As most of you probably know, Germanwings is Lufthansa’s subsidiary which primarily operates short-haul flights out of their non-core German airports (in other words, airports other than Frankfurt and Munich). It’s also a low cost subsidiary of Lufthansa, meaning they don’t have business class and the same complimentary services you’d get on mainline flights.
Not surprisingly, Germanwings will be rebranding this fall, which has been in the works since before the Germanwings crash in the French Alps from earlier this year. Germanwings will be renamed Eurowings.
Via Business Traveller:
Lufthansa had been planning to abolish the Germanwings name at some stage in the future, even before the recent disaster in the French Alps.
Having two separate short-haul budget carriers, Germanwings and Eurowings, did not make sense.
For the past few weeks and months, Lufthansa has been busy changing flight codes so that by November the 4U code used by Germanwings will switch to Eurowings’ EW code. In the case of flights between the UK and Germany, this has already happened.
Germanwings serves Lufthansa’s non-core destinations. So when you request a flight, say, from London to Dusseldorf or London to Hamburg in the month of October, you’ll be presented with a 4U code. Book the same flight in November and you’ll find the code has been switched to EW.
Bottom line
The rebranding does make sense, given that the airline is expanding their operations outside of Germany. For example, in the fall they’re opening a base in Vienna, so flying from Vienna to other points in Europe makes more sense under the “Eurowings” name than the “Germanwings” name.
The rebranding does indeed seem to be unrelated to their crash in the French Alps, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it causes the rebranding to be completed sooner rather than later.
would have been helpful to have recieved the information germanwing > eurowing beforehand. Apparently management decisions were implemented way before the rebranding took place on the round, i.e. germanwings signs everywhere still, but no eurowings. But maybe another rebranding to hansawings or worldwings will come, and then another one, and another one.
Although Germanwings/Eurowings don't technically have Business Class they do have what they call "BEST" fare. This gives you:
Preferred seating in rows 1–3 with more legroom (across the whole Airbus fleet)
Adjacent seat free
Lounge access (subject to availability)
Increased miles
Priority check-in, access to the security fast lane (subject to availability) and priority boarding
Reserved hand luggage compartment
À la carte catering
2 bags up to...
Although Germanwings/Eurowings don't technically have Business Class they do have what they call "BEST" fare. This gives you:
Preferred seating in rows 1–3 with more legroom (across the whole Airbus fleet)
Adjacent seat free
Lounge access (subject to availability)
Increased miles
Priority check-in, access to the security fast lane (subject to availability) and priority boarding
Reserved hand luggage compartment
À la carte catering
2 bags up to 23 kg each included
2 items of hand luggage
So basically the same services you have in European business class plus a seat with substantially more legroom which is not the case for most inter-European business class as they just use economy seats.
I'm also confused by Eurowings opening a base in Vienna: The logic is that Germanwings/Eurowings operates all flights from Germany that are not originating or arriving in Frankfurt or Munich, the Lufthansa hubs. As Vienna is the Austrian hub (Austrian being a full-service airline and a subsidiary of Lufthansa as well), by the same logic Austrian should operate all services from Vienna and Eurowings could operate flights from other Austrian airports to European destinations.
@Massimo a "very poor brand, cheap product " with "sloppy marketing" which has successfully been operating since 1994.....
Surely they could have spent more time to research and find a stronger name than Eurowings.
It is a very poor brand, cheap product and sloppy marketing work.
I was at DUS today and saw that at least one plane had already received the new EUROWINGS repainting.... I didn't think too much of it, as I already knew it was coming.... I guess I should have taken a pic for you guys....
Hey Lucky, did you watch Season two of Ultimate Airport Dubai? I liked season one a lot more, as there were more "in house" story lines, rather than all the tarmac renovations in Season two.
Big GRIN Kjos
Hm, operating outside your own country with a local name. I'm sure Big Gris Kjos wish he had named his airline something else considering Norway is now a small part of his empire.
@Keith +1 - your comment hadn't loaded up when I posted.
@Jan - No.
@ Mattias:
While I do agree that Lufthansa is very confusing in terms of corporate affairs, I think that the sheer size of the Lufthansa should take the most blame. It's just about impossible to manage around 540 subsidiaries to the point where they're all running anywhere near perfect operations in each of their respective fields, at least what I think. While yes, there are indeed disorganized messes that can be fixed, I think that...
@ Mattias:
While I do agree that Lufthansa is very confusing in terms of corporate affairs, I think that the sheer size of the Lufthansa should take the most blame. It's just about impossible to manage around 540 subsidiaries to the point where they're all running anywhere near perfect operations in each of their respective fields, at least what I think. While yes, there are indeed disorganized messes that can be fixed, I think that the operation is far too large to fix quickly.
As announced on 4 Dec 2014 Germanwings was to rebrand. 4.5 months prior to the crash.
http://www.abendblatt.de/wirtschaft/article135005188/Neue-Billiglinie-Eurowings-soll-Germanwings-ersetzen.html
Lufthansa has got to be one of the worst corporate messes ever. They have no plans whatsoever, Spohr says one thing one day and then something else the week after. I am a Lufthansa/Star fanboy but I think they're business model is killing them (they need a better fleet policy, they should've retired their A340s and 744s ages ago, though they do have a bunch of A350 orders) They are very much Europes SQ and...
Lufthansa has got to be one of the worst corporate messes ever. They have no plans whatsoever, Spohr says one thing one day and then something else the week after. I am a Lufthansa/Star fanboy but I think they're business model is killing them (they need a better fleet policy, they should've retired their A340s and 744s ages ago, though they do have a bunch of A350 orders) They are very much Europes SQ and they need to act like they are a premium company and to focus on connecting traffic. They also need to reduce their companies down to three (Lufthansa, Swiss, and Austrian)
I guess Lufthansa will have the two carriers in Service. Eurowings will serve the international and also long haul routes but I think Germanwings will continue its service.
I suppose they'll be gradually rebranding the planes, too?
Also, what surprised me is that they'll be opening a base in Vienna. Does it mean they will get to fly to / operate on Lufthansa's behalf flight to new/existing destinations?
This is true. It was announced late last year in 2014 that Germanwings would transition into Eurowings, so it had no role at all to do with the crash. Headquarters will be in Cologne.
http://www.heute.de/lufthansa-baut-billigsparte-aus-36196010.html