Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 39: Eurowing and a Prayer

Is growing Eurowings a safe bet? Lufthansa’s low-cost unit had a rough first quarter and that might not be the last. Eurowings is growing like gangbusters, propelling itself into the teeth of a crowded airline market and doing so with an unproven low-cost longhaul model. Lufthansa’s competitor Air France/KLM meanwhile posted a first-quarter loss, pulled down by its own low-cost unit Transavia. Perhaps a new CEO can turn things around. Meanwhile, JetBlue presumably wants nothing to turn around as it posted a 22% operating margin in Q1, which was once considered a weak quarter in the U.S. airline industry. Nonetheless, JetBlue is reportedly considering Bombardier’s CSeries. Would it be a good fit?