Thursday, February 23, 2017

Lufthansa set to take second A350 XWB

Lufthansa will take delivery of the second of 25 Airbus A350 XWBs in Munich Feb. 24, which will be used on Munich-Boston Logan scheduled services beginning March 14.

The Star Alliance member took delivery of its first A350-900 on Dec. 21, 2016, and launched its first A350 scheduled services Feb. 10, from Munich to Delhi, India.

The first 10 A350s will be deployed on long-haul routes from Munich; a further six of the type will be delivered this year. The next delivery is scheduled for summer 2017. The A350 will gradually replace Lufthansa’s A340-600 fleet.

The 293-seat aircraft is configured for 48 seats in business, 21 in premium economy and 224 in economy class. The A350 is equipped with Lufthansa’s latest cabin products, including new seats, inflight entertainment and connectivity in all classes. A new self-service bar is located between the first business-class section and the second, smaller business-class cabin.

“So far it is not decided if these cabin products will also be installed in other new aircraft, like the Boeing 777X. This is too early to say,” Lufthansa spokesperson Bettina Rittberger told ATW.

Lufthansa said it will be the first airline to use a range of different settings for the A350-900’s onboard lighting, which are designed to sync with passengers’ day and night biorhythms. This new A350-900 LED technology can provide around 24 different lighting settings. Following the A350-900, Lufthansa will also be re-fitting its 19 Boeing 747-800s with the new lighting system.

“We also offer an adjusted entertainment product, including bigger IFE [inflight entertainment] screens,” Rittberger said. Besides that, an updated IFE system allows passengers to pre-select content from home as early as six weeks in advance. Passengers must download the Lufthansa companion app onto their own device, then they can synchronize their selections with their individual IFE screen.


(Kurt Hofmann - ATWOnline News)

No comments: