“I’m just a normal girl, like any other – and suddenly everyone knows me and wants a photo with me. It’s totally crazy,” says Aurélie. She finds it particularly surreal when passengers recognise her on board. “I don’t know when I’ll get used to it. Winning the title will always be a special moment for me.”

Aurélie, who has Brazilian roots, has been part of the Eurowings crew for several years. Colleagues describe her as warm, open and full of positive energy – qualities that the fashion world has now also discovered in her. Even before her TV career, the Rhinelander was on big stages as a cheerleader, loving sport and interacting with people.

Aurélie regularly finds that everyday life in the cabin and life on the catwalk are surprisingly similar: “Neither is a nine-to-five job. You’re constantly meeting new people, working as a team, and have to demonstrate presence, empathy and professionalism in every situation. That’s exactly what links the job of a flight attendant with that of a model.”

Eurowings CEO Max Kownatzki is also delighted by his colleague’s success: “Aurélie embodies what Eurowings stands for in a special way: she inspires people with her natural, approachable manner and boundless positive energy. In doing so, she also shows how much personality and talent there is in our crews. Naturally, the entire Eurowings family is delighted about this award. We’re proud of you, Aurélie!”

During his tenure at SunExpress, Kownatzki guided the German-Turkish airline successfully through the covid crisis, doubled its fleet to over 85 aircraft, and subsequently led the airline on a strong growth trajectory with record financial results.

Kownatzki began his first day at Eurowings with a welcome event at the airline’s headquarters at Cologne/Bonn Airport, where he was officially welcomed by fellow managing directors Kai Duve and Edi Wolfensberger. He took the opportunity to meet numerous employees, catch up with old friends, and engage in direct exchange.

“What Eurowings has built over the past few years deserves the utmost respect,” Kownatzki said. “Today, Eurowings stands for impressive customer service and a strong value-for-money offer – all while achieving sustainable economic success. I very much look forward to shaping the next phase of Eurowings’ success story together with this great team.”

Eurowings is familiar territory for Kownatzki. In 2015, he co-founded Eurowings Europe and served as chief commercial officer. He later became senior vice president responsible for business development at Eurowings. He began his career in 2002 at strategy consulting firm Oliver Wyman, where he was a senior partner advising international airlines on alliances and commercial strategy until 2013. He then served as chief strategy officer at Jetstar, a subsidiary of Qantas Airways. In 2017, he joined Lufthansa Group, taking responsibility for network planning and strategic alliances for the group’s hub airlines, and became a member of the supervisory board of Air Dolomiti. He served as CEO of SunExpress from April 2020 until joining Eurowings.

Max Kownatzki is German-American and holds a doctoral degree in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen / Switzerland. He is a licensed commercial pilot and father of two children.

A triple win for Eurowings: The Lufthansa Group's value airline has been awarded three-time winner of the ‘German Customer Award 2026’. In the latest consumer ranking by the German Society for Consumer Studies (“Deutsche Gesellschaft für Verbraucherstudien”), Eurowings ranks first in all three evaluated categories – customer satisfaction, customer service and value for money – clearly leading among discount airlines.

With this triple gold, Eurowings impressively underlines why the Cologne-based company stands out clearly from traditional low-cost carriers. ‘This latest top ranking confirms our path as a value airline for Europe,’ says Clemens Strauss, Head of Customer Experience, Product and Marketing at Eurowings. ‘We offer competitive prices without compromising on service and quality. The award is also a big thank you to our 5,500 employees who make sure every day that our customers enjoy flying with Eurowings.’

The central question of the German Customer Award is: Which companies have the most satisfied customers? Which offer the best service experiences? And how is the service offered perceived in relation to the price? The study is based on a consumer ranking with 589,000 customer reviews of companies from 259 industries. This triple success confirms Eurowings' claim to be more than just a traditional low-cost carrier: a modern value airline for Europe that combines fair prices with quality service – meeting the expectations of more than 20 million Eurowings customers.

Under the leadership of Jens Bischof, who took over at Eurowings in March 2020 in the midst of the global coronavirus crisis, the airline achieved a remarkable and sustainable turnaround. The previously loss-making company developed into one of the most successful airlines within the Lufthansa Group. This year, Eurowings was named “Best Low-Cost Airline in Europe” by the prestigious rating agency Skytrax.

