Wikipedia

Eurowings

This article is about the German carrier. For its independent leisure sister airline, seeDiscover Airlines.

Eurowings GmbHis a German value airline[3]headquartered inDüsseldorf,North Rhine-Westphalia,[2]and a wholly owned subsidiary of theLufthansa Group.Founded in 1996, it serves a network of domestic and European destinations and maintains bases at several airports throughout Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic.

Eurowings GmbH
IATA ICAO Call sign
EW EWG EUROWINGS
Founded1 February 1990;34 years ago(1990-02-01)
Commenced operations1 January 1994;30 years ago(1994-01-01)
Operating bases
Frequent-flyer programMiles & More
SubsidiariesEurowings Europe
Fleet size139 (includingEurowings Europe)
Destinations152[1]
Parent companyLufthansa Group
HeadquartersDüsseldorf,North Rhine-Westphalia,Germany[2]
Key people
  • F. W. Weitholz (Chair)
  • Jens Bischof (CEO)
Websitewww.eurowings

Eurowings has gone through a major transformation in recent[when?]years. It was part ofLufthansa Regionaluntil October 2014. At that time, it began operating on behalf ofGermanwingswithin their network. Since spring 2015, Eurowings has been redeveloped into a value carrier for short- and long-haul flights. By October 2015, it had also started to incorporate Germanwings' route network as part of the merger of the two brands.[4]

Eurowings operates from bases in Germany, and its Maltese subsidiaryEurowings Europeoperates from bases in other European countries. All flights operated by both carriers are scheduled, marketed and sold by Eurowings.

History

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Early years

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The airline was formed on 1 February 1990, following a merger ofNürnberger Flugdienst(NFD) andReise- und Industrieflug(RFG), two commuter airlines based inNürnbergandDortmund,respectively. Flight operations using an initial fleet ofATR 42and72aircraft inherited from Eurowings' predecessors were launched on 1 January 1994. Subsequently,BAe 146aircraft were added to the fleet, which were later followed by largerAirbus A320 familyaircraft and even anAirbus A310.[5]Lufthansa took an initial 24.9% stake in Eurowings in 2001, increasing it to 49% in 2004. It has exercised full control of the airline since 2005, and it assumed complete ownership in 2011.

Development as part of Lufthansa

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A former EurowingsBAe 146-200inLufthansa Regionallivery in 2007

As of 31 December 2006, Lufthansa had a 49% shareholding in Eurowings with a call option for 50.91% of the remaining stakes, bringing the company into theLufthansa Groupfold.[6]At that time, Eurowings was the owner ofGermanwings,thus creating alow-costbranch within the Lufthansa trust. Plans to merge these two airlines withTUIfly(controlled byTUI Travel) into a joint and independent holding company, were brought forth during 2008, but did not materialize.[7]Instead, Lufthansa announced in December 2008 to acquire Germanwings from Eurowings.[8]

In September 2010 Eurowings closed its headquarters and technical infrastructure in Dortmund, Germany, and moved both to Düsseldorf, where Eurowings operated most of its flights since the airline was part of Lufthansa Regional. In March 2011, the maintenance division at Nürnberg Airport was also closed.

In late 2013, Eurowings' short-haul flights that are not operated from Frankfurt or Munich were transferred from Lufthansa to Germanwings.[9]All Eurowings flights operated on behalf of Lufthansa Regional ceased by autumn 2014 and were rebranded to Germanwings, the last ones to and from Düsseldorf.

