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Eurowings

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Eurowings
IATA ICAO Call sign
EW EWG EUROWINGS
Founded1 February 1993 (1 February 1993)
Commenced operations1 January 1994
Hubs
Frequent-flyer programMiles & More
Fleet size28
Parent companyLufthansa Group
HeadquartersDüsseldorf, Germany
Key peopleF. W. Weitholz, Chairman
Websiteeurowings.com

Eurowings GmbH is a German low-cost airline headquartered in Düsseldorf and a fully owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. It serves a network of domestic and European destinations as well as some long-haul routes and maintains bases at Cologne Bonn Airport, Düsseldorf Airport, Hamburg Airport and Vienna International Airport.

Eurowings went through a major transformation in recent years. It was part of Lufthansa Regional until October 2014 when it instead began operating on behalf of Germanwings within their network. Since spring 2015, Eurowings itself is being redeveloped into a low-cost carrier for short- and long-haul flights. By October 2015, it also started to incorporate Germanwings' route network as this brand will be integrated into Eurowings during 2016.[1]

History

Early years

The airline was formed on 1 February 1993, following a merger of Nürnberger Flugdienst (NFD) and Reise- und Industrieflug (RFG), two commuter airlines based in Nürnberg and Dortmund, respectively. Flight operations using an initial fleet of ATR 42 and 72 aircraft inherited from Eurowing's predecessors were launched on 1 January 1994. Subsequently, BAe 146 aircraft were added to the fleet, which were later followed by larger Airbus A320 family aircraft and even an Airbus A310.[2] 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 assumed complete ownership in 2011.

Development as part of Lufthansa

A former Eurowings BAe 146-200

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 the Lufthansa Group fold.[3] At that time, Eurowings was the owner of Germanwings, thus creating a low-cost branch within the Lufthansa trust. Plans to merge these two airlines with TUIfly (controlled by TUI Travel) into a joint and independent holding company, were brought forth during 2008, but did not materialize.[4] Instead, Lufthansa announced in December 2008 to acquire Germanwings from Eurowings.[5]

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.[6] 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

In July 2014, the Lufthansa Group announced that Eurowings will replace its 23 Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft with 23 Airbus A320s. Ten of the A320s will be new orders and 13 will 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.[7]

On 1 February 2015, Eurowings started operating the Airbus 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 will be operated on behalf of Germanwings for most of 2015 until Lufthansa consolidates its low-cost operations under the new Eurowings brand by end of the year.[1] Additionally, in February 2015, the Lufthansa Group announced that SunExpress Deutschland will be the operator of Eurowings' new long-haul operations which will be based at Cologne Bonn Airport from November 2015. SunExpress Deutschland therefore will receive leased Airbus A330-200s.[8]

Eurowings also announced the establishment of its first base outside of Germany at Vienna International Airport where the aircraft were planned be operated by Austrian Airlines under the Eurowings brand. Previous plans to establish the first foreign base at Basel/Mulhouse have been cancelled.[9] In June 2015, the Lufthansa Group announced the application for an additional Air operator's certificate (AOC) for Eurowings in Austria called Eurowings Europe under which all new Airbus A320-200s will be operated while the "current" German Eurowings will continue to operate the existing fleet. This will be done due to the lower operational costs based on Austrian Airlines union agreements.[10]

On 2 October 2015, Lufthansa announced a change of plans for their Vienna operations. Austrian Airlines will not operate some routes for the Eurowings brand as planned, instead Eurowings Europe will handle all these flights itself.[11]

In October 2015, Eurowings took over 55 Germanwings routes.[12] By April 2016, Eurowings will take over several more routes.[13] Eurowings has been solely responsible for all sales under the Germanwings brand since October 2015.[14]

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.[15] 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.[15] Shortly after, Eurowings again faced severe public outrage and negative media coverage,[16] after one of their flights from Varadero to Cologne was delayed by more than 60 hours with passengers with visas whose validity had run out stuck in their hotels.[17]

In January 2016, Eurowings cancelled their planned service from Cologne to Tehran[18] and reduced Dubai flights from year-round to seasonal service.[19] Lufthansa also announced the establishment of a task force in the same month. Its task will be to eliminate the operational problems which lead to serious delays and to increase operational reliability.[20]

