EXCLUSIVE |Lufthansa's next generation of business class seats will adopt a new design which offers direct aisle access to every passenger, in what the Star Alliance member says will be an "all-new concept" for its forthcoming Boeing 777-9 jets due to take wing from 2020.

The move will see Lufthansa abandon its current business class layout (below), in which window passengers need to do a stretching step over their seatmate to reach the aisle, and adopt a configuration that's become the norm among the world's best business class cabins.

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"It will be a single seat approach so that every seat has a direct approach to the aisle," Lufthansa executive Harry Hohmeister confirmed toAustralian Business Travelleron the sidelines of a Star Alliance media briefing in Frankfurt.

"This single seat configuration is more or less a must for the next decade."

Hohmeister added that Lufthansa is working on this all-new "business class concept with a major seat manufacturer", with the final design to be locked down by the end of 2018.

Lufthansa wouldn't need to move to a conventional 1-2-1 seating layout, however: severalairlinesandseat manufacturersare now working on business class cabin designs which pack more passengers into the same floor space while still putting the aisle just one step away.

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This includesUnited Airlines' Polaris business class; the airline-agnosticZodiac Optimaversion of the same design (seen above and below); andBritish Airways' new Airbus A350 Club Worldseat due in 2019.

As first reportedbyAustralian Business Traveller, Lufthansa's new business class seat will be shared across the fleets of LH-owned Swiss and Austrian Airlines.

"It's a fantastic project, it's about innovation in not just the seat but everything around it,"Hohmeister enthuses.

"It's having more individual possibilities than just having a window or aisle seat. It also has to be around the inflight service, the preflight and after-flight service and all of that, to combine the human touch with the digital touch."

Lufthansa has already shared a mock-up of how a new app will let passengers use their smartphone or tablet to control the seat.

"This seat will be more than 'just' a seat. It will meet the specific needs of customers... whether they prefer to work or sleep, or whether they are traveling with their families or on their own for business."

Lufthansa is less certain on the role of first class in its Boeing 777-9s, andHohmeister admits that theneed for a first class cabin could be eliminated by a vastly improved business class.

"I think we will get close to that, and this is why we have to review what we do with first class, it's being investigated," he said.

"There are good opportunities with new business class concepts which are nearly as good as first class but more flexible in terms of cabin design (and) when you have a business class that is so close to first class that the differentiation for the customer will not be relevant any more."

"But maybe we will have abetteridea than just having first class, we are working on that now,"Hohmeister teased.

Hohmeister also added that the Boeing 777-9's premium economy seat would also be an "evolution" of the current design.

David Flynn travelled to Frankfurt as a guest of Star Alliance.

PREVIOUS |Lufthansa will introduce an all-new business class seat with the launch of its Boeing 777-9 in 2020, with the same seat also being rolled out on the Swiss and Austrian Airlines fleets.

The move towards a unified business class design across all three sibling airlines is intended to both lower costs and provide a more consistent passenger experience, especially on codeshare flights.

"We’re starting to design it now" Lufthansa Chairman and CEO Carsten Spohr (below) toldAustralian Business Travellerat this week's meeting of Star Alliance airlines in Chicago.

"Technically it will be the same seat – but when it comes to seat covers and the design of the cabin, I see an upside in being different and maintaining diversity on our aircraft, because we are not one brand."

Lufthansa has upgraded its fleet to the airline's latest business class...

... while Swiss has launched itsnext-generation business classon the airline's Boeing 777-300ER and will also roll it out to itsolder Airbus A340s.

Austrian Airlines already uses the same basic seat as the current Swiss design, with fully flat beds in a staggered configuration featuring the samepopular 'throne' seat.

Lufthansa's next-gen business class will take wing in 2020 on the first of theGerman flag-carrier's 34 Boeing 777-9 jets, althoughSpohr said it had not yet been determined if the jet would also feature first class.

David Flynn travelled to Chicago as a guest of Star Alliance