In October 2023, Lufthansa announced plans to launch yet another subsidiary, with the sole purpose of finding a loophole to pay employees less. More details about this new carrier have just been revealed, and tickets for these flights will be going on sale shortly.
In this post:
The basics of new Lufthansa City Airlines subsidiary
Lufthansa City Airlines is Lufthansa’s newest subsidiary, and it will begin operations in the summer of 2024. The airline will initially operate Airbus A319s — two jets have already been repainted in the Lufthansa City livery, and two more are expected to be ready before the airline launches.
In the long run, Lufthansa City Airlines plans to operate Airbus A220-300s. Lufthansa Group has ordered up to 60 of these (40 firm orders plus 20 options), and they’re primarily intended for Lufthansa City Airlines. Deliveries are expected to start in 2026. The carrier may also operate Airbus A320neos in the future.
As far as routes go, the plan is for Lufthansa City Airlines to operate out of Lufthansa’s biggest hubs, serving feeder routes for Lufthansa, alongside Lufthansa mainline jets, as well as Lufthansa CityLine jets. Service will launch as of June 26, 2024, and the first flights will be out of Munich (MUC):
- Domestic destinations will include Berlin (BER), Bremen (BRE), Cologne (CGN), Dusseldorf (DUS), Hamburg (HAM), and Hannover (HAJ)
- International destinations will include Birmingham (BHX), Bordeaux (BOD), and Manchester (MAN)
Lufthansa City Airlines tickets will be on sale as of April 24, 2024, and the airline will use the two letter code “VL.” Initially you can expect that the airline will just be replacing existing Lufthansa services. So as tickets go on sale for travel on Lufthansa City Airlines, these frequencies will operate in lieu of Lufthansa frequencies that are already in the schedule.
From a passenger experience standpoint, this will be identical to flying with Lufthansa in terms of the cabin, food, drinks, etc. The only difference is that the plane will have a slightly modified livery, and you’ll be served by crews who specifically work for this subsidiary. For the purposes of earning miles and elite recognition, this will be the same as a mainline Lufthansa flight.
City Airlines already received its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) from the German Federal Aviation Authority back in June 2023. The airline also started recruiting both pilots and flight attendants in late 2023.
Jens Fehlinger, Managing Director of City Airlines, explains how the intent with this subsidiary is to create sustainable (in other words, lowering paying) jobs in Germany:
“Lufthansa City Airlines is contributing to the future viability of the hubs in Munich and Frankfurt. We are looking forward to new modern Airbus A220 and A320neo deliveries in the coming years. For our guests and employees, we are driving forward our renewal and thus strengthening Lufthansa’s planned growth in long-haul traffic.”
Why does Lufthansa need another subsidiary?!
It’s almost comical just how many subsidiaries Lufthansa has. Before City Airlines, we had Eurowings, Discover Airlines, CityLine, and I’m sure I’m missing some. And that doesn’t even consider all the subsidiaries in the past, plus all the other Lufthansa Group partner subsidiaries.
So, why does Lufthansa need yet another subsidiary? Well, currently there’s the Lufthansa CityLine subsidiary, which primarily operates Canadair and Embraer regional jets, though also operates some Airbus A319s and A320s (and in the past even operated A340s).
The catch is that Lufthansa has a scope clause with its mainline pilots regarding this subsidiary, and they’re limited to only flying planes up to a certain size. There’s an exemption currently in place that allows them to fly a small number of A319s and A320s, but that exemption will be ending in the next couple of years, which is why Lufthansa is setting up yet another subsidiary.
So while Lufthansa can’t have CityLine operate larger aircraft in the long run, the company can apparently start a brand new subsidiary, and have those planes be bigger, as that airline isn’t governed by Lufthansa’s current bargaining agreement with pilots. So expect crews at Lufthansa City Airlines to get comparable pay to Lufthansa CityLine, only on bigger jets…
It’s just kind of amazing how bad faith the negotiations are with these contracts and subsidiaries, eh? I imagine that in the next round of negotiations with mainline staff, the expansion of City Airlines will also be addressed.
Bottom line
Lufthansa is launching another subsidiary in June 2024, named City Airlines. The airline will operate Airbus A319s out of Frankfurt and Munich, with feeder services similar to those currently operated by Lufthansa CityLine, as well as Lufthansa mainline jets. Eventually, the airline will operate A220s, and will become quite large.
The intent is to be able to hire employees with a cheaper labor contract, without violating the agreement with Lufthansa’s mainline pilots…
What do you make of Lufthansa City Airlines?
Not only is this in bad faith with the labour negotiations, but also with their clients.
No *A elite benefits for VL flights (only for M&M), unless it’s a wet lease.
Too bad those cost saving measures are only reflected on the management bonusses and dividends and not on the ticket prices.
If i get a service by underpaid employees and no food and beverages on domestic routes, where is the difference to ryanair? Which at least offers tickets way cheaper.
The truth is that german Lufthansa workers are coddled and earn much more than any other workers. Paralel we observe drop on quality and reliability. Their unions are terrorizing their passangers
The Lufthansa group is just waiting to implode under its own weight and the incompetence of its management…
I don't understand the need to have different branding for subsidiary companies though if it is just to save on crew costs?
Why can't they just brand this airline as 'Lufthansa' as per the parent with staff/crew on different contracts?
Airlines like BA and Qantas have recruited staff on different contracts, wages and T&C's to the 'legacy' staff and they still work on planes with exactly the same branding as those on the 'legacy' contracts...
I don't understand the need to have different branding for subsidiary companies though if it is just to save on crew costs?
Why can't they just brand this airline as 'Lufthansa' as per the parent with staff/crew on different contracts?
Airlines like BA and Qantas have recruited staff on different contracts, wages and T&C's to the 'legacy' staff and they still work on planes with exactly the same branding as those on the 'legacy' contracts do. For example, BA had the legacy crew and 'mixed fleet'. Qantas has legacy crew, 'QCCA (Qantas Cabin Crew Australia)' and 'QCCUK (Qantas Cabin Crew UK)' and 'Jetconnect (NZ based cabin crew that fly the whole QF network cheaper than the other work groups)' crew again, the customer would be unaware who they are being served by,
Because different countries have different laws
In the context of a recent industrial action, the CEO commented that LH operates as a group and will adapt operations to contend with labor. So, your suggestion that this is labor driven seems correct.
You also forgot Air Dolomiti among Lufthansa Group's subsidiaries, which not only operates between Germany and secondary Italian airports, but also complements some mainline LH routes (e.g. ex-MUC I've seen them scheduled to ORY, CDG and NCE fairly often in recent times)
GVA on a daily basis too...
"It’s just kind of amazing how bad faith the negotiations are with these contracts and subsidiaries, eh? I imagine that in the next round of negotiations with mainline staff, the expansion of City Airlines will also be addressed."
Don't forget the strike. There'll need to be a strike.