Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) has scheduled the long-haul debut of its first B787-9 for December 1, 2022, and plans to deploy the type daily between Frankfurt International and New York Newark initially.

The first of five white-tail B787-9s originally assigned to Hainan Airlines and eventually picked up by Lufthansa, D-ABPA (msn 62730) was delivered to Germany on August 29, 2022. Following a series of training and certification flights, the aircraft entered into revenue service on October 19 but currently operates short-haul domestic flights between Frankfurt and Munich for crew familiarisation flights.

The B787-9 is configured for up to 294 passengers, including 247 economy class seats, 21 in premium economy, and 26 in business class. It is only the second subfleet in Lufthansa's fleet to feature business class with direct aisle access for all aircraft, following four A350-900s scooped second-hand from Philippine Airlines. All aircraft originally built for Lufthansa have a six-abreast configuration in business class, although this is about to change when the carrier introduces the new cabin configuration on the new B787-9s that it expects to start taking in mid-2023.