The Lufthansa Group has so far relied on a growing premium economy class for long-haul routes. For example, it was recently announced that this class of carriage is to be increased in the Boeing 767 fleet at Austrian Airlines. Group boss Carsten Spohr has now announced that the actually planned downsizing of the business class will be reconsidered in favor of the premium eco.

Before the corona pandemic, many airlines had to struggle with the fact that more and more companies booked business class due to internal travel regulations. Fewer and fewer private travelers also afforded this generally high-priced class of transport. The solution should bring the premium economy, which is located exactly between eco and business. Many carriers were quite successful with this.

However, the corona crisis led to a change in booking behavior. Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr explained in an interview with the Handelsblatt that, especially in transatlantic traffic to the United States of America, significantly more business class tickets can be sold than before the corona pandemic. The extent is so surprising for the group of companies that they now want to act in order to benefit as much as possible from the “business boom”.

So there should not be less “C-seats” in the long-haul aircraft. The expansion of the premium economy class should not result in a downsizing of the business class, but of the economy class. The Lufthansa CEO told Handelsblatt: "We are currently checking whether we should not leave the size of the business class unchanged and increase the premium economy at the expense of the economy class".