“Jens Bischof guided Eurowings through one of the most difficult phases in aviation with impressive passion, courage and a clear customer focus. He not only stabilized the airline, but also redefined its identity as a strong, reliable and popular value airline for Europe. His work has left its mark – on our guests, our employees and the entire Lufthansa Group,” emphasizes Michael Niggemann, Member of the Executive Board of the Lufthansa Group. “Thanks to his quality and service offensive, Eurowings is now a brand that inspires confidence and enthusiasm among customers and employees alike. For this, he deserves our utmost respect and deepest gratitude.”

Bischof and Kownatzki with impressive track record

Bischof's successor, Max Kownatzki, also has an impressive track record. The 53-year-old led the German-Turkish airline SunExpress – a joint venture between the Lufthansa Group and Turkish Airlines – out of the coronavirus crisis as CEO and steered the airline to record results. Last year, SunExpress increased its revenue by 23 percent to €2.2 billion and carried around 15 million passengers – more than ever before in the company's history.

“With Max Kownatzki, Eurowings is gaining a leader who combines strategic vision, operational excellence and a great passion for the world of flying. He understands the dynamics of the international airline business like few others – and he understands Eurowings,” Niggemann continued. “I am convinced that he will not only continue Eurowings' successful course, but also boldly develop it further. His energy, expertise and focus on the future will take Eurowings to the next level.”

Eurowings is familiar territory for Max Kownatzki: he was co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Eurowings Europe flight operations back in 2015. He was later responsible for business development at Eurowings as Senior Vice President. He began his career in 2002 at the strategy consultancy Oliver Wyman, where he worked as a senior partner until 2013, advising international airlines with a focus on alliances and commercial issues. He then worked as Chief Strategy Officer for the Jetstar Group, a subsidiary of Qantas Airways, before taking over network planning and strategic alliances for the Lufthansa Group's hub airlines in 2017 and becoming a member of the Supervisory Board of Air Dolomiti. He has been CEO of SunExpress since April 2020.

Kownatzki studied business administration in St. Gallen, where he also obtained his doctorate, and holds a commercial pilot's license.

Additionally, the geographical area covered has changed. The Environmental Cost Surcharge will apply to all routes that include a departure from IATA Europe (Zone 210)*.

The amount of the Environmental Cost Surcharge depends on the travel class and the route, which is now divided into three fixed categories: domestic flights, short and medium-haul flights and long-haul flights.

Here you will find all the details about the Environmental Cost Surcharge

Electricity-based fuels play a key technological role in making flying more sustainable in the future. The real-world laboratory, which upon completion is slated to be one of the world’s largest facilities for the production of so-called ‘direct air capture to sustainable aviation fuel’ (SAF), is being built on the airport grounds next to the motorway and the Skytrain line.

DAC-to-SAF: synthetic kerosene from the air

With its innovative and highly efficient technology, the North Rhine-Westphalian start-up Greenlyte extracts CO₂ directly from the atmosphere, produces green hydrogen in the same process and converts both into synthetic fuel. The electricity requirement is covered proportionally by a photovoltaic system installed locally at the airport. The real-world laboratory's total annual production capacity of PtL-SAF is projected to be around 150 tonnes. Mathematically, this is enough for 60 flights between Düsseldorf and Palma with the currently maximum permissible SAF blending ratio of around 50 percent. The plant in Düsseldorf is primarily supposed to serve as a proof of concept and pave the way for commercial plants with a significantly higher capacity.

To date, PtL-SAF is up to ten times more expensive than fossil kerosene. Currently, it is only produced in a few laboratories and test facilities. To make the wide use of electricity-based aviation fuels possible, their availability must increase and prices must fall significantly. Only then can blending quota requirements be met.

The managing directors involved in the NRW project partnership

“The future of flying must be both more sustainable and affordable. The SAF real-world laboratory at our largest site in Düsseldorf demonstrates in concrete terms how electricity-based SAF can be made technologically feasible. However, commercial viability is just as crucial. In order to get the market ramp-up underway, policymakers should develop measures that promote investment in PtL production facilities and, through this, help close the price gap between PtL-SAF and fossil kerosene,” says Eurowings CEO Jens Bischof.

“Eurowings‘ declaration of intent to purchase SAF produced at our airport is an important and strong signal,” said Lars Redeligx, CEO of Düsseldorf Airport. “The provision of sustainable fuels is of central importance for the sustainable transformation of our industry. In order for electricity-based SAF to be offered at a lower price in the future, production ramp-up must be strengthened and improvements in the manufacturing process achieved through innovative approaches. That is why we are very pleased to be working with Euref Campus and Eurowings to advance the project of the Essen-based start-up and thus move one step closer to the SAF real-world laboratory at our airport.