Redevelopment into a low-cost carrier

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Eurowings headquarters inDüsseldorf

In July 2014, the Lufthansa Group announced that Eurowings would replace its 23 Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft with 23Airbus A320s.Ten of the A320s would be new orders, and 13 would be transferred from Lufthansa Group orders between February 2015 and March 2017. Lufthansa also announced Eurowings' transformation from a regional airline into a low-cost long and short-haul carrier by the end of 2015.[10]

On 1 February 2015, Eurowings started operating theAirbus A320-200,after taking delivery of its first on 20 January, which was received from Lufthansa and repainted in Eurowings' new livery. This and further A320s would be operated on behalf ofGermanwingsfor most of 2015, until Lufthansa consolidated its low-cost operations under the new Eurowings brand by end of that year.[4]Additionally, in February 2015, the Lufthansa Group announced thatSunExpress Deutschlandwould be the operator of Eurowings' new long-haul operations, which were to be based atCologne Bonn Airportfrom November 2015. SunExpress Deutschland therefore would receive leasedAirbus A330-200s.[11]

Eurowings also announced the establishment of its first base outside of Germany, atVienna International Airport,where the aircraft were planned be operated byAustrian Airlinesunder the Eurowings brand. Previous plans to establish the first foreign base at Basel/Mulhouse were cancelled.[12]In June 2015, the Lufthansa Group announced the application for an additionalair operator's certificate(AOC) for Eurowings in Austria, calledEurowings Europe,under which all newAirbus A320-200swould be operated while the "current" GermanEurowingswould continue to operate the existing fleet. This was planned due to lower operational costs based onAustrian Airlinesunion agreements.[13]

On 2 October 2015, Lufthansa announced a change of plans for their Vienna operations. Austrian Airlines would not operate some routes for the Eurowings brand as planned; instead, Eurowings Europe would handle all these flights itself.[14]In October 2015, Eurowings took over 55Germanwingsroutes.[15]By April 2016, Eurowings had taken over several more routes.[16]Eurowings has been solely responsible for all sales under the Germanwings brand since October 2015.[17]From November 2015, Eurowings were offering one-way fares to destinations in the Caribbean and Thailand for as little as 99 euros.[18]In December 2015, Eurowings' new long-haul operations faced severe criticism, as every fourth flight was delayed by an average of 5.8 hours, with some flights delayed more than 20 hours.[19]Lufthansa stated that unexpected technical difficulties and a small fleet were to blame; Eurowings started its first seven long-haul routes with only one own aircraft.[19]Shortly after, Eurowings again faced severe public outrage and negative media coverage,[20]after one of their flights fromVaraderoto Cologne was delayed by more than 60 hours with passengers with visas whose validity had run out stuck in their hotels.[21]

In January 2016, Eurowings cancelled their planned service from Cologne toTehran,[22]and reducedDubaiflights from year-round to seasonal service.[23]Lufthansa also announced the establishment of atask forcein the same month. Its brief would be to eliminate the operational problems which lead to serious delays and to increase operational reliability.[24]In July 2016, it was made public that Eurowings' ownerLufthansawas considering taking over part of the route network, staff and aircraft leases fromAir Berlin,which would then be made part of the Eurowings operations.[25]In August 2016, Eurowings announced further changes to its long-haul operations. The routes toBostonand toDubai,which had already been changed from year-round to seasonal, were terminated.[26]Boston was only served for three months.[27]Shortly after, Eurowings also announced it would terminate its last route toMoscow,and thereforeRussia,due to low demand.[28]Also in August 2016, Eurowings announced it would open its secondAustrianbase after Vienna, atSalzburg Airport,with flights to six European metropolitan destinations from January 2017.[29]In December 2016, it was announced that Air Berlin would wet-lease a total of 38 Airbus A319/A320 aircraft for six years to Lufthansa Group's Eurowings (33 aircraft) and Austrian Airlines (five), starting from February 2017. As a result, Eurowings will phase out Germanwings' older A320s.[30]

On 15 February 2017, Eurowings retired their lastBombardier CRJ900after a flight fromKarlsruhetoHamburg.All CRJ900s have been handed over toLufthansa CityLineand replaced by largerAirbus A320-200s,as part of the transformation from a regional into a low-cost carrier.[31]

In February 2018, Eurowings announced the relocation of all its long-haul routes currently operated fromCologne Bonn AirporttoDüsseldorf Airport,from which it already flies long-haul routes, by late October 2018 to strengthen their presence there. This leaves Düsseldorf andMunich Airportas Eurowings' long-haul bases.[32]

