Eurowings report of ultra LCC airline decline in Germany is premature
According to Eurowings CEO Jens Bischoff, "the ultra low cost business model is on the decline throughout Germany".
The head of Lufthansa's point-to-point low cost airline said this while announcing plans to replace 95% of the capacity to be withdrawn by the ultra LCC Ryanair Group from Duesseldorf.
The base of Ryanair's subsidiary Laudamotion at Duesseldorf will close from 24-Oct-2020, following the closure of its Stuttgart base at the end of Sep-2020.
This is fighting talk from Mr Bischoff, but may be premature. Europe's three LCC groups - Ryanair Group, Wizz Air Group and Pegasus - have increased their share of Germany-Europe capacity throughout 2020, including the period after fleet groundings. Ryanair Group and Pegasus are cutting capacity by less than the market, whereas Wizz Air is almost maintaining 2019 capacity levels.
Moreover, Ryanair's closure of Laudamotion bases in Germany should not be interpreted as a withdrawal from this market. Laudamotion was restructured when employees did not agree to new terms, and Ryanair now has a new subsidiary, Lauda Europe, to facilitate the opening of new bases across Europe.
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