Rambuster

Please move along, nothing to see here !

TRAVELSIG

So then, in a very best case scenario and with more than a touch of optimism, this should show up as an improvement to the P&L in 2016.

I do hope this works out and they are going to do something a tad more interesting than the odd cheap seat to Orlando in November. All these "not part of Star Alliance Low Cost/not Low price to consumer" airlines popping up within STAR certainly provide a sharp contrast to oneWorld and Skyteam where your benefits as a frequent flyer have a much stronger system wide consistency.

GermanWings, ThaiSmile, AirCanada Rouge etc......

Lastly- let's hope this whole venture doesn't start any new labour discussions.

weero

They should have done that 2-3 years ago, then they could have used still current configurations for that LCC. Now they would have to pull at least the F cabin to make the whole thing LCCish. And on some birds even the Biz...
While I dislike unions with a vengeance and think of them of the 5th worst legacy institution ever, if I was an LH pilot or FA, I'd fire my union of they let this one slip by without a major fight.

After the stunts LX pulled in such a maneuver, it is plain obvious that wedging the work force in two is one of the key business targets LH has in this venture.

sokolov

Reminds me of Air Canada Rougue. Some would-be passengers avoid them like Ebola. Me included.

boss315

must be Smisek's clone or identical twin!

gum

Thank you, Weero, for this really great post. ^

Additionally as I have stated before this new Low-Cost-Carrier will bring Lufty into serious trouble. On the one hand there is a classic overcapacity situation in Y to many destinations. With many cheapish offers made not only by the ME3 but only some Far Eastern carriers.

The introduction of Y+ would have been the key to success: Lowering the available seat kilometres and at the same time raising the revenue potential. ^

This potential is now offset by the new carrier. Regardless the fact that it adds additional complexity to the group of airlines I don't see any viable routes ex-MUC.

Even the daily one week trial of the A380 from MUC->New York during the inaugurational phase was sold so badly (if I remember correct) that it had to be combined with the usual daily Airbus flight to New York.

That said I wonder which destination Lufty could choose for a steady operation all the year long?

We have to remember that - even if Lufty slashes many of the privileges of the crews for this new airline - they operate from a high-cost location.

In view of the critical state of the European economy I can only see this low cost carrier as a tourism booster for incoming traffic from the emerging economies. But that would require offering packages of accommodation, air travel and touristic activities.

The growth potential for Y traffic originating in Germany is due to the probable slashing of one larger retail company and the therewith associated disruptions very, very limited. Also a formerly independent Bavarian bank is now a subsidiary of an Italian group of banks and will close the half of branches. Not the best business climate for a LCC starting from MUC!


I could see only a potential for one or two aircrafts transporting a new type of captive customers: As a feeder to the larger cruise ships who serve the same route every week. They can be captured by a combination of cheap cruises and cheap air fares. But who will earn money with that?

Don't know. But this is another example how a management can be distracted from its former core business....

N1003U

Bingo! Big cost drivers are labor, capital, and consumables. Two of the three have already been globalized and are similar for everyone. The last one is the only thing LH can try to change significantly. Between high labor and base costs and an almost openly hostile political environment, I don't see a rosy future for this LH LCC plan. Too many others are in a better position to do an LCC better.

sriegert

has there ever been a successful LCC arm of a major carrier that hasn't eventually been reabsorbed???

TennisNoob

Could it be lower than RyanAir?

oliver2002

Looks like it will be operated by XG or XQ, the LCC JV with TK.

milepig

I thought of this as well. How do they avoid the bait and switch?. A short hop in the EU is one thing, but INTL? I'd be really angry if I wound up on LH light FRA-ORD on a UA codeshare with no miles given.

mosburger

You get to hear stories about TK and other Turkish airlines especially when around lawyers familiar with Turkey...So hopefully not.

Concerto

So the new intercontinental service is going to be called Worldwings according to an article in the NRZ Neue Ruhr Zeitung, which I read in today's edition. I can't find the online link for it right now, but here is another article that I found:

http://www.aerotelegraph.com/lufthan...-billigairline

Worldwings seems to be not too bad a choice in the end. Better than yet another airline called Jetairfly, or Flyairjet, or something equally dumb.

gojko88

The name doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, though.

GUWonder

Germanwings, Worldwings and LuftwingsHansa?