With Lufthansa taking their first Airbus A321neo, there’s more than a few changes than a new plane – there’s also new seats too.
Lufthansa’s new seat by Geven – Image, Lufthansa Group
This marks the introduction of new seats – manufactured by Geven, and first revealed on Economy Class and Beyond a year or so ago at Aircraft Interior Expo.
Lufthansa Group lead representative, Geven Representative and three flight attendants from the three airlines getting these seats – Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa and Swiss International Airlines
The side view of the seat – pitched at 29″
Three airlines – one seat.
Aft view showing the document pocket at the top, tray table and customer net pocket – Images, Economy Class and Beyond.
The seat will be the same across three Lufthansa group airlines – Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian.
According to Lufthansa
The Italian manufacturer Geven clearly won the contract to produce the seat. The comfortable full-structure upholstery of the seat and the backrest ensure a noticeably pleasant sitting experience thanks to ergonomic pressure distribution. Thanks to the innovative slimming of the backrest, guests enjoy even more personal space. This is achieved by the newly developed horizontal arrangement of the literature bag above the table. In addition, travelling is not only more comfortable during the flight, but also during taxiing, take-off and landing: instead of the previous 12 degrees during these three phases, guests travel constantly comfortably with a 20 degree inclination of the backrest; business class guests can even adjust the backrest to 26 degrees during the cruise.
Each row of seats will have USB Ports installed – bringing USB Charging to the short-haul Lufthansa group cabin. Tablets can also be set up with a tablet holder in the seat.
It’s a step change for Lufthansa, who for the first time will introduce a harmonised cabin for all three airlines (as hinted some time ago). There will be design elements that will make each plane recognisable to the owner – whereas the savings go to the larger cost intensive parts. It also allows Lufthansa Group to transfer the aircraft around the group easily, with a common interior that would need only a few elements replaced, and a fresh coat of paint.
In quotes
Paul Estoppey, Head of Product Management Cabin Lufthansa Group Hub Airlines said
“Many customer feedbacks have been incorporated into the design of the seat. We received a lot of positive feedback on the new features. We are therefore convinced that the new seat and the modern ambience of the cabin will further improve the travel comfort of our guests,”
As for Essenza.
Geven’s Essenza seat is a short-haul seat as you can see. It comes it at 7.9kg per seat, whilst offering 18″ seat width. The seats will be pitched between 29″ and 28″ depending where they’re laid out in the plane.
Geven are due to ship 50 shipsets to be fitted aboard the common cabin configuration that Lufthansa will be using.
I tried the seat in a 29″ configuration, and it seemed to be comfortable enough with the foams, covers and the design that uses a firm carbon-fibre structure, with seating that’s designed for easy maintenance.
For those who prefer the NEK seat (by Recaro), this will remain in-cabin for now, as the Essenza’s will be deployed in new aircraft.
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29″ is comfortable??? Airlines adopt slimline seats to fit more seats, not to increase the space. I wonder if LH really used the slimline to increase the pitch…
28”-29” row pitch?
NO THANKS!
I’m 5’8” and in halfway decent shape for a person my age (W32 Levi’s jeans), and I find anything less than 32” unpleasant, with 31” the absolute bare minimum for flights up to three hours maximum.
I absolutely will NOT fly in any aircraft with row pitch under 31” for more than 90 minutes.
Period.
And again, that’s for a person who’s barely 5’8” and in halfway decent shape.
I can only imagine how horrible these despicable and shameful 28”-29” row pitched seats would be for those taller than myself.
This is appalling and disgusting!
Maybe if the greedy ghouls that think this bs is even remotely “acceptable” were strapped into these revoltingly sadistic, no legroom seats packed into such appallingly narrow rows for 3-6 hours whenever they fly instead of being pampered, fawned over and cosseted in seats with more legroom (or even widths) in premium cabins, this greed-fueled insanity and sadism would come to an end.
But 28”-29” row pitch?
Are you freakin’ kidding!
NFW