Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) has confirmed plans to merge low-cost carrier germanwings (Cologne/Bonn) and all of its short-haul services not operating from and to its key hubs at Frankfurt and Munich into a new airline from as early as January 2013. Additional details such as a final decision on the brand to be used going forward will be confirmed later. Direct4U had previously been rumoured as a potential brand as this name was used for the internal evaluation project for this new carrier. Lufthansa has however already confirmed that the new subsidiary would be headquarters at Cologne/Bonn like germanwings and that Eurowings (EW, Düsseldorf) would operate regional services on its behalf. germanwings currently operates 32 A319-100s with additional six aircraft on order for 2013 and 2014. Eurowings currently operates 23 CRJ900s on behalf of Lufthansa. Given the new airline is expected to use approximately 90 aircraft, it is expected that around 35 mainline aircraft or regional aircraft operated by Lufthansa's regional partners will also be transferred to the new carrier. Lufthansa has regional bases at Berlin Tegel, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, germanwings operates from bases at Berlin Tegel, Cologne/Bonn, Hannover and Stuttgart.