Walter airline
| Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter mbH | |
|---|---|
_(29929477118).jpg)
|
|
| IATA code : | HE |
| ICAO code : | LGW |
| Call sign : | WALTER |
| Founding: | 1980 |
| Operation stopped: | 2020 (provisional) |
| Seat: |
Dusseldorf , Germany
|
| Home airport : | Dusseldorf Airport |
| Company form: | GmbH in bankruptcy |
| Management: |
Management : Dominik Wiehage Wolfram Simon-Schröter |
| Number of employees: | 458 |
| Sales: | € 121 million (2018) |
| Fleet size: | 15th |
| Aims: | National and international |
| Website: | germanairways.com |
| Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter mbH has temporarily suspended operations in 2020. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation. | |
The aviation Walter mbH , shortly LGW , is a German airline based at Dusseldorf Airport . It is a company of the Zeitfracht Group, most recently it operated together with its sister company WDL Aviation under the German Airways brand and was primarily active in regional and feeder traffic for Eurowings . After Eurowings had to almost completely cease operations at the beginning of April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany and terminated the contracts with LGW, the latter filed for bankruptcy on April 22, 2020 in voluntary self-administration. On June 15, 2020, it was announced that Zeitfracht was dissolving LGW.
history
Foundation and independent operation
In 1980 the flight instructor Bernd Walter founded the airline company Walter at Dortmund-Wickede Airport and established himself with the flight school , which still exists today , after he himself had been the training director of the former Aviation School in North Rhine-Westphalia . The company expanded by offering photo and sightseeing flights as well as a seaside resort service to the German North Sea islands , which was first served with the Cessna U206G and from 1988 with the Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander .
After German reunification, LGW began to fly to destinations in the new federal states with the Cessna 404 and the Dornier Do 228 turboprop aircraft , which have formed the backbone of the fleet since 1992. The connection between Dortmund and Erfurt was quickly followed by flights to various airports, including Hanover , Paderborn / Lippstadt and Rostock , all of which were discontinued. Instead, LGW took up routes that other airlines such as Eurowings , European Air Express and City-air Germany had given up. LGW flew the Berlin-Tempelhof / Hanover route twice a day until the Hanover – Berlin ICE high-speed rail line was opened on September 27, 1998 ( German Unity Transport Project No. 4) .
In 2003, up to 50,000 passengers flew in LGW scheduled flight operations.
Partnership with Air Berlin
.jpg)
A major change came into force on November 1, 2007, when the Walter airline entered into a cooperation with the then second largest German airline, Air Berlin . This partnership changed the flight plan at that time. The LGW's destinations in Dresden , Leipzig / Halle and Nuremberg were abandoned, as were the feeder flights for Air Berlin from Hanover, Saarbrücken and Erfurt airports to Düsseldorf Airport . Air Berlin took over the ticket sales for LGW via the Internet, from now on connections of LGW and Air Berlin could be booked on joint tickets. LGW also became a co-user of Air Berlin's Topbonus frequent flyer program .
From November 2008 ten new De Havilland DHC-8-400s replaced the Fokker 100 at Air Berlin and the Dornier 228 at LGW . On September 28, 2008, LGW's liner services from Dortmund to Stuttgart and Berlin-Tegel were discontinued for cost reasons and on October 12, the connection between Dortmund and Westerland on Sylt was canceled. On January 14, 2009, the LGW's last scheduled flight to date took place under its own name from the North Sea island of Sylt to Düsseldorf. Since then, the company has been flying in scheduled service exclusively on behalf of and on behalf of Air Berlin.
In April 2013 LGW took over three Embraer 190s from Niki Luftfahrt as part of restructuring within the Air Berlin Group . Contrary to other plans, which initially provided for the takeover of further machines of the type, the machines were returned to Niki in November 2013 after the end of the 2013 summer flight schedule. At the beginning of January 2014, the fleet was to be expanded by two more DHC-8-400s that had previously been used by SkyWork Airlines ; However, due to severe structural damage to both aircraft, the LGW refused to accept the aircraft.
Takeover by Air Berlin
At the end of May 2017, Air Berlin announced that it wanted to take over Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter for a symbolic price. After approval by the Federal Cartel Office , the takeover took place at the beginning of June 2017.
Takeover by the Lufthansa Group
.jpg)
Following the insolvency of Air Berlin, the Lufthansa Group reached an agreement with the insolvency administrator on October 12, 2017, to take over the Air Berlin subsidiaries Niki and LGW and to operate 20 aircraft for an estimated amount of 210 million euros, subject to the approval of the creditors and the European competition authority. In December 2017, after Lufthansa withdrew its offer for Niki due to negative signals from Brussels, the takeover of LGW by the EU Commission was approved subject to conditions. Since LGW led on behalf of Euro Wings flights in wetlease by.
