Defunct low-cost airline of Germany (1997?2020)
Germanwings
GmbH
was
[1]
a
German
low-cost airline
wholly owned by
Lufthansa
[2]
which operated under the
Eurowings
brand. It was based in
Cologne
with
hubs
at
Cologne Bonn Airport
,
Stuttgart Airport
,
Hamburg Airport
,
Berlin Tegel Airport
,
Munich Airport
and further bases at
Hannover Airport
and
Dortmund Airport
.
[3]
Germanwings operated independently as Lufthansa's low-cost carrier until October 2015, when Lufthansa decided to fully transfer the brand identity of its low cost short haul-product to Eurowings. After 2016, Germanwings operated as a
wet lease
operator for its sister company
Eurowings
, with the Germanwings branding being phased out at this time. The IATA code "4U" continued to operate under the Eurowings brand until March 2018, when it was abandoned and replaced with the Eurowings designator
EW
.
[4]
Germanwings was closed in April 2020 as part of a broad restructuring.
[1]
History
[
edit
]
Early years
[
edit
]
In 1997,
Eurowings
set up a low-cost department, which became a separate company under the name
Germanwings
on 27 October 2002. On 7 December 2005, the airline signed an agreement to purchase 18
Airbus A319-100
aircraft with a further 12
options
, with deliveries scheduled from July 2006 until 2008.
[5]
During winter 2004?2005, Germanwings leased two
Boeing 717-200s
from
Aerolineas de Baleares
to test the aircraft type, but no order was made afterwards.
In 2008, initial plans were made to merge Germanwings,
Eurowings
and
TUIfly
into one airline to compete with
Air Berlin
and its subsidiary
LTU
in the German market and with
easyJet
and
Ryanair
on international routes. However, these plans never realized. Instead, Germanwings became a wholly owned subsidiary of
Lufthansa
on 1 January 2009.
[6]
Takeover of Lufthansa routes from 2012
[
edit
]
In 2012, Lufthansa announced its plans to transfer point-to-point shorthaul flights operating from cities other than Frankfurt and Munich from Lufthansa to Germanwings.
[7]
[8]
Therefore, the company received a revised corporate design. The transfer of Lufthansa's shorthaul routes occurred between spring 2013 and autumn 2014;
Dusseldorf Airport
was the last base transferred from March 2014.
As part of the 2013 restructuring and relaunch of Germanwings, around 30 Lufthansa aircraft were to be added to Germanwings' fleet of 33 aircraft.
[9]
Additionally, the 23 aircraft currently operated by Eurowings for Lufthansa flights not flying out of Frankfurt and Munich were to join Germanwings. The new Germanwings was to operate around 90 aircraft.
The airline had a long-standing dispute with the Vereinigung Cockpit union, which demanded a plan in which pilots can retire at the age of 55 and retain 60% of their pay, which parent Lufthansa insists was not affordable. Germanwings pilots staged a nationwide strike in support of their demands in April 2014, which lasted 3 days. The pilots staged a six-hour strike in September 2014. Simultaneous strikes were staged by Lufthansa pilots.
[10]
By the end of 2014, all of Lufthansa's national routes and international traffic to and from Germany - except flights to and from Frankfurt and Munich and the routes from Dusseldorf to Newark and Chicago
[11]
- were transferred to Germanwings.
[12]
The last route to be transferred was Dusseldorf-Zurich on 8 January 2015.
[11]
[13]
Integration into Eurowings from 2015
[
edit
]
In January 2015, Lufthansa Group announced that it would discontinue the
Germanwings
brand and replace it with
Eurowings
starting in late 2015.
[14]
On 25 October 2015, Eurowings took over 55 routes previously operated under the Germanwings brand.
[15]
[16]
The first Germanwings bases to be mostly taken over by Eurowings were
Dusseldorf Airport
,
Hamburg Airport
- at both of which Eurowings already operated on behalf of Germanwings - and
Cologne Bonn Airport
.
Lufthansa announced in October 2015 that Germanwings' own website would be dissolved and redirected to Eurowings by January 2016 as part of their merger. However, Germanwings continued to operate as a company.
[17]
From that date, Eurowings became solely responsible for all sales under the Germanwings brand.
[18]
In January 2016, Germanwings' social media profiles, such as those on
Facebook
and
YouTube
, were renamed Eurowings, while
germanwings.com
was redirected to
eurowings.com
. However, Germanwings continued to operate under its own flight numbers, but used the Eurowings brand.
