Lufthansa has revealed the “upgrade” of it A320 fleet, and it’s named it ‘Neue Europa Kabine’ – Or in English – New European Cabin.
(Slight definition matter – A320 fleet refers to family aircraft based on the A320 model, inculding the A319, A320 and A321)
And the bad news is – more seats are going in the aircraft. The semi good news is howeverm these will be slimline seats that weigh less, have less padding, and less depth, so they can squeeze 5% to 10% more seats (one or two rows) depending on the aircraft whilst trying to not encroach on current seat space.
The reconfiguration along with Lufthansa’s fleet size will give the equivelent of 12 A320’s worth of capacity with out spending the outlay on the phsyical hardware.
The refurbs of the A320 fleet will begin in December 2010 according to Lufthansa’s deputy chairman, Christoph Franz, with the project lasting about a year. .
Quoting him:
“We’ll have not only a very nice new cabin, with lighter seats, but also with more seats available for the same living space for customers.”
He also stresses that the increased capacity of the aircraft does not
“take anything away from passengers but will lower unit costs on the European fleet quite substantially”.
No matter how you dress it up, even with new slimline seats with near enough no padding you can feel the metal on your backside, it’s going to get an awful lot tighter on the A320’s soon…..
