Eurowings outlines growth strategy following acquisition of airberlin assets and staff

Deutsche Lufthansa AG outlined (13-Oct-2017) expansion plans for Eurowings following an agreement to acquire airberlin subsidiaries Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter mbH (LGW) and NIKI. Highlights include:

• 1700 LGW and NIKI employees to be transferred to Eurowings;
• 50 aircraft to be transferred including Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 and Airbus A320 equipment;
• Plans to to acquire additional aircraft on the market and hire 1300 more employees;
• Fleet projected to grow from 160 to 210 aircraft including 189 short and medium haul aircraft and 21 long haul aircraft;
• Eurowings will be third largest carrier in European point-to-point traffic following expansion;
• Flight operations will increase to eight, including the aircraft operated by TUIfly and Sun Express on wet lease basis;
• Employees forecast to increase from 7000 to approximately 10,000;
• Eurowings has up to 50 new short and medium haul routes planned for launch in summer 2018 unrelated to the acquisition of LGW and NIKI.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG chairman Carsten Spohr commented: "We have regained the capacity to invest and grow, in order to play an active role in the consolidation of the European airline market with Eurowings. As the fastest-growing airline in Europe, Eurowings can now expand the range of services it offers customers". [more - original PR]