Lufthansa to sell belly space on Eurowings’ long-haul

Seeing new revenue opportunities for the rocky start of its Eurowings long-haul service, Lufthansa Cargo said it will begin selling belly space on some of its sister carrier’s routes, including service from Cologne/Bonn to Varadero, Cancun, the Dominican Republic, Phuket and Bangkok, starting at the end of this month.

Low-cost carrier (LCC) Eurowings began expanding into the long-haul passenger service to the Caribbean and Thailand last year, while also taking on more short-haul flights from the Germanwings subsidiary. The transition, however, has suffered some setbacks, including long-haul flight delays, technical glitches and a lack of suitable aircraft – at the time, Eurowings had only two A330-200s, but it plans to increase that number, eventually, to seven A330s.

“By integrating Eurowings’ belly capacities, the services we provide our customers become all the more attractive,” said Lufthansa Cargo board member Alexis von Hoensbroech. “Eurowings’ growing network is an ideal complement to our previous connections.”

Eurowings CEO Oliver Wagner also said that Lufthansa Cargo’s “extensive experience in marketing the belly capacities of passenger airlines” will help the LCC “make optimum use of the cargo holds on our long-haul jets.”