Recent developments

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In March 2019, the Lufthansa Group announced that starting in October 2019, Eurowings would introduce long-haul flights fromFrankfurt Airportand further itsMunichhub to expandLufthansa'stourist-oriented presence and cooperation with these two hubs. It was announced that the original routes serviced from Frankfurt would be Mauritius, Barbados, and Windhoek, and Bangkok from Munich.[33]However, in June 2019, the Lufthansa Group announced that Eurowings will drop all long-haul flights and instead focus on short-haul operations aboard Airbus A320-family aircraft. All long-haul flights operated by Eurowings will be transferred to other network airlines-Lufthansa,Brussels Airlines,Austrian Airlines,andSwiss.It was also announced that Brussels Airlines will work more closely with its network partners under a turnaround plan introduced by Lufthansa.[citation needed]

In April 2020, Lufthansa announced a major downsizing for Eurowings in the wake of theCOVID-19 pandemic.While Germanwings has been shut entirely and Eurowings is to phase out several aircraft, mostwet-leasecontracts have been ended on short notice.[34]Amongst the terminated agreements was the largest one withGerman Airways(formerly LGW) for their entireBombardier DHC-8-400fleet.[35]

In February 2021,Lufthansaannounced it would take over most of Eurowings' routes atMunich Airportwith the exception of few domestic services and flights toPalma de MallorcaandPristina.[36]Also in early 2021, Eurowings discontinued all of their long-haul destinations, which had been served from Düsseldorf, Munich and Frankfurt.[37]At the same time, parent Lufthansa announced that these routes would be spun off as new long-haul carrierEurowings Discover.[38]

In 2021 Eurowings announced it would add yet another base, this time toPrague,Czech Republic.[39]

In May 2022, Eurowings announced the termination of its own long-runningfrequent flyer programBoomerang Clubin favour of a merger withMiles & Moreof parent Lufthansa.[40]

Corporate affairs

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Ownership and structure

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The Eurowings Group, which consists of low-cost or hybrid point-to-point airlines,[41]is wholly owned byLufthansa,and includes as subsidiaries:[42]

Integration ofBrussels Airlineswithin Eurowings was stopped during 2019; it will instead move closer to Lufthansa Network Airlines and report as part of that operating segment from 2020.[42]

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The business and operating results of the Eurowings Group are fully incorporated into the Lufthansa Group accounts; key trends since 2015, when it moved towards the low cost model, are (as at year ending 31 December):[43]

Turnover
(€ m) 		Operating
profit "EBIT"
(€ m) 		Number of
employees[a] 		Number of
passengers
(m) 		Passenger
load factor
(%) 		Number of
aircraft[a] 		Notes/
references
2015 1,909 38 3,186 16.9 79.5 [44]
2016 2,060 −91 3,493 18.4 79.6 78 [44]
2017 4,041 −33 7,501 32.6 79.9 180 [45]
2018 4,098 −231 9,255 38.5 81.3 205 [45]
2019 2,311 −126 8,809 38.2 82.2 191 [42]
2020 598 −802 3,088 7.2 73.1 85 [46]
2021 822 −227 3,563 7.7 73.6 100 [47]
2022 1,857 −200 4,415 16.9 80.8 96 [48]
2023 2,592 241 4,793 20.7 84.1 100 [49]

Destinations

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Main article:List of Eurowings destinations

Codeshare agreements

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Eurowings hascodeshare agreementswith the following airlines:[50]

Interline agreements

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Fleet

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EurowingsAirbus A320-200
EurowingsAirbus A320neo

Current fleet

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As of July 2024,Eurowings (excludingEurowings Europe) operates the following aircraft:[citation needed]

Eurowings fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
B E+ E Total
Airbus A319-100 32 3[citation needed] 12 42 90 144[56]
96 150[56]
Airbus A320-200 50 — 12 50 108 170[56]
Airbus A320neo 8 — — — 180 180[56]
Airbus A321-200 6 — — — 226 226[56]
Airbus A321neo 5 1[citation needed] — — 232 232[citation needed]
Total 101 4

