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Lufthansa launches Premium Economy Class for business travellers

By BusinessNews Staff on March 10, 2014

Europe’s largest airline, Lufthansa, unveiled a new class for the first time in 35 years on the opening day of the largest travel exhibition in the world, the ITB Berlin. The Premium Economy Class bridges the gap between the airline’s improved Business Class and its Economy Class and along with First Class, brings to four the number of class options available to passengers. Demola Ojo reports…
The opening day of the annual ITB Berlin travel expo on Tuesday March 5 was expectedly filled with glitz and colour as service providers in the travel and hospitality industry from all corners of the globe converged on the historic German capital of Berlin to show off their products and services.

Lufthansa German Airlines was one of the first organisations to premiere a new product at the travel fair. At 10:30am prompt, Chief Commercial Officer of Lufthansa, Jens Bischof, addressed a press conference of journalists drawn from across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Responsible for Lufthansa’s sales activities in more than 80 countries and over 190 airport stations around the world, Bischof took little time in trumpeting the new features of the Premium Economy Class and the thinking behind the airline introducing a new class in addition to the three existing offerings.

Room for a New Class
“Following the introduction of our new full-flat Business Class, Lufthansa created a much wider gap between Economy and Business Class. After extensive research and customer feedback, we decided there is now room for a new Premium Economy Class, which offers considerably more space and comfort than Economy Class as well as many additional product features, but is closer to Economy Class than Business Class in terms of average prices,” Bischof revealed.

The Premium Economy Class is located within the cabin as a clearly identifiable separate compartment between Business and Economy Class. “The seat is the most important part of this new class with up to 50 per cent more room which create a new travel experience at an affordable price,” Bischof continued.

The new seats provide greater privacy thanks to each seat having its own wide armrest and a centre console between the seats. As a result, passengers have around one-and-a-half times as much room as Economy Class. The head rests can be set to the exact height desired and folded at the sides for added comfort and support. The seat also comes with height-adjustable foot rests. Practical features include a bottle holder, electrical socket, USB port and handheld remote which also doubles as a game console.

The new seats will gradually be fitted on the entire long-haul fleet and will be available from October this year and completed across 106 of the airline’s fleet by the summer of 2015. The new travel class can be booked from May.

“Our Premium Economy Class will create a completely new travel experience that combines affordability with greater comfort. The class will position us in a premium segment within the international competitive environment,” Bischof explained further.
The new product will enable Lufthansa to meet the requirements of many business and private passengers who travel with other airlines in a similar travel class or who fly Economy Class due to travel specifications.

The writer also tries the new Premium Economy seat

Additional Services
Apart from the new seats, additional services for Premium Economy passengers include a baggage allowance of two items weighing up to 23 kilogrammes each, which means passengers can take twice as much free luggage with them compared with Economy Class.

Also for an extra 25 Euros, passengers can also enjoy the comfort of the Lufthansa Business Lounges before their departure. Lounges were previously only open to status customers and are otherwise unavailable on a paying basis.

On board the aircraft, Premium Economy passengers are provided with enhanced service. They are greeted with a welcome drink (just like Business Class) and will find their own water bottle as well as a high-quality amenity kit with practical travel accessories at their seat.

Meals are presented on menus commensurate with the new travel class and served on porcelain tableware, while drinks are served with class rather than plastic which is the practice in Economy Class.

Passengers can navigate the extensive in-flight entertainment programme using their own touchscreen monitor on the seat in front of them. This can also be done using a remote control, which serves as a controller for video games as well.
The screens are 12 inches which makes them at least 2 inches bigger than the screens in Economy Class, depending on the aircraft type. A wide selection of magazines and newspapers completes the range of entertainment on offer.

“We expect to see more than 1.5 million passengers per year in our new Premium Economy Class,” added Bischof.
Many of these customers are expected to be business travelers. According to Lufthansa’s statistics, 70 per cent of business travelers travel Economy Class due to corporate budgetary restrictions. The new Premium Economy Class is therefore targeted at this segment of passengers as well as business travellers who fly Premium Economy Class on other airlines that offer this class option .

[This Day]

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