Further 1,600 jobs to go at Iberia - Lufthansa ponders Germanwings V3

Jack1985

IAG have confirmed that it intends to start a consultation period for a collective redundancy process which will involve up to 1,581 jobs. IAG say these further job cuts will strengthen Iberia's growth into the future.

http://www.iagshares.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=240949&p=irol-rnsArticle_Print&ID=1946747&highlight=

On the flip side where IAG are dealing with over-staffing and focusing on turning around the existing operation, Lufthansa have laughably announced they plan to launch ''Eurowings'' which will rival easyJet and Ryanair - The first launch of operations will be with 4 aircraft in Basel/Mulhouse directly competing with easyJet but replacing Swiss operations there.

Lufthansa Group plans to create ''Wings Group'' handling Germanwings and Eurowings to be based in either Austria, Belgium or Switzerland.

The airline has confirmed Germanwings will compete with loco's in the German market domestically and internationally. Eurowings will compete pan-European.

Lufthansa envisages that Eurowings will grow to over 23 A320 aircraft, 10 orders from LH, with 13 transferring from LH. CRJ aircraft are to be phased out of the Lufthansa fleet.

Lufthansa group also envisages that Eurowings will operate 20% cheaper than Germanwings. In late 2015, Wings Group will enter the Long-Haul market with plans for either A330/B767 aircraft. Lufthansa itself plans to launch high density aircraft on tourist routes from FRA/MUC subject to negotiations with unions.

The whole charade to me is laughable, for nearly 30 years now Lufthansa has ignored what happened in the US and what extended to Europe. How many times have we seen full-service airlines launch low-cost loco's only to fail? Mind boggling.

folbotcar

It is laughable, you can be quite sure the German unions won't want there to be any chance of this venture taking revenue off the mainline. If the idea is that the loCo will subsidise the old Lufthansa. They might want to think again.

Apart from that the behemoth that is Ryanair will stir and slap down the puny German fly that emerges.

Ironically that's the only situation I can think of where the Irish could defeat Germany in any context.

Jack1985

Definitely agree, easyJet's success at Hamburg clearly shows the untapped market penetration that still remains in Germany - They seem to be hinting at more operations ex-Munich now also. Lufthansa seem to want to go after every loco from easyJet to Ryanair and Norwegian it seems with their plan of loco long-haul operations late FY15, wonder how much damage LH will take this time.

Tenger

Jack1985 wrote: »

........Lufthansa have laughably announced they plan to launch ''Eurowings'' which will rival easyJet and Ryanair - The first launch of operations will be with 4 aircraft in Basel/Mulhouse directly competing with easyJet but replacing Swiss operations there.
......
The whole charade to me is laughable, for nearly 30 years now Lufthansa has ignored what happened in the US and what extended to Europe. How many times have we seen full-service airlines launch low-cost loco's only to fail? Mind boggling.

I would agree. Too many examples of failure to have confidence in this venture.

Zonda999

This does sound odd to be honest. It seems like they're not even doing what Iberia is supposedly doing with Iberia Express and taking over some routes from mainline, sounds like madness to me..

tigershould

folbotcar wrote: »

Apart from that the behemoth that is Ryanair will stir and slap down the puny German fly that emerges..

...and Ryanair have added HAM as a new destination from October. Jeez they move fast

Jack1985

tigershould wrote: »

...and Ryanair have added HAM as a new destination from October. Jeez they move fast

New aircraft from end of Sep, I think they'll be quashing this Lufty dream fairly rapidly. :P

Cessna_Pilot

Jack1985 wrote: »

New aircraft from end of Sep, I think they'll be quashing this Lufty dream fairly rapidly. :P

As long as they have enough pilots to crew the aircraft of course!

christy c

Cessna_Pilot wrote: »

As long as they have enough pilots to crew the aircraft of course!

Is there any truth to this? I've been reading about FR pilot shortages for years but haven't seen any evidence

Tenger

christy c wrote: »

Is there any truth to this? I've been reading about FR pilot shortages for years but haven't seen any evidence

I think they have a very quick turnover of flight crew moreso than actually shortage. However the flights schools are churning out so many 2 stripers every year I think FR will be OK for a while.

christy c

Tenger wrote: »

I think they have a very quick turnover of flight crew moreso than actually shortage. However the flights schools are churning out so many 2 stripers every year I think FR will be OK for a while.

That's what I thought, some would have you believe otherwise though