Lufthansa in-flight mood lighting

Lufthansa is the first airline worldwide to use a color palette of on-board lighting, designed to fit with the day and night-time biorhythms of passengers. Anybody who has ever traveled across time zones, especially internationally, knows about jetlag, which is what happens when your body clock gets out of sync, and when you don’t have enough sleep to fix the problem.

Lufthansa’s biorhythmic lighting is designed to help reset passenger body clocks, by providing the right type of light at the right time, such as emulating a pleasant restaurant atmosphere during mealtimes, and a soothing palatte to help make you drowsy and help you sleep.

Essentially, it’s warm light for relaxation during periods of rest, and cooler light for stimulation for more active phases.

The new lighting is aboard the airline’s high tech new Airbus A350-900 planes. The first destinations served will be Delhi and Boston, starting this month.

Altogether, the new A350-900 LED technology can provide around 24 different lighting settings. Lufthansa will also be re-fitting its Boeing 747-800s with the new lighting system.

Chronobiology, not mood lighting

According to Lufthansa, use of a range of lighting settings is based on findings from research in the field of Chronobiology and on known effects of our day and night-time biorhythms, including scientific findings by researchers Prof. Christian Gunga of Charité and by Dr. Achim Leder. Lufthansa developed the various lighting moods in collaboration with lighting designers from Kardorff Ingenieure in Berlin.

Eco-friendly aircraft

The A350-900 is now the world’s most advanced and most environmentally friendly long haul aircraft. It uses 25 percent less jetfuel, produces 25 percent fewer emissions, and is significantly quieter on take-off than comparable types of aircraft.

Lufthansa is stationing the first ten Airbus A350-900 aircraft in Munich. The aircraft will have space for 293 passengers – 48 in Business Class, 21 in Premium Economy and 224 in Economy Class.