin design and the entrance areas have been extensively redesigned and now appear brighter and friendlier, and there is new lighting.
Lufthansa says, “Depending on the time of day or night, the light in the cabin is thus geared to the passengers’ biorhythms”.
Seating comfort has also been improved: the sidewalls of the Airspace Cabin will in future offer passengers more space in the shoulder area according to Lufthansa.
“Regardless of the crisis, we continue to focus emphatically on a premium offering for our guests,” said Heike Birlenbach, head of customer experience, Lufthansa Group.
However two things which Lufthansa did not divulge on its press release were the seat pitch (in business and economy) and what the business class arrangement would be.
Business Traveller contacted the carrier, which confirmed that the economy class seat pitch on the aircraft is 29 inches, while business class is 32 inches.
The airline also confirmed that the middle seat of three in business class will remain unsold.
