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Germanwings

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Not to be confused with German Wings.
Germanwings
File:Germanwings logo.png
IATA ICAO Callsign
4U GWI GERMANWINGS
Founded1997
as a division of Eurowings
2002
as a separate company
Operating bases
Frequent-flyer program
AllianceStar Alliance (affiliate)
Fleet size70
Destinations86
Parent companyLufthansa Group
HeadquartersCologne, Germany
Key peopleThomas Winkelmann (CEO)
Dr. Axel Schmidt
Oliver Wagner
Websitewww.germanwings.com

Germanwings is a low-cost airline based in Cologne, Germany, which is wholly owned by Lufthansa.[1] Its main hubs are Cologne Bonn Airport, Stuttgart Airport, Hamburg Airport, Berlin Tegel Airport and Düsseldorf Airport, further bases are Hannover Airport and Dortmund Airport.[2] Germanwings is an affiliate of the Star Alliance due to its parent-member Lufthansa.

In January 2013, Lufthansa started to move its entire short-haul operations outside of its main hubs in Frankfurt and Munich to Germanwings.[3]

History

Foundation

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 aircraft (with a further 12 options), with deliveries scheduled from July 2006 until 2008.[4]

During winter 2004–2005 Germanwings leased two Boeing 717s from Aerolíneas de Baleares to test the aircraft type, but no order was made afterwards.

Change of ownership

In 2008 initial plans were made to merge Germanwings, Eurowings and TUIfly into one airline to compete with Air Berlin/LTU in the German market and with EasyJet and Ryanair on international routes, but these plans were never realized. Instead, Germanwings became a wholly owned Lufthansa subsidiary on 1 January 2009.[5]

Rebranding

Germanwings Airbus A319-100 in the former livery which was replaced in 2013

In 2012 Lufthansa announced that it plans to transfer point-to-point shorthaul flights operating from cities other than Frankfurt and Munich from Lufthansa to Germanwings.[6] Therefore the company received a revised corporate design. The transfer of Lufthansa's shorthaul routes takes place between spring 2013 and autumn 2014 with Düsseldorf Airport being the last base to be transferred from March 2014. By the end of 2014 all traffic except all flights to and from Frankfurt and Munich as well as the medium-haul routes from Düsseldorf will have been taken over by Germanwings.[7]

As part of the 2013 restructuring and relaunch of Germanwings, alongside the 33 aircraft currently operated, around 30 Lufthansa aircraft will be transferred to Germanwings.[8] Additionally, the 23 aircraft currently operated by Eurowings covering Lufthansa flights not flying out of the Frankfurt and Munich hubs will also be incorporated into Germanwings. Overall, ‘new Germanwings’ will eventually operate around 90 aircraft.

Corporate affairs

Germanwings has been wholly owned by Lufthansa since 1 January 2009, so formal reporting since then has been within the Group Accounts. In the 2012 accounts, Germanwings figures were reported only within the 'Lufthansa Passenger Airline Group', and are not generally available separately. The key known trends for Germanwings are shown below (as at year ending 31 December):

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Turnover (€m) 628 580 630 687 n/a n/a
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
Notes/sources [9][10] [10] [11] [12][13] [14][15][16] [17]

Destinations

Main article: Germanwings destinations

Fleet

As of March 2014, the Germanwings fleet consists of the following aircraft with an average age of 9.2 years (as of December 2013).[18][19]

Germanwings Fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
Airbus A319-100 41 2 150 Orders are planes transferred from Lufthansa
Airbus A320-200 7 14 174 Orders are planes transferred from Lufthansa
Bombardier CRJ900 23 16 90 operated by Eurowings
Total 71 32

Some aircraft have had special liveries applied in order to promote German cites (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).[20] Those have been abandoned during the 2013 rebranding.

  • Germanwings Airbus A319-100 in the old (foreground) and new livery (background)
    Germanwings Airbus A319-100 in the old (foreground) and new livery (background)
  • Germanwings Airbus A319-100 in T-Mobile livery
    Germanwings Airbus A319-100 in T-Mobile livery
  • Germanwings Airbus A319-100 in the new 2013 livery
    Germanwings Airbus A319-100 in the new 2013 livery
  • Germanwings Airbus A319-100 featuring a special livery promoting Berlin in 2009
    Germanwings Airbus A319-100 featuring a special livery promoting Berlin in 2009

Services

Since 2013 Germanwings offers three fare types called Basic, Smart and Best which include different services. While Basic is a classic no-frills offer that features hand-luggage only and no free catering, Best includes hold baggage, free snacks and drinks as well as access to some lounges for tier members of Miles&More.[21] Therefore Smart and Best are more or less comparable to the product that Lufthansa offered on the routes taken over by Germanwings. The fleet is equipped with economy class only.

Germanwings operates the additional Sky Bistro (Bord Shop in German), a buy on board programme offering food and drinks for purchase.[22] The airline also provides an inflight magazine, a bi-monthly German and English magazine called GW. While the primary editorial focus is rooted in Germanwings destinations, the content is not exclusively about travel.[23]

As for its booking services, Germanwings provides a unique option called Blind Booking that allows 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 are often priced lower than the corresponding ticket to the same destination, and Germanwings e-mails its customers their destination shortly after the purchase.[24]

References

  1. ^ "Imprint." Germanwings. Retrieved on April 29, 2010. "Head Office: Germanwings-Str. 2 51147 Cologne"
  2. ^ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-04-03. p. 86.
  3. ^ "Lufthansa to Combine European Flights Into Low-Cost Unit". Bloomberg. September 20, 2012.
  4. ^ Aero International, June 2006
  5. ^ Announcement of TUI AG. Tui-group.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-01.
  6. ^ Flottau, Jens. "Lufthansa Transfers Most Short-Haul Flights To Germanwings." Aviation Week. October 11, 2012. Retrieved on October 11, 2012.
  7. ^ http://www.airliners.de/lufthansa-direktverkehre-umstellung-auf-germanwings-auf-der-zielgeraden/31989
  8. ^ The "New Germanwings". Germanwings.com. Retrieved on 2012-12-30.
  9. ^ "Annual Report 2008" (PDF). Lufthansa. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  10. ^ a b "Annual Report 2009". Lufthansa. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  11. ^ "Annual Report 2010". Lufthansa. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  12. ^ "Annual Report 2011". Lufthansa. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  13. ^ "Investor Info 2011" (PDF). Lufthansa. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  14. ^ "Annual Report 2012" (PDF). Lufthansa. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  15. ^ "Facts and Figures June 2013" (PDF). Lufthansa. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  16. ^ "Die neue Germanwings" (PDF). Lufthansa. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  17. ^ "Facts and Figures March 2014" (PDF). Lufthansa. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  18. ^ germanwings Fleet. ch-aviation.ch.
  19. ^ Fleet & Crew - About Germanwings
  20. ^ Germanwings advertisement brochure, Advertisement through aircraft painting. Retrieved 2012-01-20
  21. ^ http://www.germanwings.com/en/Service/Booking_and_changing_a_booking_What_are_the_different_fares.htm
  22. ^ "[1]." Germanwings. Retrieved on 19 July 2012.
  23. ^ Germanwings – Magazine :: Apr 2012 — Ink eMagazines. Ink-live.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-01.
  24. ^ http://www.germanwings.com/skysales/BlindBooking.aspx?culture=en-GB

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