In December 2016, it was announced that Germanwings would retire 20 aircraft during 2017 without replacement due to Lufthansa's new wet-lease deal with
Air Berlin
which also provided services for
Eurowings
. It was reported that the Air Berlin aircraft were newer and cheaper to operate than those of Germanwings.
[19]
In August 2017, it was announced that Germanwings would abandon its own
IATA
code
4U
by 25 March 2018. Since then, it has used Eurowings'
EW
code on for all operations, which are already carried out under the Eurowings brand.
[4]
In October 2019, the
Pristina
base, which had been operated by Germanwings since June 2019, was transferred to
Eurowings Europe
.
[20]
In return, Germanwings took over the German base in
Munich
which had been operated by its sister airline.
[21]
On 7 April 2020, Lufthansa announced that it would be shutting down Germanwings, partly due to the large travel ban during the
COVID-19 pandemic
.
[1]
[22]
Corporate affairs
[
edit
]
Service concept
[
edit
]
Germanwings had offered three fare types since 2013.
Basic
was no-frills and offered no inclusive catering and only hand luggage.
Best
included hold baggage, inclusive snacks and drinks as well as access to some lounges for tier members of Miles&More.
[23]
Smart
and
Best
more or less corresponded to the Lufthansa service offered on the routes taken over by Germanwings. The fleet was only equipped with
economy class
.
Germanwings offered
Sky Bistro
(
Bord Shop
in German), a
buy on board
food and drinks programme.
[24]
The airline provided an inflight magazine, a bi-monthly German and English magazine called
GW
. While the primary editorial focus was rooted in Germanwings destinations, the content was not exclusively about travel.
[25]
Germanwings booking service provided
Blind Booking
, a unique option that allowed passengers to choose one of Germanwings' base airports, select a category of destination (e.g. Party, Gay-friendly or Culture) and then purchase a round-trip ticket via a random lottery process from among the cities in the category. Such tickets were often priced lower than the corresponding ticket to the same destination, and Germanwings e-mails its customers with details of their destination shortly after the purchase.
[26]
Business trends
[
edit
]
Germanwings had been wholly owned by Lufthansa since 1 January 2009; formal reporting since then had been within the Group Accounts. From 2012, Germanwings figures had been reported only within the 'Lufthansa Passenger Airline Group', and have not generally been available separately. The key known trends for Germanwings are shown below (as at year ending 31 December):
|
2008
|
2009
|
2010
|
2011
|
2012
|
2013
|
2014
|
2015
|
Turnover (€m)
|
628
|
580
|
630
|
687
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
Separate
data no
longer
available
|
Profits (
EBITDA
) (€m)
|
39
|
63
|
?9
|
?15
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
Number of employees (at year end)
|
1,046
|
1,111
|
1,272
|
1,274
|
1,352
|
2,073
|
Number of passengers (m)
|
7.6
|
7.2
|
7.7
|
7.5
|
7.8
|
16
|
Passenger load factor (%)
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
77.2
|
78.2
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
Number of aircraft (at year end)
|
25
|
26
|
30
|
30
|
32
|
67
|
84
|
62
|
Notes/sources
|
[27]
[28]
|
[28]
|
[29]
|
[30]
[31]
|
[32]
[33]
[34]
|
[35]
|
[36]
[37]
|
|
In line with Lufthansa's declared business strategy, the transfer of European non-hub traffic from Lufthansa Passenger Airlines to Germanwings continued in 2014 and was completed successfully on 7 January 2015.
[38]
(The increase in 2013 and 2014 figures was due to this intervening transfer of aircraft and routes from Lufthansa.)
Destinations
[
edit
]
Codeshare agreements
[
edit
]
Germanwings had
codeshare agreements
with the following airlines:
[39]
Fleet
[
edit
]
Germanwings operated the following aircraft:
[40]
Special liveries
[
edit
]
Germanwings used several different special liveries. Some aircraft had special
liveries
promoting German cities (e.g. the
Bearbus
paint scheme inspired by the
coat of arms of Berlin
), or as advertisements (e.g. a pink livery for
T-Mobile
).
[41]
Those were abandoned during the 2013 rebranding.
Incidents and accidents
[
edit
]
As of the merger, Germanwings had been involved in one major incident, which resulted in 150 fatalities. On 24 March 2015, an Airbus A320-211 with registration D-AIPX was operating Flight 9525 from
Barcelona
to
Dusseldorf
when it crashed in the south of France near
Digne-les-Bains
, with no survivors. The flight was carrying 144 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew.
