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.
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.
Lufthansa discontinues Germanwings operations
Germanwings jet: On 7 April 2020, Lufthansa announced that the subsidiary's flight operations would be terminated.
aeroTELEGRAPH/Klaus-Dieter Nowack
The airline was founded in 1996 under the name Eurowings Flug.
It was a subsidiary of Eurowings, which had already existed three years longer.
In 2008 plans for a fusion of Germanwings and Tuifly failed. Condor had previously withdrawn from talks on a tripartite alliance.
In 2009 and 2010, Lufthansa fully integrated Germanwings and Eurowings. The picture shows a McDonnel Douglas MD-82 from Nordic Leisure, which was used by Germanwings in 2007.
From 2012, Germanwings took over European routes from Lufthansa from airports such as Stuttgart, Cologne, Hamburg or Berlin - that was cheaper for Lufthansa. However, the Group then saw even more savings potential at Eurowings, especially from 2015.
The tragedy: On 24 March 2015, Germanwings Flight 4U9525 from Barcelona to Düsseldorf crashes in the French Alps. All 150 passengers died. It later turned out that the co-pilot had intentionally brought the plane down.
In March 2018 Germanwings lost its Iata code 4U. Since then it has been flying under the EW code of Eurowings and is now a pure service provider for its sister.
aeroTELEGRAPH/Klaus-Dieter Nowack
