Early years
The airline was formed on 1 February 1990, following a merger of Nürnberger Flugdienst (NFD) and Reise und Industrieflug (RFG), two commuter airlines based in Nürnberg and Dortmund, respectively. Flight operations using an initial fleet of ATR 42 and 72 aircraft inherited from Eurowings' predecessors were launched on 1 January 1994. Subsequently, BAe 146 aircraft were added to the fleet, which were later followed by larger Airbus A320 family aircraft and even an Airbus A310. Lufthansa took an initial 24.9% stake in Eurowings in 2001, increasing it to 49% in 2004. It has exercised full control of the airline since 2005, and it assumed complete ownership in 2011.
Development as part of Lufthansa
As of 31 December 2006, Lufthansa had a 49% shareholding in Eurowings with a call option for 50.91% of the remaining stakes, bringing the company into the Lufthansa Group fold.[6] At that time, Eurowings was the owner of Germanwings, thus creating a low-cost branch within the Lufthansa trust. Plans to merge these two airlines with TUIfly (controlled by TUI Travel) into a joint and independent holding company, were brought forth during 2008, but did not materialize.[7] Instead, Lufthansa announced in December 2008 to acquire Germanwings from Eurowings.[8]
In September 2010 Eurowings closed its headquarters and technical infrastructure in Dortmund, Germany, and moved both to Düsseldorf, where Eurowings operated most of its flights since the airline was part of Lufthansa Regional. In March 2011, the maintenance division at Nürnberg Airport was also closed.
In late 2013, Eurowings' short-haul flights that are not operated from Frankfurt or Munich were transferred from Lufthansa to Germanwings.[9] All Eurowings flights operated on behalf of Lufthansa Regional ceased by autumn 2014 and were rebranded to Germanwings, the last ones to and from Düsseldorf.
Redevelopment into a low-cost carrier
In July 2014, the Lufthansa Group announced that Eurowings would replace its 23 Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft with 23 Airbus A320s. Ten of the A320s would be new orders, and 13 would be transferred from Lufthansa Group orders between February 2015 and March 2017. Lufthansa also announced Eurowings' transformation from a regional airline into a low-cost long and short-haul carrier by the end of 2015.[10]
On 1 February 2015, Eurowings started operating the Airbus A320-200, after taking delivery of its first on 20 January, which was received from Lufthansa and repainted in Eurowings' new livery. This and further A320s would be operated on behalf of Germanwings for most of 2015, until Lufthansa consolidated its low-cost operations under the new Eurowings brand by end of that year.[11] Additionally, in February 2015, the Lufthansa Group announced that SunExpress Deutschland would be the operator of Eurowings' new long-haul operations, which were to be based at Cologne Bonn Airport from November 2015. SunExpress Deutschland therefore would receive leased Airbus A330-200s.[12]
Recent developments
2019
In March 2019, the Lufthansa Group announced that starting in October 2019, Eurowings would introduce long-haul flights from Frankfurt Airport and further its Munich hub to expand Lufthansa's tourist-oriented presence and cooperation with these two hubs. It was announced that the original routes serviced from Frankfurt would be Mauritius, Barbados, and Windhoek, and Bangkok from Munich.[34] However, in June 2019, the Lufthansa Group announced that Eurowings will drop all long-haul flights and instead focus on short-haul operations aboard Airbus A320-family aircraft. All long-haul flights operated by Eurowings will be transferred to other network airlines- Lufthansa, Brussels Airlines, Austrian Airlines, and Swiss. It was also announced that Brussels Airlines will work more closely with its network partners under a turnaround plan introduced by Lufthansa.
2019
In March 2019, the Lufthansa Group announced that starting in October 2019, Eurowings would introduce long-haul flights from Frankfurt Airport and further its Munich hub to expand Lufthansa's tourist-oriented presence and cooperation with these two hubs. It was announced that the original routes serviced from Frankfurt would be Mauritius, Barbados, and Windhoek, and Bangkok from Munich.[34] However, in June 2019, the Lufthansa Group announced that Eurowings will drop all long-haul flights and instead focus on short-haul operations aboard Airbus A320-family aircraft. All long-haul flights operated by Eurowings will be transferred to other network airlines- Lufthansa, Brussels Airlines, Austrian Airlines, and Swiss. It was also announced that Brussels Airlines will work more closely with its network partners under a turnaround plan introduced by Lufthansa.
2020
In April 2020, Lufthansa announced a major downsizing for Eurowings in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. While Germanwings has been shut entirely and Eurowings is to phase out several aircraft, most wet-lease contracts have been ended on short notice.[35] Amongst the terminated agreements was the largest one with German Airways (formerly LGW) for their entire Bombardier DHC-8-400 fleet.[36]
2021
In February 2021, Lufthansa announced it would take over most of Eurowings' routes at Munich Airport with the exception of few domestic services and flights to Palma de Mallorca and Pristina.[37] Also in early 2021, Eurowings discontinued all of their long-haul destinations, which had been served from Düsseldorf, Munich and Frankfurt.[38] At the same time, parent Lufthansa announced that these routes would be spun off as new long-haul carrier Eurowings Discover.[39] Also in 2021, Eurowings announced it would add yet another base, this time to Prague, Czech Republic.[40]
2022
In May 2022, Eurowings announced the termination of its own long-running frequent flyer program Boomerang Club in favor of a merger with Miles & More of parent Lufthansa.[41]
2024
In December 2024, Eurowings announced significant route cuts to its Hamburg and Dortmund bases, citing high operational costs on the German market.[42]
2025
On January 15, 2025, Eurowings announced six new routes namely direct flight from Dusseldorf to Ponta Delgada, new destinations from Hanover to Bastia, Lisbon and Erbil, as well as addition of routes between Dublin-Stuttgart and Porto-Cologne/Bonn.[43]
On January 20, 2025, Eurowings announced the largest fleet modernization program in its history, with 40 Boeing 737 MAX 8 allocated from its parent Lufthansa Group from the Group’s previous order. The first 737 MAX 8 will be arriving in 2027 and expect to deliver all of the 40 airframes by 2032, they will gradually replace the current Airbus A319-100 fleet and the older Airbus A320-200 fleet. With a capacity of 189 seats, it offers 39 additional seating capacity compared to the Airbus A319. The allocation of which AOC will receive the 737 MAX 8 has not yet been confirmed.
