LUFTHANSA’s low-cost subsidiary,
New Eurowings, will fly to leisure
destinations in Southern Africa and
the Indian Ocean Islands from the
end of next year, according to Axel
Simon, director Southern Africa of
Lufthansa and SWISS International
Air Lines – but he would not say
which.
Speaking at a Cape Town media
briefing, he said the long-haul flights
and short-haul ones in Europe would
operate from Cologne, where the
New Eurowings would be based. It
will initially use a fleet of three A330-
200s with 310 seats, expanding to
seven A330-200s over the next few
years.
The first long-haul route will be to
Tampa, Florida, which will launch in
October. New Eurowings’ long-haul
services will operate under the air
operator certificate of SunExpress
– a joint-venture company
of Lufthansa and Turkish
Airlines.
Lufthansa’s decision to
push ahead with its budget
airline operations comes as
the airline battles to stay
competitive against LCCs in
Europe and Gulf operators
on long-haul routes, and
aims to take advantage of
fast growth in the leisure
travel segment, which it says
now represents 75% of all
intercontinental flights.
Axel added that Lufthansa
remained committed to
maintaining its daily A380
services to Johannesburg
and would introduce its new
premium economy on the
Johannesburg route on
April 22.
He said the carrier recorded
a 30% capacity increase
on its seasonal Cape Town
service for 2014/15, with
demand “well above previous
years”.
