German press agency DPA today reports that aviation trade unions Ufo and Vereinigung Cockpit are accusing Lufthansa of using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse for restructuring its subsidiary Germanwings to the point that its closure seems inevitable, adding that the 1,400 workers would be threatened by unemployment. Lufthansa last week rejected a union proposal to implement shortened work hours at Germanwings, which would have saved jobs in the short term.
A Lufthansa spokesman said on Monday that no decisions had been taken and that the rumours of closure were “speculation”. He added that all options were being considered to cut costs after the loss of business caused by the coronavirus crisis.
Lufthansa should discuss the fate of Germanwings at a management board meeting on Tuesday.
Launched in 2002, Germanwings operated independently as Lufthansa’s low-cost carrier until October 2015, when Lufthansa decided to transfer the brand identity of its short haul-product to Eurowings. The Germanwings fleet consists of 23 Airbus A319 and 10 A320 aircraft, wet-leased for its sister company Eurowings.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Eurowings had set a target of concentrating its fleet, which spans three operations, into a single one.
This post was published on 6 April 2020 23:40
Condor has launched daily flights between Berlin Brandenburg and Abu Dhabi, operated in codeshare with…
Delta Air Lines will introduce daily seasonal flights between Boston and Reykjavík Keflavík on 12…
Saab has presented the first GlobalEye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft for the…
Air India flight AI2030 from Frankfurt to New Delhi (Boeing 787-9 registered VT-TSE) diverted to…
easyJet has put five additional UK routes on sale for summer 2027, following the 18…
Lufthansa Cargo’s winter 2026/27 schedule will offer 88 freighter routes serving 40 destinations worldwide, with…