The holiday airline Eurowings Discover plans to increase its fleet to 21 aircraft by the end of this year. A spokeswoman confirmed that there will be ten Airbus A320s and eleven A330s operated in-house.
During the peak summer season, the Lufthansa subsidiary will operate 18 aircraft. It will run six Airbus A320s and ten A330s itself. Additionally, it will lease two A220-300s from Munich to Air Baltic under a wet lease agreement . "If necessary, we will add up to three Airbus A350s from Finnair," a spokesperson said. "By the end of the year, Eurowings Discover's own fleet will grow to 21 aircraft as planned."
The wet lease agreement for three Finnair A350s is not yet finalized. While the Oneworld member has already scheduled delivery flights to Frankfurt and Munich and begun selling one-way tickets , a media spokesperson for Eurowings Discover explained: “We are currently in the final planning phase with Finnair as a potential wet lease partner for this summer. This involves the deployment of up to three Airbus A350s from Frankfurt and Munich, likely from mid-May to the end of October. The decision and the exact details of the agreement are expected in the coming days.”
When asked whether other carriers will fly on behalf of Eurowings Discover this year, the company replied: "Apart from the agreements with Air Baltic and probably Finnair, no further wet leases are planned for 2022 at this point in time".
It is unclear whether further ex-SunExpress-Deutschland-A330s will be flown in
While the Airbus A330s with registrations D-AXGB, D-AXGE, and D-AXGF, formerly operated by SunExpress Germany for Eurowings, are now in service with the newest Lufthansa subsidiary, the identical aircraft D-AXGA, D-AXGC, D-AXGD, and D-AXGG are still awaiting better times. These last four aircraft are leased and not owned by the Lufthansa Group. It remains unclear whether they will be integrated into Eurowings Discover or whether the lessors can find alternative assignments for them.
When asked why the four former SunExpress Germany long-haul aircraft mentioned - in contrast to D-AXGB, D-AXGE and D-AXGF - were not included in the fleet or whether they will join Eurowings Discover, the company spokeswoman answered vaguely: "The long-haul fleet Eurowings Discover will add another A2022 to a total of eleven A330s by the end of 330. The remaining A330 is planned for late summer 2022. All Eurowings Discover aircraft come from the Lufthansa Group fleet pool. The decision on which aircraft to be allocated from the Lufthansa Group fleet pool is made on the basis of numerous factors. These include, among other things, planned maintenance intervals, terms of possible leasing contracts and other equipment features in the cabin and technology.