Here’s a novel way to while away the time and burn away some calories during those interminable long-distance flights: an exercise bike suitable for inflight use.

The airline which brought us an award-winning toilet in the Airbus A380 has now created an aircraft-ready stationary exercise bike for frequently-flying fitness fanatics.

Boffins at Lufthansa Technik – Lufthansa’s engineering, maintenance, repair and overhaul service division – revealed the bike at the close of last week’s Aircraft Interiors Expo at Hamburg.

It uses the same lean-back recumbent design as seen in many lifestyle gyms, but don’t expect to hit the same rpm as you would on the ground due to the cabin pressure at altitude and lower oxygen concentration in the air.

FlightGlobal reports that Lufthansa Technik took an off-the-shelf product made by Italy-based Technogym and modified it to satisfy aviation regulations.

Taking off soon are Lufthansa’s new Airbus A380 planes, which have been lavishly decorated—in the first-class cabin, at least. Gone are the tiddly toilets and basins, and in their place are separate washing and changing rooms.

It all reeks of first-class cash, and interestingly Lufthansa chose to keep the open plan design for the seating area instead of opting for separate cabins, due to customer feedback.

Instead, there’s “sound-absorbing curtains” and “sound-absorbing carpeting” which blocks the hub-bub and noise of the economy-class from leaking into the first-class.

Britain’s BMI is being taken over by  Lufthansa for €400m (£318m).

Lufthansa, which already owns just under 30% of BMI, has bought the 50% owned by BMI chairman Sir Michael Bishop, taking its stake to 80%. The remaining 20% of BMI is owned by Sweden-based Scandinavian Airlines, which has said it also wants to sell.

The deal will give Lufthansa the second largest share of takeoff and landing slots at London’s Heathrow airport, behind British Airways. BMI holds 11.4% of the slots at Heathrow, second only to BA’s 41.5%.

Lufthansa has firmed up its second major takeover in the European air transport sector since the 2005 acquisition of Swiss International Air Lines, announcing that it is taking control of Brussels Airlines.

The acquisition gives Lufthansa access to the intra-European market, as well as a relatively broad African network. The deal was announced in Brussels on Monday afternoon.

Lufthansa initially buys 45% of Brussels for EUR65 million. It plans to take the remaining 55% in 2011 when Belgian’s bilateral air service agreements with non-EU countries are renegotiated to allow for foreign majority ownership. The acquisition price will depend on Brussels’ financial performance in the next three year, but will not exceed EUR250 million, Lufthansa stated. Synergies are expected to be around EUR50 million from 2011 when the full takeover has been completed.

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