UPDATED! Lufthansa’s New Business Class Seat Officially Revealed — Photos And Video From Lufthansa AND Berlin

by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 8, 2012 | Industry News | 3 comments

UPDATE: Pictures From Berlin Press Conference

UPDATE #2: I have received images directly from someone who attended the show, however my Ipad is not letting me upload images, so I will post them later this afternoon!

Today in Berlin, Lufthansa has officially revealed the look of their new Business Class seat specifically designed for long haul flights.

I had previously posted about the roll out along with a picture of the seat several days ago, which you can read about here.

To see several new images in Lufthansa’s official media gallery, please CLICK HERE to be taken to Lufthansa’s site.

Popular to some sentinements that I’ve observed, you will not be touching your neighbor’s toes due to the angle of the new pods unless you make an effort to do so. Honestly, with enough effort you can touch your neighbor’s toes in virtually anykind of seat on most aircraft. I guess where there’s a will, there’s a way. The engineering rationale behind the angled seating is to allow easier seat and aisle access for the window passenger. Comparing it to other business class seats such as United’s where you have to literally hurdle over your neighbor to exit your window seat, this seat set up will be far easier to navigate and you won’t pull a hamstring in the process.

The seat itself is a major improvement over the old seat, especially since this new seat will have true lay flat (180 degree) capabilities so that even the tallest of travelers will not be prone to sliding down their seat. Up til now that had been the biggest criticism of Lufthansa’s previous business class seat.

The rollout of the seat will begin with the new 747-8i (delivery imminent!) and then will be retrofitted to the existing fleet over the next few years.

Personally, I like the look of the seats. The IFE screen has been improved and made bigger and I think quite honestly that Lufthansa has a winner here.

I hope to have pictures posted shortly from the Berlin Travel Show where the seats officially debuted but for now, here is a link to a great video clip courtesy of Lufthansa showing the seat in a typical cabin configuration.

Deutsche Lufthansa Reports Fiscal Year 2011 Loss

by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 7, 2012 | Industry News | 0 comments

Lufthansa reported on Wednesday evening a loss for Fiscal year 2011.

The primary reason for the loss was the cost associated with the sale of their BMI unit to IAG (Parent of British Airways and Iberia). The loss incurred for discontinued operations was reported at 285 million Euros.

The net loss attributable to shareholders came to 13 million Euros compared to a 1.1 billion Euro profit for 2010.

Not withstanding the losses from the BMI transaction, Lufthansa reported an operating profit of 820 million Euros, down from 967 million Euro for 2010, but beat analyst estimates by 9 million Euro for 2011.

On a positive note, Revenues did improve to 28.7 billion Euro as compared to 26.5 billion in Fiscal Year 2010.

Lufthansa’s board of directors has also proposed to pay a special dividend of .25 cents/Euro to shareholders inspite of the loss due to the positive operating profit.

Lufthansa shares trade in Europe and in the US. They are listed as an ADR on US markets (DLAKY).