Historical fleet

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Over the years, Eurowings has operated the following aircraft types:[5]

A former EurowingsAirbus A330-200operated bySunExpress Deutschland
A former EurowingsATR 72-500
A former EurowingsBombardier CRJ900operated forLufthansa Regional
Eurowings historical fleet
Aircraft Number Introduced Retired Notes
Airbus A310 1 1994 1995
Airbus A330-200 7 2015 2019 Operated by now-defunctSunExpress Deutschland,relocated toDiscover Airlines.
Airbus A330-300 4 2015 2020 Operated byBrussels Airlines,relocated toDiscover Airlines.
Airbus A340-300 2 2018 2019 Operated byBrussels Airlines,transferred back toLufthansa.
ATR 42 29 1994 2005
ATR 72 16 1994 2006
British Aerospace BAe 146 18 1994 2010
Boeing 737-300 2 2001 2003
Boeing 737-800 2 2016 2017 Operated by now-defunctSunExpress Deutschland.
8 2017 2020 Operated byTUI fly Deutschland.
Boeing 767-300ER 1 2017 2018
1 Operated byPrivatAir.
Bombardier CRJ100 4 2001 2004
Bombardier CRJ200 19 2001 2011
Bombardier CRJ700 2 2007 2011 Transferred toLufthansa CityLine.
Bombardier CRJ900 23 2009 2017[31]
De Havilland Dash 8 Q400 19 2018 2020 Operated byGerman Airways.
Dornier 328[citation needed] 1 1997 1998

