The Spanish IAG member Iberia wants to equip its existing A320neo series aircraft with new overhead bins from Elbe Flugzeugwerke. These are the so-called L-Bins, which the competitor Lufthansa has already decided on.

The new hand luggage compartments should be characterized in particular by the fact that they have more storage space and allow trolleys in the IATA standard format to also be inserted vertically. Iberia expects this to speed up entry and exit.

Over the last decade, it has become an industry standard in Europe that check-in luggage in economy class on scheduled flights is only possible for an additional charge. The result of this: In order to save money, more and more passengers are only traveling with hand luggage and this is making the overhead bins in the cabins quite cramped. It happens again and again that trolleys etc. have to be loaded due to a lack of available storage space.

“We are proud to announce this agreement with Airbus, one of our key partners, as Airbus' new L compartments enable us to improve our customers' experiences. The new overhead bins increase carry-on baggage capacity on our A320neo fleet by 60%. “In addition, this improvement also results in faster boarding and deplaning, making it easier for us to meet our strict on-time targets and provide excellent service to our customers,” said Alberto Garcia, Fleet Planning Director at Iberia.

The conversion of the cabins will take place from the beginning of 2025 under the management of Iberia's technical operations. This process is expected to take approximately five days per aircraft.