Editing Germanwings (section)

==History==
===Early years===
[[File:Germanwings Logo 002.svg|thumb|Germanwings' logo used until 2013]]
[[File:Airbus A319-132, Germanwings AN1749519.jpg|thumb|Germanwings [[Airbus A319-100]], wearing the airline's first livery, in 2010]]
In 1997, [[Eurowings]] set up a low-cost department, which became a separate company under the name ''Germanwings'' on 27 October 2002. On 7 December 2005, the airline signed an agreement to purchase 18 [[Airbus A319-100]] aircraft with a further 12 [[option (finance)|options]], with deliveries scheduled from July 2006 until 2008.<ref>Aero International, June 2006</ref>

During winter 2004–2005, Germanwings leased two [[Boeing 717-200]]s from [[Aerolíneas de Baleares]] to test the aircraft type, but no order was made afterwards.

In 2008, initial plans were made to merge Germanwings, [[Eurowings]] and [[TUIfly]] into one airline to compete with [[Air Berlin]] and its subsidiary [[LTU International|LTU]] in the German market and with [[easyJet]] and [[Ryanair]] on international routes. However, these plans never realized. Instead, Germanwings became a wholly owned subsidiary of [[Lufthansa]] on 1 January 2009.<ref>[http://www.tui-group.com/en/pressemedien/press_releases/2008/20080129_tuitravel_strategy.html Announcement of TUI AG]. Tui-group.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-01.</ref>

===Takeover of Lufthansa routes from 2012===
In 2012, Lufthansa announced its plans to transfer point-to-point shorthaul flights operating from cities other than Frankfurt and Munich from Lufthansa to Germanwings.<ref>{{cite news|date=September 20, 2012|title=Lufthansa to Combine European Flights Into Low-Cost Unit |url= https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-19/lufthansa-to-combine-european-flights-into-low-cost-unit.html | work=Bloomberg}}</ref><ref>Flottau, Jens. "[http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=%2Farticle-xml%2Fawx_10_11_2012_p0-505710.xml Lufthansa Transfers Most Short-Haul Flights To Germanwings] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509183349/http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=%2Farticle-xml%2Fawx_10_11_2012_p0-505710.xml |date=2013-05-09 }}." ''[[Aviation Week]]''. 11 October 2012. Retrieved on 11 October 2012.</ref> Therefore, the company received a revised corporate design. The transfer of Lufthansa's shorthaul routes occurred between spring 2013 and autumn 2014; [[Düsseldorf Airport]] was the last base transferred from March 2014.

As part of the 2013 restructuring and relaunch of Germanwings, around 30 Lufthansa aircraft were to be added to Germanwings' fleet of 33 aircraft.<ref>[https://www.germanwings.com/en/The-new-Germanwings.htm The "New Germanwings"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730031939/https://www.germanwings.com/en/The-new-Germanwings.htm |date=2013-07-30 }}. Germanwings.com. Retrieved on 2012-12-30.</ref> Additionally, the 23 aircraft currently operated by Eurowings for Lufthansa flights not flying out of Frankfurt and Munich were to join Germanwings. The new Germanwings was to operate around 90 aircraft.

The airline had a long-standing dispute with the Vereinigung Cockpit union, which demanded a plan in which pilots can retire at the age of 55 and retain 60% of their pay, which parent Lufthansa insists was not affordable. Germanwings pilots staged a nationwide strike in support of their demands in April 2014, which lasted 3 days. The pilots staged a six-hour strike in September 2014. Simultaneous strikes were staged by Lufthansa pilots.<ref name="LufthansaStrike">{{cite news|title=Lufthansa pilots' strike causes cancellation of more than 200 flights|url=http://www.traveltrade.org/index.php/sid/225466195|date=6 September 2014|access-date=7 September 2014|publisher=Travel Trade.Org}}</ref>

By the end of 2014, all of Lufthansa's national routes and international traffic to and from Germany - except flights to and from Frankfurt and Munich and the<!--there are only those two--> routes from Düsseldorf to Newark and Chicago<ref name="changes">{{cite news|url=http://www.airliners.de/aktuelle-streckenmeldungen/33807|title=Germania, Ryanair und mehr - Aktuelle Streckenmeldungen|work=airliners.de|access-date=24 March 2015}}</ref> - were transferred to Germanwings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.airliners.de/lufthansa-direktverkehre-umstellung-auf-germanwings-auf-der-zielgeraden/31989|title=Lufthansa-Direktverkehre: Umstellung auf Germanwings auf der Zielgeraden|work=airliners.de|access-date=24 March 2015}}</ref> The last route to be transferred was Düsseldorf-Zurich on 8 January 2015.<ref name="changes"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lufthansa.com/de/de/Online-Flugplan|title=Online Flugplan - Lufthansa ® Deutschland|access-date=24 March 2015|archive-date=20 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220102035/http://www.lufthansa.com/de/de/Online-Flugplan|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Integration into Eurowings from 2015===
[[File:Airbus A319-112, Germanwings JP7591803.jpg|thumb|A Germanwings [[Airbus A319-100]] wearing the airline's second livery introduced in 2013]]
[[File:Germanwings Airbus A319-112; D-AKNF@ZRH;22.05.2007 469ga (4291954628).jpg|thumb|A Germanwings [[Airbus A319-100]] wearing a promotional ''[[Carlson Companies|Park Inn Hotels]]'' livery]]
In January 2015, Lufthansa Group announced that it would discontinue the ''Germanwings'' brand and replace it with [[Eurowings]] starting in late 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abendblatt.de/wirtschaft/article135005188/Neue-Billiglinie-Eurowings-soll-Germanwings-ersetzen.html|title=Lufthansa - Neue Billiglinie Eurowings soll Germanwings ersetzen - Wirtschaft - Hamburger Abendblatt|author=Volker Mester|date=4 December 2014|access-date=24 March 2015}}</ref>

