Lufthansa’s Big 747-8 Update

A clearer view of Lufthansa’s future operations with the Boeing 747-8 has been revealed, coming at a time when the business is focusing on turnaround efforts.

Thanks to reporting by aero.de, a reputable trade publication, Lufthansa will evolve its 747-8 operations and continue upgrading the interior of the queen.

While there’s a significant shakeup of its widebody operations underway to streamline and become more efficient, that doesn’t mean all existing widebody aircraft will depart, but some will.

Lufthansa intends to keep its 747-8 fleet for some time, while it’ll say goodbye to the Airbus A340 family and the 747-400, a long-lasting workhorse that has been part of the airline’s fleet for some time.

With the 747-8 therefore remaining in the airline’s operations for some time and into the next decade, there remains a requirement to invest in the ongoing renewal of these planes to ensure they align with inbound aircraft and to maintain positive customer satisfaction levels.

According to aero.de’s understanding, conversion programs will begin, therefore, on the 747-8 fleet next month. This is all part of the intent to install the latest cabins on the Lufthansa 747-8s.

This retrofit of the 747-8, according to a spokesperson for Lufthansa, will occur in stages, ranging from Business Class, where the Allegris will be installed, to overhauls in the remaining classes, Premium Economy and Economy Class.

The multi-stage process for the airline’s renewal of its 747-8 is laser-focused on ensuring the conversion is done correctly, with safety at the forefront. The airline highlights that converting this widebody is more complicated because of the seats themselves on an aircraft like the 747.

With the 747-8s retained in the fleet and inbound widebodies expected, the airline will also need to evolve how it deploys these aircraft. As such, the jet may be deployed across new markets on the Lufthansa network in the short to medium term.

Lufthansa’s Complicated Fleet Renewal

While the 747-8 at Lufthansa wasn’t planned to be axed anytime soon, the airline has certainly struggled with fleet renewal, which has wreaked havoc with fleet and route planning for around half a decade.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lufthansa recognised that its fleet was not optimised for efficiency. It therefore initiated a plan to streamline, determined to emerge from the pandemic when restrictions were lifted.

The manner in which this was to be conducted was through the retirement of inefficient fleet types that could’ve been moved on, with the assumption that these aircraft would be replaced by inbound next-generation models, helping the transition move forward.

However, despite Lufthansa’s plan making much sense, supply chain constraints, certification delays, and quality problems would leave it short of aircraft as demand returned, with many new planes awaiting delivery and facing significant delays.

With that in mind, the airline was forced to make a decision, a tough one, to backtrack on its previously determined fleet retirements for the short-term to mitigate capacity loss, or miss out on the return of demand and therefore impact its recovery and more for possibly years to come.

Lufthansa decided to return older aircraft to service, hoping this would be a short-term move while it awaited the delivery of delayed next-generation models. This was the right decision, as demand surged and customers’ appetite for travel became evident.

However, the German flag-carrier once more didn’t foresee that delivery delays would continue for years to come, even after the return, meaning that while retirements have happened since, they haven’t been at the required pace that the airline would’ve ideally wanted.

The 747-8 will therefore, alongside the A380, continue to play a role long after the A340 and 747-400 depart, along with other types across the Group, as part of a streamlining effort to help secure a financially stable and prosperous future.