Germanwings Expands from Cologne/Bonn

Germanwings is to increase its operations from Cologne/Bonn as it deepens its route development relationship with Lufthansa. The two airlines announced late last year that they are now working together to maximise synergies by developing a joint network development plan across the country. This was first revealed at Stuttgart, where Germanwings will be taking over all of Lufthansa’s European flights and is now being replicated across Germany.

From the start of the Northern Summer schedules on March 25, 2012, Germanwings will take over the operation of Lufthansa’s existing three times daily link to London Heathrow and will also introduce a four times weekly service to Naples, a three times weekly rotation to Rijeka and twice weekly flights to Catania and Nador. Germanwings is already the largest operator at Cologne/Bonn with just under 300 weekly flights to 38 destinations, accounting for 42.0 per cent of the available weekly seats.

Although Germanwings has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lufthansa since the start of 2009, it is only now that the carriers have developed a joint network strategy to optimise their schedules and strengthen their joint positions in the German market. This model is to be extended to other cities across the country and in the future Germanwings will become responsible for European international flights from Hanover, alongside Cologne and Stuttgart, while Lufthansa will serve European destinations from Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Berlin.