Takeover by Zeitfracht
On April 1, 2019, Lufthansa sold LGW to the Zeitfracht Group, which had previously taken over parts of Air Berlin's technology division. LGW continued to fly under a wet lease agreement for Eurowings. From October 2019, LGW flew together with WDL Aviation with an independent Air Operator Certificate (AOC) under the German Airways brand. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic , the wet lease for Eurowings was suspended, the Lufthansa Group is currently not planning to use it.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic , Eurowings canceled the contracts for all 15 machines, whereupon LGW filed for bankruptcy on April 22, 2020 under self-administration. On the evening of June 15, 2020, the pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit confirmed the liquidation of LGW by Zeitfracht.
Destinations
The company operated wet lease flights within Europe on behalf of Eurowings . LGW previously carried out similar flights for Air Berlin - until the Berlin company's flight operations were discontinued.
fleet
_AN1584646.jpg)
As of April 2020, the company's fleet consists of 15 aircraft with an average age of 12 years:
| Aircraft type | number | ordered | Remarks | Seats (Economy) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| De Havilland DHC-8-400 | 15th | some run for Euro Wings , 1 with special livery " FC Union Berlin " seater 100-by are Embraer E-190 replaced | 76 | |
| total | 15th | - | ||
The entire fleet was operated for Air Berlin until the bankruptcy of Air Berlin. On October 30, 2017, the first aircraft with the aircraft registration D-ABQS was used for Eurowings. Subsequently, the D-ABQG was the first aircraft in the fleet to be changed from its previous Air Berlin colors to the Eurowings paint scheme - but with a neutral white tail unit - and used from November 3, 2017.
From summer 2020, the company planned to flee the first Embraer E190 aircraft. The new Embraer machines should have replaced the existing DHC-8-400 fleet. The reloading should take about two years, until summer 2022.
As of April 2020, the entire fleet is parked in Bratislava due to the COVID-19 pandemic .
See also
Web links
- German Airways website
- Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter (LGW) on Planespotters.net
Individual evidence
- ↑ Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter mit limited liability, Dortmund: Annual financial statements for the business year from 01/01/2015 to 12/31/2015. Bundesanzeiger.de, February 20, 2017.
- ↑ Germany's LGW files for voluntary administration. ch-aviation , April 22, 2020.
- ↑ Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter files for bankruptcy. Airliners.de, April 22, 2020.
- ↑ LGW does not take off again. June 16, 2020, accessed June 16, 2020 .
- ↑ Business with Bombardier - Air Berlin orders ten Q400 short-haul aircraft. In: airliners.de. March 26, 2008, accessed May 15, 2016 .
- ↑ Niki to resume operating three E190s currently with LGW from October. In: ch-aviation . June 30, 2013, accessed on May 15, 2016 (English, premium account required to view).
- ↑ Structural damage: LGW rejects former SkyWork aircraft. In: airliners.de. January 8, 2014, accessed May 15, 2016 .
- ^ Gerhard Hegmann: Air Berlin buys airline for "symbolic price". In: Welt.de. WeltN24 GmbH, May 24, 2017, accessed on May 25, 2017 .
- ↑ Air Berlin takes over LGW. In: Austrian Wings. May 24, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2017 .
- ↑ Air Berlin is allowed to buy LGW. In: airliners.de. June 1, 2017, accessed June 1, 2017 .
- ↑ Lufthansa and Air Berlin seal deal . tagesschau.de; accessed on October 12, 2017.
- ^ Brussels allows takeover of LG-Walter by Lufthansa . FAZ.NET . December 21, 2017. Accessed January 1, 2018.
- ↑ Handelsblatt: Eurowings sells LGW to Zeitfracht . 20th February 2019
- ↑ A hard blow for German Airways . aerotelegraph.de; accessed on April 18, 2020.
- ↑ Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter files for bankruptcy. In: Airliners.de. April 22, 2020, accessed April 22, 2020 .
- ↑ German airline LGW files for bankruptcy . Handelsblatt . April 22, 2020. Accessed April 22, 2020.
- ↑ LGW does not take off again. June 16, 2020, accessed June 16, 2020 .
- ↑ morgenpost.de
- ↑ a b c d LGW - Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter Fleet Details and History. In: planespotters.net. February 21, 2020, accessed April 9, 2020 .
- ^ DHC-8-400. In: germanairways.com. Retrieved April 9, 2020 .
- ↑ a b LGW and WDL get new names. In: airliners.de. Retrieved April 9, 2020 .
- ↑ D-ABQS Eurowings De Havilland Canada DHC-8-402Q Dash 8. In: www.planespotters.net. Retrieved October 30, 2017 .
- ^ First Walter Dash in Eurowings colors. In: Austrian Aviation Net. Retrieved November 3, 2017 .
