Lufthansa to invest €500 million in customisation, digitisation

The company is reacting to customer preferences with tailor-made digital offers. For example, travellers can already download 250 newspapers and magazines as eJournals, and over 200,000 downloads in February alone show how customers are enthusiastically welcoming the offering. Customers can ask the chatbot “Mildred” about the best prices for flights. They can also access current information regarding their flight with the Apple Watch while in the air.

Most recently, the airline group has been developing a new application for the “personal assistant” Google Home. The little device will soon be able to use text to speech technology to answer questions regarding upcoming Lufthansa flights.

“At Lufthansa, digitisation is much more than just developing new apps. We offer our clients state of the art technology to respond to their requests and provide them with the best possible support for their journeys,” says Harry Hohmeister, a member of the executive board of the Lufthansa Group and responsible for the Hub Airlines. He continued, “It isn’t just about major innovations – it’s also about all the little things that make travelling with us more pleasant, more comfortable and more personalised.”

New business class for Boeing Triple Seven X

As an ITB exclusive, the Executive Board of the Lufthansa Group announced another previously well-kept secret: The new Boeing Triple Seven X, planned to take off for the first time in 2020, will be getting a newly designed business class.

Perfect customisation and digitisation is also the theme of this newly-developed generation of seats: passengers can control their seats wirelessly using their own smartphones or tablets. The position of the seat, as well as the in-flight entertainment, can be controlled directly via their personal devices.

“This seat will be more than just a seat. It will meet the specific needs of customers – no matter whether they prefer to work or sleep, or whether they are travelling with their families or on their own for business,” says Hohmeister.