Lufthansa Hopes New Subsidiary Eurowings Discover Will Gain Long-Haul Traction

The Lufthansa Group has long wanted to get into the long-haul leisure game. Efforts have ranged from flying high-density Airbus widebodies at Lufthansa Cityline and Eurowings, with neither generating hoped-for returns before both came to an end with the coronavirus pandemic. Enter Eurowings Discover.

Discover is the group's latest operating subsidiary with an eye on the holidaygoers who are flocking back to the skies. Flights begin with three high-density Airbus A330s to five destinations in June and expand to more than 13 destinations — including new service Halifax, Canada, and Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe — by next summer. Discover, like the Airbus A340s at Cityline before it, will directly feed Lufthansa at its Frankfurt and Munich hubs.

But, with the group's repeated emphasis on simplifying its operations through the crisis including the closure of its Germanwings and SunExpress Deutschland operations, analysts are understandably wary of the plan for a new subsidiary.

Speaking with analysts on Tuesday, group CEO Carsten Spohr described Discover as an operation closely inte