Lufthansa Group, one of Europe’s airline titans, is about to launch a new low-cost subsidiary in apparent competition with another Lufthansa brand whose name is very similar.
The new unit, City Airlines, will start operation in July 2024, with hubs at Munich and Frankfurt, flying short-haul routes and feeding passengers into Lufthansa’s long-haul operations. That’s a market segment that’s already served by Lufthansa’s CityLine, which will continue to operate in parallel with the new brand.
Lufthansa’s management has often criticized CityLine as being too costly to operate, and may be looking to the new operation as a cost-cutter, perhaps operating under less costly contracts and conditions. Some indication of a long-term plan to eliminate CityLine: Lufthansa is actively recruiting its staff for the new airline.
