Lufthansa’s low-cost subsidiary, New Eurowings, will fly to leisure destinations in Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands from the end of next year, according to Axel Simon, Director Southern Africa of Lufthansa and SWISS International Air Lines – but he would not say which.
Speaking at a Cape Town media briefing, he said the long-haul flights and short-haul ones in Europe would operate from Cologne, where the New Eurowings would be based. It will initially use a fleet of three A330-200s with 310 seats, expanding to seven A330-200s over the next few years. 
The first long-haul route will be to Tampa, Florida, which will launch in October. New Eurowings’ long-haul services will operate under the air operator certificate of SunExpress – a joint-venture company of Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines.
Lufthansa’s decision to push ahead with its budget airline operations comes as the airline battles to stay competitive against LCCs in Europe and Gulf operators on long-haul routes, and aims to take advantage of fast growth in the leisure travel segment, which it says now represents 75% of all intercontinental flights. 
Simon added that Lufthansa remained committed to maintaining its daily A380 services to Johannesburg and would introduce its new premium economy on the Johannesburg route on April 22. 
He said the carrier recorded a 30% capacity increase on its seasonal Cape Town service for 2014/15, with demand “well above (that of) previous years”.