Lufthansa's A350-1000 Starts on Munich–Tokyo on 3 December — and Shares the Route With a Smaller Allegris Jet

Lufthansa has given its newest aircraft a first job. On 15 October 2026 the airline confirmed that D-AIFA “Deutschland”, the first of its Airbus A350-1000s, will fly its first scheduled passenger service from Munich to Tokyo Haneda on 3 December 2026, with Shanghai and Singapore following in the weeks after.

Buried in the same announcement is a line that matters far more to anyone holding a booking. Lufthansa says these flights “will feature the Allegris cabin, flown alternately by the A350-1000 and A350-900”. In other words: the airline is promising you Allegris, and then telling you it will arrive in two different sizes, on the same flight number, depending on the day.

Which flight, and when

The route is Lufthansa's daily Munich–Haneda rotation, LH714 outbound and LH715 home. It has been an A350-900 service, and from 3 December the A350-1000 joins it rather than replacing it.

The aircraft itself is not in Germany yet. D-AIFA made its maiden flight from Toulouse on 5 October 2026 and is due to arrive in Munich on a ferry flight in mid-November, which leaves about three weeks between delivery and revenue flying. It is the first of 15 A350-1000s ordered by the Lufthansa Group for delivery through 2030, and the first ten are Lufthansa aircraft based at Munich.

Lufthansa has named three destinations for this aircraft: Tokyo first, then Shanghai and Singapore, without giving dates for the latter two. Other routes have been reported elsewhere; they are not in the airline's own announcement, so treat only those three as settled.

The two aircraft, side by side

The products are the same on both. Lufthansa has put the Allegris cabin into a longer fuselage rather than designing a new one, so the seats, the screens and the First suites are the ones already flying. What changes is how many of each there are, and that changes your odds more than it changes your seat.

Why 11 extra business seats matter

Business class grows from 38 seats to 49, a 29% increase, and premium economy from 24 to 35, a 46% increase. Economy barely moves, up 11 seats on an aircraft that is nine metres longer.

For anyone chasing an upgrade, a reward seat or simply a business fare that has not sold out, the A350-1000 days on this route are the better days. The same logic runs harder in premium economy, which on the A350-900 is a 24-seat cabin of four short rows and sells out early. Nearly half again as many seats is a materially different proposition on a route where the alternative is eleven hours in economy.

The First cabin is the exception, and it is the same on both: two single window suites and a centre Suite Plus that converts into a double bed. Lufthansa's own figure for the A350-1000 reads three to four seats, depending on whether the double counts as one suite or two. Either way, this is a cabin of three or four people, and whichever aircraft turns up it stays that small.

How to tell which one you are on

Open the seat map at booking and count the business cabin. It is unambiguous:

• 49 business seats and 35 premium economy, with premium economy starting at row 19 — the A350-1000.
• 38 business seats and 24 premium economy, business running rows 2–12 — the Allegris A350-900.
• A uniform 2-2-2 business cabin and no First at all — one of Lufthansa's older A350-900s. Lufthansa has said these routes are all-Allegris, so this should not appear on LH714; if it does, your aircraft has been substituted and the cabin is a significant step down.

Check again a few days before departure. Lufthansa moves A350-900 sub-fleets between routes with little notice, and a swap does not just change the cabin — it moves your seat number into a different zone, because the row numbering does not transfer.

Best seats on each aircraft

The two aircraft use the same Allegris seats, but the row numbers do not carry across. On the A350-1000, the picks are the 2A/2K Business Suites, the privacy windows at 5A/5K, 7A/7K and 14A/14K, and the 24A/24B and 24J/24K economy pairs. The trap is row 12: its suites look like row 2, but 12A and 12K face a lavatory and 12D is a bassinet position. Our A350-1000 seat guide has the full row-by-row map.

On the A350-900 Allegris, which flies the other half of the departures:

• Business, solo: 2A or 2K — front-row Business Suites with a sliding door and the 24in screen. Failing those, the privacy window seats at 9A, 9K, 11A and 11K sit furthest from the aisle in the quieter rear cabin.
• Business, couples: 2D and 2G — the centre door suites, with an adjustable divider between them.
• Business, legroom: 4G, 6D, 10G and 12D are the Extra Long Bed seats, with a deeper footwell giving a 2.2m bed.
• Business, avoid: 8A, 8D, 8G and 8K back onto a lavatory. And the centre “throne” seats — 3E, 5F, 9E, 11F — look like the prize and have a narrow footwell that pinches at the shoulders.
• Premium economy: 14D, 14E and 14G at the centre bulkhead for legroom; 15A and 15K for windows just behind it.
• Economy: 20C and 20H are extra-legroom aisles at 34in, the standout picks; 21A and 21K are the window equivalents. Avoid rows 24–25 and 39–40, which sit beside lavatory clusters.

Our Lufthansa A350-900 seat guide has the full row-by-row breakdown for all three A350-900 cabins, including the two non-Allegris versions.

Lufthansa now has four A350 cabins

This is the part that makes “Lufthansa A350” an almost meaningless phrase. Across the fleet there are now four distinct layouts: the new A350-1000 at 300 seats; the Allegris A350-900 at 267; the older standard A350-900 at 48 business seats in 2-2-2 with no First, where window passengers have to climb over a neighbour to reach the aisle; and four ex-Philippine Airlines frames with a 1-2-1 business cabin of 30 seats and a denser economy.

Only two of those four are on the Munich–Tokyo rotation by Lufthansa's own account. But the other two are in the fleet, they fly other long-haul routes out of Frankfurt and Munich, and they are the reason the habit of checking the map is worth keeping even on a route the airline has declared all-Allegris.

Frequently asked questions

Which flight is the first A350-1000 service?

LH714, Munich to Tokyo Haneda, on 3 December 2026. LH715 is the return.

Does the A350-1000 have a better cabin than the A350-900?

Not a better one — a bigger one. Both carry the same Allegris products. The A350-1000 has 49 business seats against 38, and 35 premium economy against 24, so your chances of getting into a premium cabin are better, but the seat you sit in is the same design.

Can I book a specific aircraft type?

Not directly, but the seat map tells you what is scheduled. The two types alternate on the route, so if the business cabin and the premium economy cabin are the deciding factor, pick the date whose map shows 49 and 35.

How many First Class seats does the A350-1000 have?

Two single window suites plus a centre Suite Plus that makes up into a double bed. Lufthansa's own figure reads three to four seats depending on how the double is counted. It is the same First cabin as the Allegris A350-900.

Where are the A350-1000's best seats?

In Business, 2A and 2K for a suite, or 5A/5K, 7A/7K and 14A/14K for a privacy window. In economy, 24A/24B and 24J/24K are two-seat pairs with extra legroom. Avoid 10H, the 12A/12K suites and economy rows 28, 47 and 48. The full map is in our Lufthansa A350-1000 seat guide.

Check your own flight

Between 3 December and whenever the second and third A350-1000s arrive, Munich–Tokyo is a two-version route and the versions differ by 33 seats. Pull up the map for your date before you commit: Lufthansa A350-1000, Lufthansa A350-900, Lufthansa A380-800, or browse all aircraft seat guides.

Cabin configurations, routes and dates reflect Lufthansa's announcement of 15 October 2026 and its published A350-1000 seat map. Delivery and entry-into-service dates on new aircraft move; confirm the seat map for your own flight before booking.