Lufthansa Technik has unveiled an extension of its Explorer new wide-body VIP cabin concept. The Brabus Adventure Lounge enables on-site excursions with motorcycles carried on board.

The Explorer design concept was first unveiled at the Monaco Yacht Show last September. It is based on the current trend for superyachts that fulfill two wishes for their owners: To take them almost anywhere at any time and to serve them at their destination as an individual hotel and base camp for a wide variety of leisure activities and excursions. Lufthansa Technik's specialists have chosen the Airbus A330 as the platform for realising these customer wishes in private aviation. As a classic widebody aircraft, it offers sufficient space for a large number of novel cabin ideas and also a sufficiently large range to fulfill the special wishes of the Explorer target group.

Within the overarching theme of "explorers and adventure", there is now an exclusive extension: in collaboration with world renowned luxury mobility brand Brabus, a special Adventure Lounge has been designed in the rear part of the lower deck, which can be viewed from the main deck through a glass floor. Similar to the "tenders and toys garage" of a superyacht, a selection of additional vehicles can be stored here for discovery tours after landing. The all-new Explorer design features the first and strictly limited Brabus motorcycle, the Brabus 1300 R, created in collaboration with leading Austrian motorcycle manufacturer KTM. As part of this exclusive partnership, the featured Brabus 1300R models are not only housed here, but also attractively presented to guests and passengers. The Brabus Adventure Lounge can easily be accessed from the main deck via a convenient staircase. The expansion of this lounging to include an area for servicing the mobile treasures or housing additional mobility equipment can be easily represented.

"In addition to the floor extending from the front fuselage area to form a veranda and the projection surfaces for virtual content integrated on a large scale in the cabin design, the Brabus Adventure Lounge perfectly rounds off our concept for world explorers," explains Jan Grube, sales director in VIP and special mission aircraft services. "This flying platform provides its guests with a very individual base camp for further activities anywhere in the world, which is now extended by an exciting element with the Brabus Adventure Lounge. We are particularly pleased to have Brabus, a globally renowned partner, at our side for the realisation of this feature."

For the Brabus Adventure Lounge, the corresponding area in the cargo hold was designed in such a way that both the safe and appealing transport of the motorcycles is possible and the passengers also have access to their treasures. For this purpose, it is possible to build on an existing solution for the crew rest areas, which already includes solutions for stairs and access hatches to the cargo. Another area of focus is the safe transport of equipment of all kinds. Here, existing features and procedures for transporting cargo on board such aircraft must be taken into account.

Because of its many potential uses, Lufthansa Technik will use the Explorer concept as an ideas laboratory to elaborate and present in more detail in the future further ideas and technologies that currently exist only on the drawing board.

Lufthansa Technik's special aircraft services unit is experiencing continued high demand for technical services for VIP, government and business aircraft even as international commercial air traffic recovers. The company has an excellent workload for the next few years, with only a few slots still available.

Michael von Puttkamer, vice president special aircraft services at Lufthansa Technik, comments: "Our special aircraft services business was one of the few areas of Lufthansa Technik that was not affected by the massive pandemic-related impact on international aviation in recent years. The extensive technical support provided to VIP, government and business aircraft during the crisis period was a central pillar of the company's economic recovery over the past 12 months. It is all the more important that the high level of demand continues in the coming years. Our current order situation is one of the best in the company's history. We have therefore already taken various measures in recent months, such as adding more staff, to adjust our structures and processes so that we can handle all projects to the absolute satisfaction of our customers despite high capacity utilisation."

The excellent order situation relates not only to completions with their high-quality new cabin installations for aircraft of government and private VIP customers, but also to the corresponding modification and maintenance services. In addition to its core business with this clientele, Lufthansa Technik has long been providing technical services for military customers, such as the German Air Force, but also for the air forces of other Western nations. In both areas the company sees very good growth opportunities for the next few years, for example in the field of security products, which are currently experiencing increased demand, especially from government customers. Lufthansa Technik has also established a new defence programmes business unit to further strengthen its activities with military customers.

Wieland Timm, head of sales VIP and special mission aircraft services at Lufthansa Technik, added: "In addition to our decades of experience and our well-known high quality standards, our extremely broad product portfolio is another reason for our customers to entrust themselves to us. No other provider in this particular business segment can offer such a range of services from a single source for both the entire Boeing and the entire Airbus family in the areas of cabin, airframe and engines. This is because we offer not only technical services but also comprehensive engineering and design capabilities, as our latest Explorer VIP cabin concept clearly demonstrates. Our international network and mobile maintenance services also help us to be as close to the customer as possible."

Lufthansa Technik has been providing technical services to VIP and government customers for more than 60 years. Among other things, the company has already implemented more than 150 completions and major modifications. Last year, as part of a restructuring, the company reorganised the original equipment and special aircraft services (OES) segment as one of a total of five major business segments. This segment combines all competencies in the areas of cabin completions and conversions, cabin products and maintenance services. As a result, the broad customer group of VIP and special mission customers with their individual requirements can be optimally served from a single source, from individual production to series production of cabin products designed by Lufthansa Technik, such as in-flight entertainment and cabin management systems, as well as special engineering services.