Lufthansa second A380 on Tokyo route, named München

Named München it seats a total of 526 passengers

Just two months since delivery of its first Airbus A380, Lufthansa has received the second of the type in Hamburg. The second Lufthansa A380 is named München, and like the first, the A380 seats a total of 526 passengers.

The Lufthansa A380 First Class cabin is an entirely new design, with eight pretty ordinary seats on the upper deck. Lufthansa claim it reflects individuality, superior comfort and technical innovation, however in the A380 Lufthansa havent gone for any of the big changes such as double beds (with Singapore) or inflight showers (in Emirates). Nor are there the individual cabins and sliding doors that make some First Class areas a narrow corridor. Instead, there is a pretty standard clean cabin, with 8 seats, in two rows, of a 1-2-1 layout. However there is the famous Lufthansa First Class washroom, with a vast hotel like bathroom, with wash and changing areas separated from the lavatory area, and even a four seater sofa.

There is a huge sink, and even a flower vase, to hold, of course, a Lufthansa rose.

The upper deck also accommodates Lufthansa A380 Business Class cabin with 98 seats. Business Class equally not that innovative. Lufthansas standard Business Class seat is at least a flat bed, and the seat that converts into a comfortable, two-metre-long bed. Its been tweaked a bit, and has a few extra functions. There is a slightly larger luggage bins, and side storage at the window which is quite good. The TV is large, and like economy has a USB for charging or playing media from your mobile devices.

Business class is on the upper deck of Lufthansas A380 sharing with First Class, and like the First Class cabin , boards straight from the lounge into the upper deck of the plane, so you never have to see those in the cheap seats.

The Lufthansa A380 Economy Class seats quite frankly are not a major advance, but its certainly up there in the world class with 420 seats.

There are slimmer seat backs which make the seats a bit harder, however this also gives slightly more space - an additional five centimetres of personal space and legroom at knee level no less. Alas seat pitch is a pretty woeful 31inches, although that is 2 inches more than on other Lufthansa planes.

There is a decent sized TV screen, which also has a USB port, so you can plug in your own music, films, or documents to read, or use it to charge cameras & ipods. There is also a power connector for laptops, which fits UK plugs, as well as all the other standard variants (except South African).

One last innovation was actually created by McDonnell Douglas in the 1970s - a beverage holder which works without the table having to be folded down.

There are personal video screens in every class on the Lufthansa A380. Most airlines have had these for years, however Lufthansa had held out for some time in installing them in economy. Now, however, Lufthansa has not only seatback TV screens in the A380, but also full AVOD (Audio Video on Demand) using the Panasonic eX2 IFEC system, It has a rack of feature films, some documentaries and short comedies, and a long list of CDs which you can combine into a playlist. The video games have also been dramatically improved, and are almost PC standard.

There is the usual moving map showing the flight position as a 3D animation, and there are a couple of external video cameras that show the landing and takeoff from the tailfin. Airlines like SAS have had them for a decade, but they are a revolution at Lufthansa.

The Lufthansa’s second A380 in the Lufthansa fleet will raise frequencies from Frankfurt to Tokyo from three times a week to daily services from August the 2nd 2010.

From September the 1st 2010, Lufthansa is to begin flying thrice-weekly from Frankfurt to Peking (now known as Beijing) with its third A380.

The superjumbo will take off for Peking on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with return flights each time on the following day. This route will become a daily flight, when the fourth A380 joins the fleet at the end of October 2010.

The fourth Lufthansa A380 allows another route From October 25th 2010, when the airline is planning to commence thrice weekly flights with its flagship A380 between Frankfurt and Johannesburg.

These flights will be available ex Frankfurt on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. The return flights from Johannesburg will each be operated on the following day.