German flag carrier Lufthansa is launching a new short haul airline called City Airlines which will operate alongside the existing subsidiary Lufthansa Cityline from as early as summer.

The new airline, which is being coined the ‘CityLine 2 project will have its main hub at Munich Airport and will operate between European cities and Germany with 40 wet-leased medium- and short-haul aircraft.

City Airlines was actually founded in April 2022 although shelved in October that year after coming into conflict with airline unions who opposed what they considered inferior terms and conditions.

“Lufthansa Airline has lost a significant share of the hub-contour market in recent years. In a highly competitive and fast-paced environment in the short- and medium-haul sector, stable and sustainable solutions are needed to make hub-contact traffic viable for the future,” a Lufthansa spokesman told Low-Cost & Regional Airline Business. “As a reliable short- and medium-haul provider, Lufthansa CityLine stands for precisely this strength and capability.”

He said that as part of the ‘CityLine 2’ project, City Airlines was founded as a business to be able to to demonstrate that the entity had all the necessary organisational requirements and the economic performance to enable German aviation authorities to grant it an operating licence.

Posts will be filled by staff already working for Lufthansa CityLine and were therefore not advertised. The ground positions have been advertised internally since February 2022.

“Onboard personnel will also be hired at a later date for operational flight operations. In this context, the agreement applies in the cockpit not to hire any personnel until June 30, 2023, who are not necessary for the implementation of the AOC,” the spokesman said.