November 25, 2020 / Lufthansa (LH) is launching a ‘new product’ trying to fight back the most destructive effect of the Covid pandemic on commercial aviation: empty airplanes. And the bigger the airplane, the emptier it flies… The German national carrier already alienated forever its fleet of Boeing 747-400 and some of its Airbus A340-600, putting the rest of the A340 and the mighty A380 in long-term storage.

Now, LH is trialling beds in Economy class. Meaning that, following the example of a few other carriers around the world, Lufthansa will sell entire rows of Economy seats to passengers willing to fly in increased comfort by using the three-seat rows beside the windows of the airline’s Boeing 747-8 as a bed during night flights. Lufthansa is providing such passengers with a soft mattress, a cushion, and a blanket and says that all of the products are business class quality. The beds in Economy will be trialled on the Frankfurt-Sao Paulo rotation for about a month, in order to verify its appeal to passengers, before being eventually rolled out across all 747-8 operated flights.

Being the aim of the idea to ‘sell’ empty seats, the product is not bookable in advance, but passengers need to express their will for it directly at the gate of departure, either in Frankfurt or Sao Paulo, with any available space being sold on a first-come, first-served basis. Lufthansa didn’t share the price. However, aerotelegraph.com reports that the airline is charging 260USD for the privilege, which includes priority boarding. (Photo Lufthansa)