Lufthansa to offer premium economy class next year

JAKARTA. German carrier Lufthansa is set to introduce its latest premium economy and improved business classes to passengers in Indonesia mid-next year to help attract the country’s growing affluent middle class.

Andrew Kim, Lufthansa’s newly appointed country manager for Indonesia, said that the airline planned to introduce the new services to the domestic market in early June 2015.

“We see a lot of growth in Indonesia, especially the growing middle class, and the government is enhancing infrastructure as well. So we see a lot of opportunities here. We hope that our new products next year will further stimulate demand for our services,” Andrew said in Jakarta on Friday.

The airline currently operates a five-times weekly service between Jakarta and Frankfurt, Germany, via Kuala Lumpur, using its Airbus A340-300s, which have a two class configuration comprising 225 economy-class seats and 42 business-class seats.

In June next year, its aircraft on the Jakarta route will have cabins in a three class configuration: economy, premium economy and business.

The premium economy passengers will have a check-in allowance of two bags, each up to 23 kilograms, while economy class passengers may check in only one bag up to 23 kilograms.

The premium economy passengers will also have about 50 percent more space than those in economy class, with a wider 23.5-inch seat, each with its own arm rest, and onboard, they will be greeted with a welcome drink.

In addition, Andrew said that Lufthansa might in the future connect its hub in Frankfurt to secondary cities in Indonesia such as Medan, because of the country’s healthy economic growth projection.

“At the moment we are assessing and evaluating the market. We want to increase our capacity to Indonesia with a different type of aircraft, but of course we will be looking into secondary cities in Indonesia when we see the demand,” he added.

He said that the current Jakarta–Frankfurt flight service via Kuala Lumpur was healthy, with an around 80 percent load factor.

Lufthansa began its service to Indonesia on July 3rd 1967 with a Boeing B707 aircraft, which flew 19 hours from Germany via Athens, Karachi, Bombay and Bangkok before touching down at Jakarta's old Kemayoran Airport.( Nurfika Osman)