Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) completed the transfer of all European and domestic routes not operating from its Munich and Frankfurt International hubs, to its low-cost subsidiary germanwings (4U, Cologne/Bonn) on January 8. The last route to be moved, Düsseldorf to Zurich, marks the end of a handover that started in July 2013 and which, since then, has seen 115 routes from several airports in Germany being transferred.
"The completion of the migration of Lufthansa routes to germanwings represents the successful conclusion of a major project that has been a big challenge for the company," Thomas Winkelmann, CEO of germanwings said. “However, the team rose to the challenge magnificently. We can now build on this success.”
As it stands, Lufthansa's hub operations now focus primarily on Munich and Frankfurt alongside some long-haul flying out of Düsseldorf.
Switching all domestic and European routes to germanwings will allow Lufthansa to operate regional services with lower cost overheads thereby allowing it to regain profitability in those markets. The move, which has been the target of severe criticism from many travellers, has also involved the rebranding and repositioning of germanwings as a hybrid-concept.
The airline's fleet has been transformed from an all-A319-100 outfit into one which now numbers 83 aircraft including forty-three A319 and twenty Airbus A320-200s. Twenty-three CRJ900s are also in service operated by Eurowings (EW, Düsseldorf) but are slated to be replaced with additional A320s once it begins its metamorphosis into a pan-European regional budget carrier.
