Commercial Aviation
Lufthansa Opens Majority of Allegris Business Class Seats on Boeing 787-9
Lufthansa now allows booking of 25 out of 28 Allegris Business Class seats on Boeing 787-9 for travel from April 2026 amid certification completion.
This article is based on an official press release from Lufthansa Group, with additional context from industry reporting.
Lufthansa has officially opened reservations for its new “Allegris” Business Class cabin on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, marking a significant step forward in the carrier’s premium product rollout. According to a press release issued by the Lufthansa Group on February 16, 2026, passengers can now book these seats for travel commencing April 15, 2026.
The announcement resolves a complex operational challenge that has affected the airline’s Dreamliner fleet for several months. While the aircraft have been flying since October 2025, regulatory hurdles previously restricted the airline from selling the vast majority of its Business Class inventory. With the new certification in place, 25 of the 28 Business Class seats are now fully approved for passenger use.
Jens Ritter, CEO of Lufthansa Airlines, described the certification as a critical development for the airline’s customer experience. In a statement, Ritter emphasized the importance of the approval for the upcoming travel season.
“Allegris is an experience in all classes; the approval of the majority of seats in Business Class on the Boeing 787-9 is an important milestone for Lufthansa, and above all, great news for our customers!”
, Jens Ritter, CEO of Lufthansa Airlines
The path to this launch has been unusual for the German flag carrier. Although the first Boeing 787-9s equipped with the Allegris cabin entered service in October 2025, the airline faced significant restrictions. According to reporting by Runway Girl Network and FlightGlobal, Lufthansa was previously permitted to sell only four of the 28 Business Class seats on these flights due to pending safety certifications from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
For months, these aircraft operated what industry observers termed “ghost flights” in the premium cabin, flying with physically installed but legally blocked seats. The primary cause of the delay, as noted in industry reports, involved the complex certification requirements for the new seat architecture, specifically regarding head and neck injury criteria during safety testing.
While the majority of the cabin is now bookable, full certification is not yet complete. Lufthansa confirmed that three seats in the second row, specifically seats 2A, 2E, and 2K, remain blocked from sale. These seats correspond to the “Extra Space” configuration, a throne-style seat offering expanded work surfaces. The airline indicates that technical adjustments are still required to meet final safety standards for this specific row. The Allegris product represents a shift away from standard seating to a modular approach where passengers can select seats based on specific attributes. On the Boeing 787-9, the cabin features five distinct seat types:
Lufthansa has outlined the deployment schedule for the certified aircraft. The eight Allegris-equipped Boeing 787-9s currently stationed in Frankfurt will serve the following routes immediately for the summer schedule:
Additional North American routes will follow, with New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX) scheduled for June 2026, and Delhi (DEL) added in July 2026. The airline projects a total fleet of 29 Boeing 787-9s by the end of 2027.
The unblocking of 85% of the Business Class cabin is operationally vital for Lufthansa. Flying widebody aircraft with a mostly unsellable premium cabin is a massive revenue drain, particularly during high-yield periods. By securing this certification before the peak summer 2026 season, Lufthansa can finally begin to monetize the substantial investment it has made in the Allegris hard product.
However, the continued blocking of Row 2 highlights the engineering challenges inherent in highly customized cabin configurations. The “Extra Space” seats are among the most desirable in the cabin; their unavailability suggests that the specific geometry of the “throne” layout presents unique safety hurdles that standard configurations do not. Until these final three seats are cleared, the airline will continue to operate with a slight capacity inefficiency, though the return of the other 21 seats is the decisive factor for profitability.
Sources:
Lufthansa Opens Majority of Allegris Business Class for Booking on Boeing 787-9
Resolution of Certification Delays
From “Ghost Flights” to Revenue Service
Specific Seat Restrictions Remain
Allegris Product and Route Network
A Modular Cabin Concept
Launch Destinations
AirPro News Analysis
Photo Credit: Lufthansa