WhileEurowings will now manage all the short-haul activities of the two airlines from Cologne, Brussels Airlines will be responsible for long-haul flights between Brussels, Munich and Düsseldorf airports. In an interview with the Belgian media, Thorsten Dirks, CEO of Eurowings, said that " Joining forces with Brussels Airlines will not only strengthen our position as Europe's third-largest low-cost airline, but will also boost the growth of the Eurowings Group in the future. "
Brussels Airlines has already demonstrated its expertise in long-haul management, lending its aircraft to the ramp-up of Eurowings' intercontinental routes at Düsseldorf, which from October will become Eurowings' new major long-haul base in place of Cologne/Bonn. According to Thorsten Dirks, " The successful launch of Eurowings long-haul flights operated by Brussels Airlines from Düsseldorf to New York, Fort Meyers and Miami last April confirms the Brussels-based airline's expertise in this field. In just five months, Eurowings and Brussels Airlines have succeeded in establishing a solid base of long-haul traffic in Düsseldorf. ". Especially as the Belgian airline has long experience of long-haul routes, notably to Africa and North America. " With Brussels Airlines, we have unique know-how on the African market and long experience of long-haul flights. "added the CEO of Eurowings.
This expertise is all the more useful as Eurowings has had difficulty 'digesting' the integration of the defunct Airberlin while continuing to build up its long-haul network. Some of the long-haul flights are chartered to another company, Sun Express, which has no real experience of this type of service. This has caused delays and cancellations for several months on several routes.
Brussels Airlines should therefore enable Eurowings to become a genuine quality alternative in the long-haul low-cost sector. The group is targeting a highly business-oriented market, and the move from Cologne to Düsseldorf is part of its drive to win over business and premium customers. In addition to the densification of the network, the introduction this winter of a business class with bed seats on long-haul routes will be one of the major tasks ahead for Brussels Airlines. And its expertise as a traditional airline should ultimately help transform Eurowings into a credible alternative for business travellers...
