Lufthansa Accused of Using Pandemic to Clip Germanwings

Frankfurt (dpa) - German airline Lufthansa was on Monday accused by aviation workers' unions of using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse for the brutal restructuring of its subsidiary Germanwings to the point that its closure seems inevitable.

Members of the unions Ufo and Vereinigung Cockpit signed a petition that said the restructure is such that they expect Germanwings' closure to be announced this week, adding that the roughly 1,400 workers and their families would be threatened by unemployment and removal of their livelihood.

Lufthansa said on Monday that the rumours of closure were "speculation" and that there had been no proposal to that end by the board. The options for Germanwings were being weighed up, it said.

Last week Lufthansa questioned the future of Germanwings in a press release on negotiations on supplmentary money to be paid to short-time workers. Unlike their counterparts at Lufthansa, Germanwings employees still have not reached agreement over short-time payments.

The Cologne-based airline, which has 30 planes, has for years flown under the Eurowings name rather than its own.

Both unions questioned the employer's argument that the economic situation at Germanwings didn't justify the introduction of Lufthansa regulations, as Germanwings was a 100-per-cent subsidiary firm.

Launched in 2002, Germanwings retains some pilots who have Lufthansa contracts and are therefore comparatively expensive to retain. They must continue to work at Lufthansa should Germanwings fold.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic Eurowings had set a target of concentrating its fleet, which spans three operations, into one.

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