It was back in 2015 that the Lufthansa Group, owner of two very similar low-cost airlines – Germanwings and Eurowings – decided it would retire the former brand in favour of merging it into the latter. The decision was announced just one month after a Germanwings plane crashed into a side of a mountain in the French Alps killing all 150 passengers and crew onboard. The investigation soon revealed that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz had deliberately flown the aircraft into the mountainside in a murder-suicide.
At the time, Lufthansa said it had been thinking of retiring Germanwings for some time – it no longer made sense for the two brands to coexist and Eurowings was a more symbolic name for the low-cost carrier’s ambitions. Nonetheless, Germanwings was a toxic brand and it seemed like a wise move for Lufthansa to quietly make it disappear as quickly as possible.
Some of the rebranding happened quickly – things like flight codes were transferred within a few months and the Germanwings website was soon redirected to Eurowings. But other aspects of the changeover have taken slightly longer – there are still a few Germanwings aircraft that have to be repainted in Eurowings colours – a job that the airline says will be completed soon.
Since the start of November, all cabin crew at the merged airline have also started to wear a harmonised uniform. Eurowings first introduced its sky blue uniform three years ago but until now Germanwings staff have continued to wear blackberry-coloured duds.
“Now we have a uniform appearance in the cabin and present ourselves to our guests as one company – another visible milestone towards a uniform brand presence in all our flight operations,” explained Michael Knitter, the chief operating officer of Eurowings.
The company issued around 100,000 uniform parts as part of the changeover – averaging out to about 30 items per employee. The last 700 Germanwings cabin employees switched to sky blue uniforms at the start of November, with the one-piece dress proving to be the most popular uniform choice out the range on offer.
Eurowings has said that 2018 is proving to be “challenging” on the back of rapid expansion and one-off cuts. Nevertheless, the airline is currently hiring new cabin crew Vienna, Munich, Stuttgart and Palma De Mallorca. More details, as well as the opportunity to apply can be found on the Be Lufthansa careers website.