[42]
German investigators concluded that 27-year-old co-pilot
Andreas Lubitz
had deliberately crashed the plane, while alone in the cockpit.
[43]
[44]
[45]
[46]
Lubitz took time off from his flight training for several months and informed the Flight Training Pilot School in 2009 of a "previous episode of severe depression".
[47]
He later completed the training. Prior to his training as a commercial pilot, he was also treated for suicidal tendencies.
[48]
[49]
Following the incident, the
European Aviation Safety Agency
(EASA) made a recommendation to airlines that two authorized people must be present in the cockpit at all times.
[50]
In coordination with the German aviation authority, other German airlines and the German aviation industry association, the airlines of the Lufthansa Group implemented a policy requiring this.
[51]
However, by 2016, the EASA stopped recommending the two-person rule, instead advising airlines to perform a risk assessment and decide for themselves whether to use the rule.
[52]
Germanwings and other German airlines dropped the rule in 2017.
[53]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Lufthansa to discontinue Germanwings in sweeping restructuring"
.
Reuters
. 7 April 2020.
Archived
from the original on 2022-11-15.
- ^
"
Imprint
Archived
2014-10-09 at the
Wayback Machine
."
Germanwings
. Retrieved on April 29, 2010. "Head Office: Germanwings-Str. 2 51147 Cologne"
- ^
"Directory: World Airlines".
Flight International
. 2007-04-03. p. 86.
- ^
a
b
aerotelegraph.com - "Germanwings gives up IATA-Code 4U"
(German) 23 August 2017
- ^
Aero International, June 2006
- ^
Announcement of TUI AG
. Tui-group.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-01.
- ^
"Lufthansa to Combine European Flights Into Low-Cost Unit"
.
Bloomberg
. September 20, 2012.
- ^
Flottau, Jens. "
Lufthansa Transfers Most Short-Haul Flights To Germanwings
Archived
2013-05-09 at the
Wayback Machine
."
Aviation Week
. 11 October 2012. Retrieved on 11 October 2012.
- ^
The "New Germanwings"
Archived
2013-07-30 at the
Wayback Machine
. Germanwings.com. Retrieved on 2012-12-30.
- ^
"Lufthansa pilots' strike causes cancellation of more than 200 flights"
. Travel Trade.Org. 6 September 2014
. Retrieved
7 September
2014
.
- ^
a
b
"Germania, Ryanair und mehr - Aktuelle Streckenmeldungen"
.
airliners.de
. Retrieved
24 March
2015
.
- ^
"Lufthansa-Direktverkehre: Umstellung auf Germanwings auf der Zielgeraden"
.
airliners.de
. Retrieved
24 March
2015
.
- ^
"Online Flugplan - Lufthansa ® Deutschland"
. Archived from
the original
on 20 December 2014
. Retrieved
24 March
2015
.
- ^
Volker Mester (4 December 2014).
"Lufthansa - Neue Billiglinie Eurowings soll Germanwings ersetzen - Wirtschaft - Hamburger Abendblatt"
. Retrieved
24 March
2015
.
- ^
"germanwings Moves 55 Routes to Eurowings from late-Oct 2015 | Routes"
.
- ^
"germanwings / Eurowings Route Transfers in April 2016 | Routes"
.
- ^
airliners.de - "Eurowings gets ready for long-haul"
15 October 2015
- ^
germanwings.com - Impressum
retrieved 30 December 2015
- ^
austrianaviation.net - "Eurowings: Air Berlin deal at the expense of Germanwings"
16 December 2016
- ^
"Eurowings eroffnet Basis und stationiert A319 in Pristina"
.
airliners.de
(in German)
. Retrieved
2019-10-30
.
- ^
"Eurowings wechselt durch: Germanwings lost Eurowings Europe in Munchen ab"
.
aeroTELEGRAPH
(in Swiss High German). 2018-12-13
. Retrieved
2019-10-30
.
- ^
"Coronavirus latest: Wuhan lockdown lifted"
.
Deutsche Welle
.
- ^
"What fares are available?"
. Archived from
the original
on 2 January 2014
. Retrieved
26 March
2015
.
- ^
"
[1]
."
Germanwings
. Retrieved on 19 July 2012.
