Airlines Eurowings long-haul to be introduced at Frankfurt Airport?

According to the German aviation portal Airlines.de, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr has revealed, that its low-cost subsidiary airline Eurowings could start operating long-haul flights from Frankfurt. However, the airline has clarified, that the group is currently reflecting all aspects but has not made a clear decision yet.

In addition, Airliners.de stated that Eurowings is currently considering to move two Airbus A330 aircraft to Munich Airport. This summer, Eurowings has started operating long-haul flights from Munich with two A330 aircraft, which are being operated by Sun Express.

With the plans to move operations to Frankfurt Airport, Eurowings would indirectly attack its mother-company Lufthansa. The plans could come from the disagreements Lufthansa and Fraport, the airport operator, had over the course of Ryanair´s entry at the airport. Lufthansa demanded lower airport fees for Eurowings as well, but Fraport denied.

Eurowings´ long-haul operations have been in motion for the past month. In February, the carrier announced that it will relocate its long-haul basis from Cologne-Bonn to Düsseldorf, after Air Berlin filed for bankruptcy over a year ago.

Initially, Eurowings started operations with a single Airbus A330 aircraft. Over the last three years, the airline acquired seven additional used A330-200 aircraft. Moreover, it signed a leasing agreement with Brussels Airlines over two Airbus A340-300s and one A330-300.

It is expected however, that the A340-300s will go back to Brussels Airlines soon. OO-SCW has been ferried from Düsseldorf to Malta-Luqa in early November in order to be painted back into Brussels colours.

Eurowings is part of the Lufthansa Group and operates as low-cost carrier. The fleet consists of 39 Airbus A319s, 47 A320s, seven A330-200s, one A330-300 and two A340-300s. Austrian subsidiary Eurowings Europe operate with six A319s and seven A320s. Eurowings serves 40 countries and 146 destinations.