Special liveries

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Notes

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  1. ^abat year end

References

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  1. ^"Eurowings on ch-aviation".ch-aviation.Retrieved21 November2023.
  2. ^ab"Imprint of Eurowings: Commercial Register Dusseldorf".Retrieved11 July2016.
  3. ^"[1]."CAPA. Retrieved on October 5, 2017." Eurowings Airline Profile. "
  4. ^ab"aero.de - Luftfahrt-Nachrichten und -Community".aero.de.20 January 2015.Retrieved10 July2015.
  5. ^ab"Eurowings Fleet - Airfleets aviation".Retrieved10 July2015.
  6. ^"Annual Report 2006"(PDF).Lufthansa AG.p. 176. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2007-09-28.Retrieved2007-08-16.
  7. ^"Media".Retrieved10 July2015.
  8. ^"EasyBourseLe courtier en lignede la Banque Postale".Retrieved10 July2015.[permanent dead link‍]
  9. ^lufthansa
  10. ^"Wings Set for Take-off".Airliner World:5. February 2015.
  11. ^COMKOM° GmbH, Germany."Neue Eurowings geht an den Start – Ticketverkauf für Flüge ab Oktober".Archived fromthe originalon 2 April 2015.Retrieved10 July2015.
  12. ^"Lufthansa-Billigairline: Eurowings: Wien statt Basel - aeroTELEGRAPH".aeroTELEGRAPH.18 February 2015.Retrieved10 July2015.
  13. ^airliners.de - Alle neuen Eurowings-Maschinen sollen mit österreichischer Lizenz fliegen(German)
  14. ^"Minhard:" Lufthansa hat uns belogen! "- Austrian Aviation Net".Retrieved21 February2017.
  15. ^"germanwings Moves 55 Routes to Eurowings from late-Oct 2015".Retrieved10 July2015.
  16. ^"germanwings / Eurowings Route Transfers in April 2016".Retrieved10 July2015.
  17. ^germanwings - Impressumretrieved 30 December 2015
  18. ^Clark, Nicola (2016-03-17)."Eurowings, Lufthansa's Budget Service, Is Off to a Rocky Start".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2019-11-05.
  19. ^abdeutschlandfunk.de - Die Luftnummer30 December 2015
  20. ^aerotelegraph - "Chronicle of a failed start"(German) 18 January 2016
  21. ^aero.de - "Eurowings: 60 hours delay in Cuba"(German) 11 January 2016
  22. ^eurowings - All destinations – all pricesretrieved 16 January 2016
  23. ^aero.de - "Eurowings cancels Dubai flights over the summer"(German) 16 January 2016
  24. ^aero.de - "Lufthansa wants to stop Eurowings delays"18 January 2016
  25. ^spiegel.de - "Lufthansa could take over parts of Air Berlin(German) 20 July 2016
  26. ^aero.de - "Eurowings cancels Dubai and ends Boston earlier"(German) 15 August 2016
  27. ^aerotelegraph - "Eurowings already gives up Boston"(German) 15 August 2016
  28. ^handelsblatt - "Lufthansa's low-cost carrier departs Moscow"(German) 19 August 2016
  29. ^- "Eurowings Europe starts in Salzburg"(German) 18 August 2016
  30. ^Hofmann, Kurt (Dec 16, 2016)."Lufthansa, Etihad finalize codeshare, wet lease of 38 airberlin aircraft".Air Transport World.Retrieved16 December2016.
  31. ^ab"Eurowings mustert letzte CRJ900 aus".16 February 2017.Retrieved21 February2017.
  32. ^aero.de - "Eurowings moves A330 from Cologne to Düsseldorf"Archived2018-06-14 at theWayback Machine(German) 1 February 2018
  33. ^"Lufthansa Group expands tourist-oriented long-hail portfolio in Frankfurt and Munich with Eurowings".aviation24.be.5 March 2019.Retrieved12 March2019.
  34. ^airliners.de7 April 2020
  35. ^airliners.de - "Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter files for insolvency"(German) 22 April 2020
  36. ^airliners.de(German) 3 February 2021
  37. ^eurowings - Route mapretrieved 6 February 2021
  38. ^airliners.de(German) 19 January 2021
  39. ^"Eurowings strengthens Central Europe's footprint, opens new base in" Golden City "Prague".Eurowings strengthens Central Europe’s footprint, opens new base in “Golden City” Prague.Retrieved2024-07-02.
  40. ^airliners.de3 May 2022
  41. ^Lufthansa Group AG."Company portrait".Lufthansa Group.
  42. ^abc"Lufthansa Group 2019 Annual Report"(PDF).Lufthansa.Retrieved25 July2020.
  43. ^"Financial reports".Lufthansa Group Investor Relations.Retrieved2023-11-24.
  44. ^ab"Lufthansa Group 2016 Annual Report"(PDF).Lufthansa.Retrieved25 June2019.
  45. ^ab"Lufthansa Group 2018 Annual Report"(PDF).Lufthansa.Retrieved25 June2019.
  46. ^Annual Report 2020(PDF)(Report). Lufthansa Group. 4 March 2021.Archived(PDF)from the original on 27 November 2021.
  47. ^"Annual Report 2021"(PDF).3 March 2022.Archived(PDF)from the original on 6 December 2022.Retrieved13 January2023.
  48. ^"Lufthansa Group Annual Report 2022"(PDF).Lufthansa.RetrievedOctober 7,2023.
  49. ^"Lufthansa Group Annual Report 2023"(PDF).Lufthansa.RetrievedMarch 9,2024.
  50. ^"Profile on Eurowings".CAPA.Centre for Aviation.Archivedfrom the original on 2016-11-03.Retrieved2016-11-03.
  51. ^"Eurowings and AEGEAN Airlines Forge New Codeshare Partnership".
  52. ^"Singapore Airlines And Eurowings Launch Codeshare Operations".singaporeair.
  53. ^"Eurowings / Smartwings Expands Codeshare Network From Feb 2024".
  54. ^"Codeshare Volotea-Eurowings".15 February 2023.
  55. ^"SunExpress ve Eurowings, Türkiye ve Avrupa Arasındaki Uçuş Seçeneklerini Artırmak İçin İş Birliklerini Derinleştiriyor".2 August 2024.
  56. ^abcde"Engineering & fleet - Company - Eurowings".Archived fromthe originalon 2017-10-17.Retrieved2017-10-16.
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