Lufthansa has unveiled the first of eight retrofitted Airbus A380 as the superjumbo departed Munich Airport (MUC) for Los Angeles Airport (LAX).
On April 23, 2026, Lufthansa presented the completed redesign featuring 68 new business class seats on the A380’s top level, and routine maintenance work throughout the whole aircraft.
The seats were manufactured by Northern Ireland-based Thompson with a 58 cm seat width, a bed length of no less than two meters and flexible partitions.
The Lufthansa A380, named Mike-Charly and registered D-AIMC, left Germany on shortly after 12:30 and is due to land in the US just before 15:00.
Lufthansa announced in January 2026, plans to complete the “most extensive fleet renewal in its history,” with upgrade seating on its Airbus A380s, A350-900s and Boeing 747-8s.
The retrofit work is taking place at Elbe Flugzeugwerke in Dresden. Lufthansa said it took around 12 weeks to complete the first A380.
Work has already begun on the second A380, named Mike-Hotel and registered D-AIMH, which features the blue centenary anniversary livery and the XXL crane livery design.
The new business class seats also come with an 18-inch Panasonic screen with the option to use their own headphones via Bluetooth.
Also new are an interactive 3D moving map, cinema-quality sound, flight cameras, and a new intuitive user interface in all cabin classes.
“Lufthansa operates the only strong A380 fleet in the EU, stationed at our 5-star airport. The retrofit underscores our commitment to providing a topflight experience on the long-haul aircraft that is so popular with our customers. The new premium seats offer more privacy and significantly more comfort than before,” said Heiko Reitz, Hub Manager at Munich, Lufthansa Airlines in January 2026.
All eight A380s are scheduled to be retrofitted by mid-2027.
