Lufthansa’s new flagship is almost ready for its first passengers. In mid-November the airline’s first Airbus A350-1000 is due to fly from the Airbus plant in Toulouse to Munich. After final work by Lufthansa, it will carry its first guests on 3 December 2026, on the route from Munich to Tokyo Haneda. Shanghai and Singapore follow in the weeks after that. All three destinations will be served with the Allegris cabins, alternating between the A350-1000 and the smaller A350-900.
The aircraft, registered D-AIFA, is a milestone several times over. It is the 700th aircraft Airbus delivers to the Lufthansa Group and the seventh in the fleet to wear a special livery for the airline’s 100th anniversary. It also carries a name: “Deutschland”.
Four cabins, 300 seats
The A350-1000 is seven metres longer than the A350-900, at 73.8 metres, and seats 300 passengers in four classes. At the front are three or four First Class seats: two individual suites and one “Suite Plus”. Behind them come 49 Business Class seats, eight of them in suites, followed by 35 in Premium Economy and 212 in Economy.
For the premium cabins that is a clear step up. Lufthansa says the new flagship offers 40 per cent more Business and Premium Economy seats, and Heiko Reitz, board member of Lufthansa Airlines and Hub Manager Munich, says it strengthens the airline’s premium hub in Munich. “The commissioning of the new A350-1000 is part of the biggest fleet modernisation in the history of the Lufthansa Group,” he says.
Ten for Munich, fifteen in total
The Lufthansa Group has ordered 15 aircraft of the type, to be delivered by 2030. The first ten will fly for Lufthansa and be based in Munich. Two Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines power the aircraft, and with more than 50 per cent composite materials it uses around 25 per cent less fuel and emits correspondingly less CO₂ than the previous generation of aircraft, according to the airline.
Roger Hohl
Roger Hohl has been at the helm of Luxvisor since 2006. From his base in Switzerland he travels to test what the luxury travel industry promises, from the seat at 40,000 feet to the last course of a tasting menu, and writes about it with an independent eye.
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