On 25 October 2015, Eurowings took over 55 routes previously operated under the Germanwings brand.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://airlineroute.net/2015/03/23/4uew-w15update1/ |title = germanwings Moves 55 Routes to Eurowings from late-Oct 2015 {{!}} Routes}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://airlineroute.net/2015/04/07/4uew-apr16/ |title = germanwings / Eurowings Route Transfers in April 2016 {{!}} Routes}}</ref> The first Germanwings bases to be mostly taken over by Eurowings were [[Düsseldorf Airport]], [[Hamburg Airport]] - at both of which Eurowings already operated on behalf of Germanwings - and [[Cologne Bonn Airport]].
<!--ALL NEWS REGARDING THE ACCIDENT ARE STATED IN THE ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS SECTION BELOW-->

Lufthansa announced in October 2015 that Germanwings' own website would be dissolved and redirected to Eurowings by January 2016 as part of their merger. However, Germanwings continued to operate as a company.<ref>[http://www.airliners.de/eurowings-a330-langstreckenjet-kurzstrecke/36558 airliners.de - "Eurowings gets ready for long-haul"] 15 October 2015</ref> From that date, Eurowings became solely responsible for all sales under the Germanwings brand.<ref>[https://www.germanwings.com/de/rechtliches/impressum.html germanwings.com - Impressum] retrieved 30 December 2015</ref> In January 2016, Germanwings' social media profiles, such as those on [[Facebook]] and [[YouTube]], were renamed Eurowings, while ''germanwings.com'' was redirected to ''eurowings.com''. However, Germanwings continued to operate under its own flight numbers, but used the Eurowings brand.

In December 2016, it was announced that Germanwings would retire 20 aircraft during 2017 without replacement due to Lufthansa's new wet-lease deal with [[Air Berlin]] which also provided services for [[Eurowings]]. It was reported that the Air Berlin aircraft were newer and cheaper to operate than those of Germanwings.<ref>[http://www.austrianaviation.net/detail/eurowings-ab-deal-geht-zu-lasten-von-germanwings/ austrianaviation.net - "Eurowings: Air Berlin deal at the expense of Germanwings"] 16 December 2016</ref>

In August 2017, it was announced that Germanwings would abandon its own [[IATA]] code ''4U'' by 25 March 2018. Since then, it has used Eurowings' ''EW'' code on for all operations, which are already carried out under the Eurowings brand.<ref name="4UIATA">[http://www.aerotelegraph.com/germanwings-gibt-iata-code-4u-auf aerotelegraph.com - "Germanwings gives up IATA-Code 4U"] (German) 23 August 2017</ref>

In October 2019, the [[Pristina International Airport|Pristina]] base, which had been operated by Germanwings since June 2019, was transferred to [[Eurowings Europe]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.airliners.de/eurowings-basis-a319-pristina/49981|title=Eurowings eröffnet Basis und stationiert A319 in Pristina|website=airliners.de|language=de|access-date=2019-10-30}}</ref> In return, Germanwings took over the German base in [[Munich Airport|Munich]] which had been operated by its sister airline.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aerotelegraph.com/germanwings-loest-eurowings-europe-in-muenchen-ab|title=Eurowings wechselt durch: Germanwings löst Eurowings Europe in München ab|date=2018-12-13|website=aeroTELEGRAPH|language=de-CH|access-date=2019-10-30}}</ref>

On 7 April 2020, Lufthansa announced that it would be shutting down Germanwings, partly due to the large travel ban during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]].<ref name="reuters.com">{{cite news |title=Lufthansa to discontinue Germanwings in sweeping restructuring |website=[[Reuters]] |date=7 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115140143/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-lufthansa/lufthansa-grounds-germanwings-in-sweeping-restructuring-idUSKBN21P2GW |archive-date=2022-11-15 |url-status=live |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-lufthansa/lufthansa-grounds-germanwings-in-sweeping-restructuring-idUSKBN21P2GW}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-latest-lufthansa-shutters-germanwings-subsidiary/a-53043555 |title = Coronavirus latest: Wuhan lockdown lifted|website = [[Deutsche Welle]]}}</ref>