Lufthansa shut down SunExpress in the summer and invited the 1200 employees to apply to the new low-cost carrier Eurowings Discover - at even worse conditions.
Munich / Frankfurt - Lufthansa is about to launch its new holiday airline Eurowings Discover.
The new company is to start operation in June with four long-haul aircraft of the type Airbus A330 in Frankfurt, a person familiar with the processes told
Merkur.de
.
Initially, Las Vegas (USA), Mombasa (Kenya), Zanzibar (Tanzania), Mauritius, Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) and Windhoek (Namibia) should be served.
After that, the number of available machines should be expanded quickly.
Munich is planned as the second pillar of Eurowings Discover.
A possible start date in the Bavarian capital is still open.
Lufthansa boss wants to reduce dependence on business customers
With the expansion of the tourist offer, Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr wants to noticeably reduce the airline's dependence on the business travel segment in the future.
Because of the corona pandemic, many companies have become familiar with the advantages of video conferences and have increased their systems accordingly.
In view of this, industry experts doubt that the lucrative and high-margin business with business customers will again reach the pre-crisis level in the medium term.
In the past, Lufthansa had tried again and again to gain a foothold in the holiday airline segment - but with limited success.
Industry experts referred to Lufthansa's cost structure to justify this.
Lufthansa: Eurowings Discover with dumping wages
With Eurowings Discover, the company is now taking a tough approach.
According to the industry, the group consistently relies on "dumping wages".
A look at the tariff overview “Ocean Terms and Conditions First Officer”, which
Merkur.de
has
at hand, shows how merciless the airline, which was saved with state money, is doing
.
Even experienced Eurowings Discover pilots in salary level 3 with 5500 to 8000 flight hours receive an annual salary of 61,200 euros.
That is a good 20,000 euros less than with the Lufthansa subsidiary Germanwings, which has now been closed.
“The conditions”, complains a pilot from the group “are a mess”.
In a Europe-wide comparison, says Janis Georg Schmitt from the cockpit pilots' association, Eurowings Discover is "in the bottom third".
Criticism is also caused by the fact that Lufthansa shut down its low-cost carrier SunExpress with a total of 1200 employees last August, but invited employees to apply to Eurwings Discover - for significantly worse salaries.
"Lufthansa is currently taking advantage of the difficult economic environment," criticized cockpit spokesman Schmitt.
Lufthansa: Eurowings Discover with less vacation, no participation
But Lufthansa, which was saved with billions of government funds, is apparently not only paying comparatively poorly.
It also radically cuts other conditions.
With Eurowings Discover, pilots get just 33 days of vacation, nine days less than with Eurowings.
In addition, the low-cost carrier is apparently also trying to specifically prevent the build-up of employee participation, according to company circles.
At the end of last year, for example, three pilots had already been accepted after an application round (assessment center).
Shortly afterwards, however, Eurowings Discover surprisingly rowed back.
From industry circles it is said that the pilots were previously members of the Eurowings Europe works council in Mallorca.
In order to be able to exert pressure on the employees, unlike usual, only two-year contracts are offered for the cockpit.
“If a pilot demands certain rights during this time, the contract simply expires,” speculates the pilot of a group airline.
Lufthansa: "Employment conditions are significantly better than those of competitors"
Lufthansa
vehemently
rejected the allegations against
Merkur.de
.
At Eurowings Discover there was a “spirit of optimism”, it was said.
Eurowings Discover GmbH is a company “that positions itself in the private traveler, tourist environment.
The "conditions of employment reflect this and are" significantly better than with many competitors, "said a company spokeswoman.
