Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) is facing additional issues on top of its existing B787-9 delivery delays, with German media reporting that the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has yet to certify new business class seats on the type.
According to Der Spiegel, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said at an internal event that Boeing will soon have finished 15 of the B787 it has on order and that Allegris business class seats have been installed on six of the aircraft. However, the report suggests that the FAA has delayed the certification of the seats that have been produced by Collins Aerospace.
Lufthansa already has Allegris seats in business class on its A350-900s, but these were produced by Thompson Aero and not Collins Aerospace. Lufthansa previously announced that its business-class seats would be produced by Stelia Aerospace, Collins Aerospace, and Thompson Aero.
The FAA told ch-aviation it does not comment on ongoing certification events, while Lufthansa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ch-aviation fleets data shows that Lufthansa has five B787-9s in its fleet with 34 of the aircraft type on order. However, those five were picked as whitetails and do not have the Allegris business-class seats, thus avoiding the certification kerfuffle. Five of the aircraft on order already have assigned German registrations.
