This will be a major blow for Cologne-Bonns low-cost subsidiary. Lufthansa, Eurowings From the summer timetable, the airline's long-haul traffic will be transferred to Düsseldorf airport60 km to the north.
The reasons are fairly obvious: Düsseldorf's catchment area is larger than that of Cologne-Bonn. Düsseldorf is at the gateway to the Ruhr region, Europe's largest conurbation with a dozen towns and cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants - the largest being Dortmund, Duisburg and Essen. This strength is also reflected in the traffic figures for the two airports. While Cologne-Bonn welcomed 12.4 million passengers last year, Düsseldorf attracted twice as many, at 24.6 million.
On the intercontinental front, Düsseldorf is linked to Abu Dhabi, Atlanta, Baghdad, Dubai, New York, Beijing, Singapore, Teheran and Tokyo. And since the hub lost half a dozen long-haul destinations with the bankruptcy of AirBerlinEurowings certainly doesn't want to waste it.
The carrier transfers seven long-haul aircraft from Cologne/Bonn, which from April will serve Cancun, New York JFK, Miami and Las Vegas. Routes to Fort Myers, Mauritius, Montego Bay and Orlando will be added later in the year. This should generate 35,000 additional passengers for the hub each month. For its part, Lufthansa will continue to offer daily connections between Düsseldorf and Newark.
A total of 140 intercontinental flights will be offered to Eurowings passengers each week, connecting with flights operated by the Lufthansa subsidiary to some fifty European cities, including Bastia, Lyon, Basel-Mulhouse, Nice and Paris CDG in France. Montpellier will also be linked to Düsseldorf throughout the summer season...
The growth of Eurowings in Düsseldorf is also reflected in the quality of the product. Eurowings will introduce real business class on its long-haul routes. Bizclass is presented as a genuine business product, with a seat that converts horizontally into a two-metre-wide berth. Six seats will be available per row, in a 2-2-2 configuration. The airline will also offer a special catering service. Business class will be introduced immediately on aircraft serving routes to the United States, before being integrated on other routes. Eurowings will also be positioning itself on a long-haul route from Munich. Three Airbus A3330s will be assigned to the Munich route. The carrier's intercontinental routes from Munich include Bangkok, Havana, Las VegasMontego Bay, Puerto Plata, Punto Cana and Windhoek.
