Bangkok--20 Aug--TQPR
Ticket sales for attractively-priced long-haul flights off to a promising start;cockpit and cabin crew recruitment for European services getting under way
The new Eurowings looks all set for a successful launch of its attractively-priced long-haul services. Three months ahead of its first such flights – to Thailand, the Caribbean and Dubai – Lufthansa’s new budget-fare subsidiary reports promising booking levels.
“As the customer demand confirms, what we’re offering here is a highly attractive long-haul air travel product,” says Karl Ulrich Garnadt, Member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG and CEO of Lufthansa German Airlines. “Our strategy of offering our further Eurowings brand, which is aimed particularly at price-sensitive leisure travellers, clearly meets a market need.”
Eurowings is offering a number of specially low fares to launch its new services, long-haul destinations such as Bangkok and Phuket for as little as THB 7,369 one-way. And the airline offers 4 flights per week between Germany and Thailand.
The new intercontinental services will be operated with Airbus A330-200 equipment. The first two aircraft are already being prepared to enter revenue service at the beginning of November. The Eurowings long-haul fleet will then gradually be expanded to seven Airbus A330s.
The new Eurowings is adopting the business and marketing concept that has already proved successful with its sister carrier Germanwings, which has firmly positioned itself as an innovative quality low-cost airline. While Germanwings is focused on the German air travel market, Eurowings will now expand the concept throughout Europe, and will further extend it to intercontinental city and vacation destinations.
Eurowings will be opening its first operating base outside Germany in Austria. The new Eurowings Europe GmbH was founded in Austria on Monday 10 August. The company will serve as the starting point for further growth, which will see the establishment of several more operating bases throughout the European continent. Eurowings Europe is currently setting up its flight operations, which includes creating its own cockpit and cabin crew corps.