Lufthansa can finally sell its tricky new Boeing 787 business class after months of flying it mostly empty

• Lufthansa's Boeing 787 business class debacle is almost over after a yearslong certification delay.
• The airline has been flying some Dreamliners with only four of the 28 high-dollar seats sold.
• Lufthansa expects to boost the number of sellable 787 business-class seats to 25 by mid-April.

Lufthansa can finally start making money on its Boeing 787 Dreamliners after a certification debacle left one of its most lucrative cabins largely empty for months.

The German flag carrier said on Monday that it will begin selling tickets for its Allegris business class on the 787. Allegris, Lufthansa's signature cabin concept, spans economy, premium economy, business, and first class, but the business class rollout has been particularly tricky.

The program first launched on the Airbus A350 in May 2024, with the cabin spanning the entire plane. The first Allegris-equipped 787 followed in October 2025, but certification of business class dragged on due to the cabin's complexity: there are five staggered seat configurations in a single airplane cabin — some with doors or more legroom, others with extra-long beds.

This is because the Dreamliner's geometry — including a slightly tighter usable footprint and different fuselage contouring compared to the A350 — made it harder to demonstrate to regulators that passengers could evacuate quickly from every seat, whether staggered, partially enclosed, or fully cocooned, in an emergency.

The result? For months, only four of the 28 business class seats could be sold — the front-row Business Class Suites — leaving the remaining 24 empty. Business class is a cash cow for airlines, and by flying most of the cabin empty as competitors pour investments into their own premium seats, Lufthansa was essentially leaving money on the table.

It has been a particularly costly headache for a carrier in the midst of a multi-year turnaround plan to restore profitability after years of financial pressure from frequent maintenance, aircraft shortages, rising operating costs, and labor strikes.

Lufthansa even opted for an already-certified business-class seat to retrofit onto its Airbus A380s rather than risk another prolonged and costly certification process.

But the saga is nearing the finish line. Beginning April 15, Lufthansa plans to carry passengers in 25 business-class seats on its 787s, with three remaining blocked in the second row of the cabin.

Bookings are open, though it's unclear whether the news indicates the seats have been fully certified or if that's just Lufthansa's expected timeline.

Lufthansa said "Classic" seats — one of the Allegris categories available — are free to secure with the premium fare.

The others require an extra fee: this includes the first-row suites, the "Privacy" seat next to the window, the "Extra Space" seat with more legroom, and the "Extra Long Bed" with an over seven-foot sleeping surface.

The three second-row seats that are blocked — and not yet available for booking — are two privacy seats and an extra-legroom seat.

Lufthansa flies eight Allegris-equipped Dreamliners and expects to have 29 by the end of 2027.

They are set to first fly from Frankfurt to Rio de Janeiro, Bogota, Cape Town, Shanghai, Hyderabad, Hong Kong, and Austin; New York-JFK and Los Angeles join the roster in June, followed by Delhi in July.

As part of Lufthansa's greater multibillion-dollar fleet overhaul plan, Allegris is also being fit onto the airline's existing A350s and Boeing 747-8s, as well as its future, yet-to-be-certified Boeing 777Xs.

A similar spacing issue on the 747 double-deckers' upper level means it will have a split business class: the lower deck will have Allegris, while upstairs will feature the plane's original cabin.