The Lufthansa subsidiary Ocean GmbH is to fly with its own AOC and its own operating license on medium and long-haul routes by the end of 2021 at the latest. Primarily tourist routes are to be served. The aircraft required for this is to be transferred from the sister companies Eurowings and Brussels Airlines.

According to Airliners.de, the start in Frankfurt am Main will take place in the current winter flight schedule, with the three aircraft used by Brussels Airlines being operated under the Eurowings brand. According to CEO Carsten Spohr, seven large jets will be used on long-haul tourist routes in summer 2020. In the medium term, it is planned that the leisure routes on the medium and long haul, which are currently operated by Lufthansa, Cityline and Brussels Airlines, will be transferred to Ocean GmbH. The final decision has not yet been made at which airport these will take off. What is certain, however, is that the activities in this segment will be bundled at the new subsidiary.

The project may also have an impact on the Austrian company Eurowings Europe, because the transfer of eight Airbus A320 aircraft to Ocean GmbH is currently being examined. These will then serve various destinations in the Mediterranean region from Frankfurt and Munich. It has not yet been decided whether the Austrian Eurowings Europe will act as an ACMI partner or possibly even become obsolete.

CEO Carsten Spohr's Ocean project is a thorn in the side of the unions. These accuse that the crane would commit "tariff flight". But it is definitely an admission that the previous Eurowings strategy has failed terribly. The Lufthansa Executive Board is trying to put tourism, which has been severely neglected since the sale of the Condor shares, on a new footing. It remains to be seen whether this will succeed. Due to the corona pandemic, demand is currently extremely low.