The introduction of Lufthansa’s new Allegris cabin concept hasn’t been without drama, to put it mildly. Right now, Lufthansa’s biggest issue is with its new Boeing 787 Dreamliners, which entered service a couple of months back, with one major problem — most of the business class seats haven’t yet been certified by regulators.
In early October, we saw the planes enter commercial service, though with most business class seats blocked. We know that Lufthansa’s goal was to get these seats certified by the end of the year, but that’s not looking so good anymore. I’d like to go over the latest details on that…
Lufthansa’s 787 business class certification issues
In 2024, we saw Lufthansa introduce its new Allegris concept, with the most exciting development being the debut of the new Allegris business class, finally offering direct aisle access from all seats.
This product was launched on the Airbus A350-900, but that wasn’t without its challenges. First there were supply chain issues with getting the new seats. But even when the new business class, premium economy, and economy, were ready to go, the new first class wasn’t. So Lufthansa started flying these planes with the space of the first class cabin empty. Fortunately that has since been resolved, and the new first class has been in service for some time.
However, for much of 2025, Lufthansa has been facing a much bigger issue with its Boeing 787s, which are also supposed to feature the new Allegris cabins (though without first class). Lufthansa has around 15 new Dreamliners that have either been delivered or are preparing to be delivered, except most of the business class seats can’t be used.
What’s the issue? The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hasn’t certified some of these new business class seats. You might be thinking “wait, aren’t these the same seats as on the A350?” Sort of. Lufthansa’s Allegris business class seats are actually produced by three different seating manufacturers (yeah… don’t ask), and certification is required for each seat type on each aircraft type. So far, only one of those three types of seats has been certified on the 787.
To give a sense of just how bad things became, at an event in December 2024 (yes, a year ago), a Lufthansa executive acknowledged that a “scenario in which the seats are not approved at all is not out of the question.” Yowzers. While things are looking a little better nowadays, they’re still not looking good at all…
Lufthansa’s plan to fly 787s with Allegris cabins
Lufthansa has been dealing with a major aircraft shortage. The airline was relying on the Boeing 777X for its fleet renewal, but that plane has been delayed by at least seven years. Then Lufthansa had delays with its new Airbus A350s due to the Allegris cabins. Now Lufthansa is dealing with issues on the new Boeing 787s — the general Boeing delivery delays aren’t even an issue, but just the seat certification.
In recent weeks, Lufthansa has taken delivery of a handful of new Boeing 787-9s, with several more expected to be delivered in the coming weeks. These planes started to enter service as of early October 2025, primarily operating to destinations like Austin (AUS), Bogota (BOG), Hyderabad (HYD), and Rio de Janeiro (GIG).
For these services, the airline is currently selling just four business class seats per flight. Since Lufthansa has so many different seating types in Allegris, what’s going on here is that only the business class suites in the first row are available for sale and have been certified, while all the other seat types haven’t.
So those lucky enough to be in business class on these flights will get the absolute best seats. On top of that, these have to be some pretty unique flights, where you’re in a business class cabin with just four seats occupied.
The goal was for all the seats to be certified by the end of 2025, but what’s the latest on that? Handelsblatt reports on a town hall that Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr just had, where he shared the latest on this.
Lufthansa has now started selling all the seats in the 787 business class cabin for flights as of May 1, 2026, with the plan being to block all but four seats through April 30, 2026. However, at this point that just seems like an educated guess, and there’s nothing magical about that timeline, so it could be that the new cabins still aren’t certified by May, which sure could get messy.
Spohr acknowledged that a lot of the Allegris cabin issues are because during the pandemic, the airline cut costs, with the possibility of bankruptcy looming. That included cutting investments in getting the cabins certified. Spohr acknowledged that “we’re still feeling the effects today.”
However, he defended the decision to introduce a highly complex in-house product, rather than buying an off-the-shelf model, arguing that the average revenue generated for Allegris seats is up to 10% higher. I’d love to see his math on that, and how he arrives at that conclusion!
Bottom line
Lufthansa has had serious issues with getting its new Boeing 787s into service, due to lack of certification with the new business class seats. The airline has around 15 of these planes ready to go, but only four business class seats on each aircraft have been certified. So some of the planes have entered service, but 24 of the 28 business class seats have to be blocked, which can’t be great from a revenue perspective.
While the goal was to get these seats certified by the end of the year, obviously that timeline hasn’t stuck. However, Lufthansa has started selling the “full” Allegris cabins on these planes for flights as of May 1, 2026. So it sounds like the airline expects it will take several months for issues to be resolved. Even the May timeline may be too optimistic, though.
This Allegris rollout really hasn’t been very smooth, to put it mildly. First the airline had to fly A350s with the space of the first class cabin empty. Then Lufthansa parked brand new 787s for many months due to not getting the seats certified. Never mind that SWISS has introduced the same product, and will have to install a 1.5 ton weight in the back of A330s, because first class is too heavy.
What do you make of Lufthansa’s Dreamliner drama?
