
Lufthansa’s new business class design includes some extra-wide single middle seats. Calling Captain Kirk! (Image: Lufthansa)
Lufthansa won’t start flying new Boeing 777-9s for another three years, but it just revealed some details of its new business class for those aircraft, and the cabin has some unique innovations.
For one thing, the new design gives future business class customers a choice. “Depending on their personal needs, customers can choose between seats with more desk space or a higher degree of privacy,” Lufthansa said.

Window seats also have a choice of configurations. (Image: Lufthansa)
The seats in the new design are laid out on alternate rows of 1-2-1 and 1-1-1. The single middle seats have about twice as much desk space as other seats. Some observers are referring to them as “throne seats” but we’ve called them “Captain Kirk” seats, too.
The cabin also provides what Lufthansa claims will be “the best possible sleep up above the clouds.” Seat-beds are 86.6 inches long, and “the construction of the back rest makes it possible for the shoulder to sink in when you are lying on your side,” the company said. “This keeps the spine straight and makes it possible for side sleepers to also benefit from ideally healthy and relaxing sleep.”
Lufthansa said the new seat and cabin designs were created after conducting in-depth research with more than 500 of its regular customers.
Even before the new business class seating is introduced in 2020, Lufthansa said, it will deploy new business class mattresses, duvets and pajamas starting early next year.

Rendering of a Lufthansa 777-9. (Image: Boeing)
The next-generation 777-9, which has also been referred to as the 777X, will be the largest-ever twin-engine jetliner. Lufthansa is a launch customer for the new Boeing plane.
Bloomberg News is reporting that Lufthansa has ordered 34 of the 777-9s, and that they will eventually replace its 747-400s and A340-600s – although unlike those two aircraft, the new 777-9s will not have a first class cabin. The 777-9s will reportedly have 45 to 60 business class seats, but the final seating configuration of the new planes hasn’t yet been finalized.
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