- ^
Germanwings ? Magazine :: Apr 2012 ? Ink eMagazines
Archived
2012-05-01 at the
Wayback Machine
. Ink-live.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-01.
- ^
"Blind Booking"
. Archived from
the original
on 30 April 2015
. Retrieved
26 March
2015
.
- ^
"Annual Report 2008"
(PDF)
. Lufthansa. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 11 July 2012
. Retrieved
1 January
2013
.
- ^
a
b
"Annual Report 2009"
. Lufthansa
. Retrieved
1 January
2013
.
- ^
"Annual Report 2010"
. Lufthansa
. Retrieved
1 January
2013
.
- ^
"Annual Report 2011"
. Lufthansa
. Retrieved
1 January
2013
.
- ^
"Investor Info 2011"
(PDF)
. Lufthansa. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 24 August 2012
. Retrieved
1 January
2013
.
- ^
"Annual Report 2012"
(PDF)
. Lufthansa
. Retrieved
3 July
2013
.
- ^
"Facts and Figures June 2013"
(PDF)
. Lufthansa. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 14 August 2014
. Retrieved
3 July
2013
.
- ^
"Die neue Germanwings"
(PDF)
. Lufthansa. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 9 March 2013
. Retrieved
3 July
2013
.
- ^
"Facts and Figures March 2014"
(PDF)
. Lufthansa
. Retrieved
22 April
2014
.
- ^
"Fleet & Crew - About Germanwings"
. Archived from
the original
on 14 December 2013
. Retrieved
28 December
2014
.
- ^
"Lufthansa Annual Report 2014"
(PDF)
. Lufthansa
. Retrieved
27 April
2016
.
- ^
"Lufthansa Annual Report 2014"
(PDF)
. Lufthansa
. Retrieved
27 April
2016
.
- ^
"Profile on Germanwings"
.
CAPA
. Centre for Aviation.
Archived
from the original on 2016-11-03
. Retrieved
2016-11-03
.
- ^
planespotters.net - Germanwings
retrieved 1 September 2019
- ^
Germanwings advertisement brochure, Advertisement through aircraft painting
Archived
2012-05-08 at the
Wayback Machine
. Retrieved 2012-01-20
- ^
BFMTV.
"Un Airbus A320 transportant 148 personnes s'ecrase pres de Digne-les-Bains"
. Archived from
the original
on 24 March 2015
. Retrieved
24 March
2015
.
- ^
"German investigators find only pilot Lubitz at fault in Germanwings crash"
.
Reuters
. 2017-01-09
. Retrieved
2019-11-20
.
- ^
Hepher, Tim; Rosnoblet, Jean-Francois (26 March 2015).
"Co-pilot appears to have crashed Germanwings plane deliberately: French prosecutor"
.
Reuters
. Retrieved
26 March
2015
.
- ^
Clark, Nicola; Bilefsky, Dan (26 March 2015).
"Germanwings Co-Pilot Deliberately Crashed Airbus Jet, French Prosecutor Says"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
26 March
2015
.
- ^
"Germanwings Plane Crash Investigation"
.
The Guardian
. 26 March 2015
. Retrieved
26 March
2015
.
- ^
COMKOM° GmbH, Germany.
"Lufthansa helps investigation progress"
. lufthansagroup.com. Archived from
the original
on 2015-04-02.
- ^
"Germanwings-Absturz: Co-Pilot war vor Jahren wegen Suizidgefahr in Behandlung"
.
Der Spiegel
(in German). 30 March 2015.
- ^
"Germanwings Flight 4U9525: Flight school knew of depressive episode"
.
CBC News
. 31 March 2015
. Retrieved
1 April
2015
.
- ^
"Authorised persons in the flight crew compartment"
.
- ^
"Lufthansa Group further refines its safety structures"
. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017
. Retrieved
2 April
2015
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link
)
- ^
"Minimum Cockpit Occupancy: EASA issues revised Safety Information Bulletin"
(Press release).
EASA
. 2016-07-26
. Retrieved
2020-10-07
.
- ^
"German airlines drop safety rule prompted by Germanwings crash"
.
BBC News
. 2017-04-28
. Retrieved
2020-10-07
.
External links
[
edit
]
Media related to
Germanwings
at Wikimedia Commons
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Subsidiaries
| Passenger airlines
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Cargo airlines
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50% joint venture airlines
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Non-airline subsidiaries
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Former
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Incidents and accidents
(all subsidiaries, while owned)
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Destinations
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Key personnel
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Related articles
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