Lufthansa has put the "Cityline 2" project, which was intended to serve as a low-cost platform for feeder flights to Frankfurt am Main and Munich, on hold. This emerges from an existing internal communication to the workforce.
The project was particularly harshly criticized by the trade unions, as they accused the company of wanting to set up another flight operation without collective agreements after Eurowings Discover. Due to the negotiations with the Cockpit Association, among other things, Lufthansa has now the plans for “Cityline 2” temporarily stopped. At the same time, the pilots' union is offered negotiations for a Eurowings Discover collective agreement.
So far, the transition from the holiday airline to the mainline is not planned. Here, too, Lufthansa indicates that it is willing to talk. This is probably due to the fact that the entire group of companies is suffering from a massive shortage of staff and is now using its own employees to place new staff offers prizes of up to 1.500 euros.
Lufthansa also writes that due to the peace obligation agreed with the VC, no cockpit staff should be employed at "Cityline 30" until at least June 2023, 2. In principle, they want to continue the project, but coordinate the use of the new platform with the Cockpit Association. Since the latter is strictly against the tariff-free new airline, the topic should be off the table – at least for the time being. However, it is unclear whether Lufthansa will draw up a plan "B". In theory, one could revive Germanwings, which still has an active AOC.
Interestingly, Lufthansa also promises in the present circular that those flights that are currently being operated by other Group companies due to a lack of mainline staff should be operated by Lufthansa itself again as quickly as possible. The restriction is that this is only possible if sufficient flying personnel are available. Temporarily, you take planes and their crews from Eurowings, Eurowings Discover, Austrian Airlines and other providers to the wet lease.