Airline job losses
January 19, 2010
Eurowings announced that about 600 of its 1,260 staff will be made redundant and that it will slim down its fleet to about half the current size.
The company, which is a subsidiary of Lufthansa, said it would hold talks with unions within days of the announcement on Tuesday.
As part of a wider Lufthansa restructuring operation, 19 of Eurowings' 34 airplanes will be sold off or returned to leasing companies. The company says it is no longer viable to operate aircraft that can only seat 50 passengers.
No news on routes
Eurowings, which operates domestic feeder flights to Frankfurt and Munich as well as some international flights to smaller airports, did not say which routes would be affected.
The Dortmund-based carrier's fleet will consist of just 15 CRJ 900 airplanes, which seat 90, from March 28.
Lufthansa revealed that it would be getting rid of smaller planes some time ago, but has sped up the change because of the recession. It wants to cut costs in passenger operations by around one billion euros ($1.44 billion) over the next two years. Although Lufthansa only owns 49 percent of Eurowings, it has full management control.
rc/AFP/dpa
Editor: Ben Knight