Eurowings

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Eurowings
250px
IATA ICAO Callsign
EW EWG EUROWINGS
Founded 1 February 1993 (1 February 1993)
Commenced operations 1 January 1994
Hubs
Frequent-flyer program Miles & More
Fleet size 28
Parent company Lufthansa Group
Headquarters Düsseldorf, Germany
Key people F. W. Weitholz, Chairman
Website eurowings.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] Independent flight operations came to an end when Eurowings was acquired by Lufthansa.[when?]

Development since the 2000s

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

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 the 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 aforementioned Eurowings Europe will handle all these flights by themselves.[11]

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

In December 2015, Eurowings' new long-haul operations faced severe criticism as every fourth flight was heavily delayed by on average 5.8 hours with some flights accumulating a delay of more than 20 hours.[15] Lufthansa stated that unexpected technical difficulties led to disruptions in the utilization of the still small fleet - 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, after one of their flights from Varadero to Cologne got delayed by more than 60 hours with passengers with already voided visas stuck in their hotels.[16]

Destinations

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Main article: Eurowings destinations

Fleet

Current fleet

Eurowings Airbus A320-200 (2015)

As of December 2015, the Eurowings fleet consists of the following aircraft:[17]

Eurowings fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
Bombardier CRJ900
16
—
90
 to be transferred to Lufthansa CityLine[18] and replaced
Airbus A320-200
7
22
162
 6 to be transferred from Lufthansa (2015-2016), 6 to be delivered pre-owned (2016)[19] and 10 new from Airbus (2016-2017)[20]
Airbus A330-200
4
3
310
 operated by SunExpress Deutschland[21]
Boeing 767-300ER
1
—
291
 operated by TUIfly
Total 28 25

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[22]
1997
1998

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ lufthansa.com
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  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. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ germanwings.com - Impressum retrieved 30 December 2015
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 deutschlandfunk.de - Die Luftnummer 30 December 2015
  16. ↑ aero.de - "Eurowings: 60 hours delay in Cuba" (German) 11 January 2016
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons

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