Lufthansa Announces New A340-300 Configuration, Eliminates First Class
Joe Cortez October 10, 2014
Lufthansa announced a new seating configuration for the A340-300s in its fleet that cuts first class and adds more economy offerings.
Responding to market demands, Lufthansa could start flying reconfigured Airbus A340-300 as early as 2015. FlightGlobal reports that Lufthansa will start renovating the majority of its A340-300 fleet to a new configuration — internally known as “Jump” — with the first aircraft ready to fly by the third quarter of 2015.
The new Jump platform will cut first class entirely out of the reconfigured A340-300s and significantly reduce business-class seating. Instead, the new configuration will focus primarily on economy and premium-economy seating. The new platform will increasing the passenger capacity to about 300, or by around 13 percent to 35 percent compared to previous arrangements.
Officials at Lufthansa were quick to point out that the Jump project is not to be confused with plans of forming a low-cost international airline under its “Wings” brands. Instead, the Jump platform is intended to better answer to the needs and demands of customers.
“Jump is the first line of defense in long-haul and it’s not a separate brand,” Lufthansa CCO Jens Bischof told Flightglobal. “Jump is an adapted platform where we fly according to the market needs.”
Lufthansa plans to convert 14 of its 19 A340-300s to the Jump configuration, with the first three ready to operate out of Frankfurt Airport (FRA) by the third quarter of 2015. Older A340s will be utilized in order to reduce capital costs. There is no timeline on converting all of the aircraft. Lufthansa officials say that, as a result of the new platform, operating costs will be reduced by 20 percent compared to other core operations.
[Photo: iStock]
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Thanks for the report, Joe Cortez! IMHO at least the communication is crystal clear: “Jump is the first line of defense in long-haul and it’s not a separate brand,” Lufthansa CCO Jens Bischof told Flightglobal. The CCO just speaks about the line of defense and not an aggressive approach to gain back market shares. IMHO ist is just the continuance of many decisions of the last years which really undermine the future prospects of the company. The right move would have been the reduction from 8 to four seats of First Class (=1 row). Even if Lufty wouldn't be able to sell that seats as a stand alone product this would have been the ultimate incentive for all fliers who endure the NEK short-haul product all the year round. Just do a mix calculation between the turnovers of the NEK C product and the miles collected. And then offer those First Class seats for a fair mileage upselling to travellling families/frequent customers with their spouse. That would enable Lufthansa to be a true five star carrier on all routes. With that new "jump" offer Lufthansa is no longer able to sell round-the-world tickets and accommodate passengers paying First Class in the corresponding class of service. So another devaluation and just imitating the strategy of other airlines. The bold move would have been to offer First Class fleetwide on all long-haul services. And use an intelligent mix of Full fares, reduced offers and upselling instruments. So it's just another LAN Chile without First Class and the 2-2-2 seating in Business as best option available.
Rouge does seem to be working for Air Canada but recently when I was about to make a booking with them and read 28 pages of passenger comments, I changed my mind and chose Air Canada itself. The comments (all complaints) were about seat pitch, discomfort, bad service, particularly on the long haul flights. My flight is from Dublin to Toronto. They may or may not be true, although 28 pages seems a good sample, but it certainly put me off trying them.
They just modifed the 340 fleet with the new business class which is not even 100% finished and now the next configuration change, no wonder they are not able to make money.. in addition they also have a program to add premium economy. Sorry but a little bit of consitancy might help
Rouge seems to be working for AC, and AF has COI - LH seems to be making a smart decision to use older aircraft that have low ownership costs and higher seating capacity for target markets, without ruining the brand (same J, W, Y seats). I wish them good luck!
So they gave up to airlines like Qatar and Emirates.