So far, the tour operator brand Eurowings Holidays has had a niche existence. The brand, which Karlheinz Kögel created together with the HLX Group, is now to be greatly expanded. The Lufthansa subsidiary wants to position itself more strongly in the area of package tours.
"Since the end of the corona pandemic, we have seen a significantly increasing number of bookings via Eurowings Holidays," says Michael Erfert, Head of Sales, Distribution & Digital Eurowings and Managing Director Eurowings Digital GmbH. “We want to use this upswing to establish ourselves among the top 10 German tour operators over the next few years. To this end, we are currently hiring numerous IT and marketing experts at Eurowings Digital in Cologne’s startup quarter Carlswerk – 30 of around 150 planned new hires alone are to work exclusively on the expansion of Eurowings Holidays.”
A low-cost airline used to be active under the name Hapag-Llyod Express, HLX for short. Today's company has nothing to do with the aviation activities of the past, because Karlheinz Kögel's group of companies only acquired the trademark rights a few years ago. Under the brand you are active as a tour operator and travel agent.
In the future, Eurowings is to play an even greater role in the partnership with HLX: the digital division of the airline will be responsible for web development, marketing and data analysis. In addition, the Eurowings Holidays offer is to be integrated even more deeply into the company's own website eurowings.com. In addition to the flight offer, customers are also offered comprehensive, attractive travel packages. Flexibility is also an important plus at Eurowings Holidays: the booked holiday can be rebooked free of charge up to 14 days before the start of the trip and can also be canceled at a reasonable price for 50 euros.
“Nothing will stay the same – the traditional distribution channels will change. Digitization and artificial intelligence will enable airlines and hotels to break new ground. With Eurowings Holidays, we will link these channels with one another,” explains Karlheinz Kögel, who has been operating the Eurowings Holidays tour operator brand with his HLX Group since December 2019.