Iberia and Lufthansa have signed on to retrofit bigger overhead baggage bins on their sizable fleets of A320s, allowing eight bags to travel where five went before. It will be a bit of a wait, though: Both airlines will start phasing them in in 2025.
Newer A320s already have larger bins, which Airbus calls the ‘XL’ bin. In a clever bit of engineering, Airbus has designed a new ‘L’ bin, with nearly the same dimensions as the XL that can replace the existing smaller bins using some of the existing parts so that the new bins use 30% fewer parts.
Baggage fees and airport delays are pushing more and more passengers into traveling with carry-ons rather than checked bags, and lack of bin space can hold up boarding as excess bags need to be gate-checked.
The new installations will be done as planes are called in for their standard maintenance time; the retrofit is said to take between 3 and 5 days. Neithr airline has said how many of its A320s will be retrofitted; it’s likely that the oldest units in the fleets may be left out as they approach retirement.
