Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) is considering setting up a second Low Cost Carrier to counter the threat of Ryanair (FR, Dublin International), easyJet (London Luton) and Wizz Air (W6, Budapest). Germany's Der Spiegel magazine says the carrier's CEO, Carsten Spohr, is considering adding Airbus A320s to its Eurowings (EW, Düsseldorf) subsidiary with plans to offer budget flights from Germany to the rest of Europe initially. Thereafter, in the medium term, the LCC would then roll out intra-European flights with London-Rome mentioned as a likely first route.

Lufthansa currently operates a budget carrier - germanwings (4U, Cologne/Bonn) - which connects its seven German hubs with destinations throughout Europe. In January 2013, the German carrier began transferring its entire short-haul network outside of its main hubs in Frankfurt International and Munich operations to Germanwings.

As previously reported, Lufthansa is also considering taking on local rivals Air Berlin (1991) (Berlin Tegel) and Condor (DE, Frankfurt International) in the low-cost, long-haul flights market. In a bid to recapture lost market share in the segment, Lufthansa is mulling the reconfiguration of several of its A340-300s for use on select routes to the Caribbean, India, Thailand and Taiwan beginning summer 2015.