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End for the subsidiary

Lufthansa discontinues Germanwings operations

Germanwings does not survive the Corona crisis. Lufthansa, the parent company of the Group, discontinues the flight operations of its subsidiary.

Now it is certain: Lufthansa will close Germanwings. On Tuesday afternoon (7 April), the aviation group announced, among many other cutback measures due to the corona crisis, that «Germanwings’ flight operations will be terminated. All resulting options are to be discussed with the social partners». Thus, the plan to bundle the flight operations of Eurowings is being implemented more quickly. At first, the company did not provide any further details or a time schedule.

The cabin union Ufo had already sounded the alarm on Monday: «Employee representatives assume that the closure of the Lufthansa subsidiary will be announced this week», Ufo announced. They are turning to politicians and the public to fight for the preservation of the airline. Ufo is also launching a petition.

Unions with joint appeal
In a joint appeal with other trade unions such as VC Cockpit and Verdi, it was then said more cautiously, without mentioning Germanwings: «No colleague should see his or her existence threatened because structural decisions deprive his or her direct employer, which belongs to the Lufthansa Group, of the right to exist.»

But even without the warning of the unions, the move would not have come as a surprise. In mid-March, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr had declared that the Group would emerge from the Corona crisis smaller. Last Friday there was a hint as to whom the first cuts might affect: Lufthansa questioned Germanwings.

The Iata code already disappeared in 2018
Germanwings had already lost its Iata code 4U in March two years ago. Since then, it has been flying as a pure service provider for its sister Eurowings under its EW code. In the following year Lufthansa made it clear that Germanwings would no longer have its own Air Operator Certificate (AOC).

The fact that Lufthansa had not fully integrated Germanwings into Eurowings before was due to different collective agreements. The crews at Eurowings, where Lufthansa will now also reduce its fleet, earn considerably less. Lufthansa still has to explain in detail what will now happen to the employees of Germanwings.

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