Destinations

Main article: Eurowings destinations

Codeshare agreements

As of January 2016, Eurowings also maintains codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

Fleet

Current fleet

Eurowings Airbus A320-200 (2015)

As of December 2015, the Eurowings fleet consists of the following aircraft:[22]

Eurowings fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
C E Y Total
Bombardier CRJ900
16
—
—
—
90
90
to be transferred to Lufthansa CityLine[23] and replaced
Airbus A320-200
9
21
—
—
162
162
6 to be transferred from Lufthansa (2015-2016), 6 to be delivered pre-owned (2016)[24] and 10 new from Airbus (2016-2017)[25]
Airbus A330-200
2
5
21
—
289
310
operated by SunExpress Deutschland[26]
Airbus A340-300
1
—
18
19
261
297
operated by Lufthansa CityLine for Lufthansa on Cologne/Bonn-Dubai route
Boeing 767-300ER
1
—
—
—
—
291
operated by TUIfly
Total 27 27

Historical fleet

Over the years, Eurowings has operated the following aircraft types:[2]

A former Eurowings ATR 72-500
Eurowings historical fleet
Aircraft Introduced Retired Notes
Airbus A310
1994
1995
Airbus A319-100
1997
2002
Airbus A320-200
2002/2015
2003
ATR 42
1994
2005
ATR 72
1994
2006
Boeing 737-300
2001
2003
BAe 146
1994
2010
Bombardier CRJ200
2001
2011
Bombardier CRJ700
2007
2011
Bombardier CRJ900
2009
Dornier 328[27]
1997
1998

References

  1. ^ a b "aero.de - Luftfahrt-Nachrichten und -Community". aero.de. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Eurowings Fleet - Airfleets aviation". Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  3. ^ "Annual Report 2006" (PDF). Lufthansa AG. Page 176. Retrieved 2007-08-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Media". Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  5. ^ "EasyBourseLe courtier en lignede la Banque Postale". Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  6. ^ lufthansa.com
  7. ^ "Wings Set for Take-off". Airliner World: 5. February 2015.
  8. ^ COMKOM° GmbH, Germany. "Neue Eurowings geht an den Start – Ticketverkauf für Flüge ab Oktober". Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  9. ^ "Lufthansa-Billigairline: Eurowings: Wien statt Basel - aeroTELEGRAPH". aeroTELEGRAPH. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  10. ^ airliners.de - Alle neuen Eurowings-Maschinen sollen mit österreichischer Lizenz fliegen (German)
  11. ^ http://www.austrianaviation.net/news-regional/news-detail/datum/2015/10/02/minhard-lufthansa-hat-uns-belogen.html
  12. ^ "germanwings Moves 55 Routes to Eurowings from late-Oct 2015". Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  13. ^ "germanwings / Eurowings Route Transfers in April 2016". Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  14. ^ germanwings.com - Impressum retrieved 30 December 2015
  15. ^ a b deutschlandfunk.de - Die Luftnummer 30 December 2015
  16. ^ aerotelegraph.com - "Chronicle of a failed start" (German) 18 January 2016
  17. ^ aero.de - "Eurowings: 60 hours delay in Cuba" (German) 11 January 2016
  18. ^ eurowings.com - All destinations – all prices retrieved 16 January 2016
  19. ^ aero.de - "Eurowings cancels Dubai flights over the summer" (German) 16 January 2016
  20. ^ aero.de - "Lufthansa wants to stop Eurowings delays" 18 January 2016
  21. ^ airlineroute.net - UNITED / Eurowings Begins Codeshare Partnership from Jan 2016 18 January 2016
  22. ^ "ch-aviation.com - Eurowings". Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  23. ^ "AERO International und aeroscope – das Online-Portal der Zivilluftfahrt - Austrian Airlines startet Mittelstrecken-Umflottung noch heuer". Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  24. ^ "Lufthansa orders more B777s for Swiss, more A320s for Eurowings". ch-aviation. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  25. ^ "Lufthansa Group orders 10 A320ceo aircraft for Eurowings". airbus. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  26. ^ COMKOM° GmbH, Germany. "Eurowings - Themen - Lufthansa Group". Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  27. ^ "D-CATS OLT Dornier Do-328 - cn 3009". Retrieved 10 July 2015.

Media related to Eurowings at Wikimedia Commons

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