The regional carrier will operate from Munich and Frankfurt airports, where many of Lufthansa’s long-haul flights depart.
A major European airline is launching a new airline for short-haul operations on the continent.
Lufthansa, Germany’s national airline and Europe’s largest airline group, says the new fleet will help reduce costs.
“The new company City Airlines will begin operations in the summer of 2024” after “obtaining its approval last June,” the German group said in a press release on Wednesday.
The regional carrier will operate from Munich and Frankfurt airports, where many of Lufthansa’s long-haul flights depart.
When will the new airline Lufthansa launch?
The launch of the new Lufthansa subsidiary is scheduled for July 2024.
This will allow the company to “strengthen its short-haul competitiveness” in Europe, the German explained vector She said.
This segment is currently largely handled by another Lufthansa subsidiary Lufthansa CityLine, whose cost structure has long been considered too expensive by management.
The two branches “will continue to operate concurrently,” the press release reads.
Lufthansa criticized the employment strategy
The group said it will begin recruiting cockpit and cabin crew from November, favoring experienced candidates and encouraging staff from Lufthansa CityLine teams to apply.
According to the German press, former employees of the low-cost branch of the Germanwings group, which closed in 2020, could also benefit.
This strategy has been denounced by unions as legal sleight of hand. According to them, the move would allow Lufthansa to reduce costs by hiring employees already present in the group with new, less socially advantageous contracts.
In August, the powerful pilot Union VC denounced “airlines that always create new operating subsidiaries to circumvent or reduce fare conditions”.
This summer the organization achieved pay increases of more than 17 percent for Lufthansa pilots. What followed was a stalemate with management that lasted several months and repeated strikes.
Lufthansa responded on Wednesday by ensuring that it would negotiate contractual terms for future employees that were “competitive”.
“With City Airlines we want to create prospects for the coming decades and secure sustainable jobs in Germany,” said Jens Fehlinger, CEO of City Airlines.
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