Germanwings targets Zurich as hub to compete with BA/ Swiss tie-up

Joachim Klein, Managing Director of budget airline Germanwings, has said the company wants to re-start talks with Zurich airport about establishing a hub there.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG has an indirect stake in the airline, it is a unit of charter airline Eurowings Luftverkehrs AG, of which Lufthansa owns almost 25%.

A spokesperson for Germanwings, Heinz Joachim Schoettes said no talks were taking place at present, but said the airline did not rule out a resumption of talks.

According to the German newspaper Handelsblatt, an expansion of Germanwings' Zurich operations is a way for Lufthansa to compete with British Airways PLC's OneWorld alliance, which Swiss International Air Lines joined yesterday.

Lufthansa had previously proposed a tie-up with Swiss, but the airline decided yesterday to sign a commercial deal with BA instead.

BA and Swiss plan joint operations between the UK and Switzerland with codesharing on Heathrow to Geneva, Basel and Zurich routes.

Lufthansa chief financial officer Karl-Ludwig Kley said the German airline will not suffer any setbacks from losing out on the Swiss deal, but admitted to some regrets.