“We are proud to have found two pioneering partners in North Rhine-Westphalia in Eurowings and the airport, who believe in the potential of our technology for climate-neutral flying,” says Florian Hildebrand, CEO and co-founder of Greenlyte. “With this project, we are taking the next big step: we want to show that eSAF can be produced cost-effectively and scalably – and that this is precisely how our technology will become a catalyst for transforming aviation. The project fits seamlessly into our project portfolio and underlines that defossilization cannot be achieved through innovation alone, but through bold partnerships.”

Eurowings Holidays, the growing tour operator of Germany's largest leisure airline, has a new flying ambassador: an Airbus A321neo is now flying with XXL sunglasses perched oversized on the nose of the aircraft's cockpit. The ‘world's fastest sunglasses’ advertise Eurowings Holidays' attractive vacation packages on flights and at airports throughout Europe. The tour operator, which Eurowings spun off as a separate company in spring 2025, is set to undergo significant expansion and is expected to become one of the industry's ‘top 10’ players.

It is no coincidence that an Airbus A321neo was chosen for the special livery. With more than 230 seats, the aircraft with the registration number ‘D-AEEA’ is the perfect choice for Eurowings' ‘Mallorca shuttle’. It is primarily used for flights to the Balearic Islands to meet the high demand for non-stop flights to Europe's most popular vacation destination. The Airbus A321neo is one of the most efficient and quiet jets in the world. During the 2025 summer holidays, the longest and largest medium-range Airbus once again flew many thousands of travel-loving passengers on holiday. Eurowings connects the island's capital, Palma, with 26 airports across Europe up to 400 times a week.

‘We fly over 20 million people on holiday every year. As Germany's largest leisure airline, we felt it was only logical to give one of our aircraft a suitable vacation-ready look,’ says Eurowings CEO Jens Bischof. "From now on, our A321neo will fly with XXL sunglasses – so that our guests not only reach their destination quickly, but also look really cool while doing so. Going forward, the motto at Eurowings Holidays will be: put on your sunglasses, fasten your seatbelts and off you go on your dream vacation!"

EMAS and ISO 14001 are internationally recognized standards for environmental management systems. ISO 14001 specifies requirements for how companies can continuously improve their environmental performance, minimize risks and comply with legal requirements. EMAS builds on this, but goes further: in addition to the ISO requirements, EMAS demands additional transparency, regular external audits and the publication of an environmental statement.

As part of the certification process, Eurowings is publishing its first environmental statement for the years 2022 to 2024. It documents the environmental impact of all German locations and shows how the airline is systematically working towards its ecological goals.

There are plans to extend certification to Eurowings' pan-European locations in the coming year.

The environmental statement is now available on the Eurowings website and will be updated annually with the latest figures to provide a transparent overview of the continuing development of the environmental management system.

“We responded to the strong demand for tourist travel by significantly expanding our program and flying our guests to 150 destinations across Europe with a high degree of reliability and punctuality,” said Eurowings CEO Jens Bischof. “Our top performance reflects our clear focus on quality, reliability and customer orientation. It is also the result of a strong team effort and the successful expansion of Eurowings into a value airline for Europe.”

The prestigious aviation rating agency Skytrax has also recognized the consistent quality strategy and awarded Eurowings the title of ‘Best Low-Cost Airline in Europe 2025’. With this high-profile award, Skytrax honors the consistent service campaign and convincing price-performance ratio of Germany's largest holiday airline.

The bottom line is that the point-to-point business segment of Lufthansa Group – consisting of Eurowings and its stake in SunExpress – posted a loss of 137 million euros (adjusted EBIT) as of 30 June 2025, ahead of what is traditionally the strongest quarter of the year. In particular, this reflects the continuing rise in taxes and fees at Germany's aviation hub. The number of employees rose to just under 5,500.

Eurowings has been named “Best Low-Cost Airline in Europe 2025” at the prestigious Skytrax World Airline Awards, the internationally acclaimed “Oscars of the aviation industry”. The award ceremony took place on 17 June as part of a festive gala at the Air and Space Museum accompanying the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget. With this prestigious award, the international aviation rating agency Skytrax recognized the consistent quality campaign and the successful expansion of the Lufthansa subsidiary into a value airline for Europe. In a highly competitive market, Eurowings stood out with a clear focus on customer satisfaction and reliability as well as an impressive price-performance ratio.

Edward Plaisted, CEO of Skytrax:

“We congratulate Eurowings on this excellent achievement. Europe is the most competitive market in the world for low-cost airlines – this success is all the more remarkable. Eurowings' management and employees can be very proud of this award, which demonstrates the high quality of their service and hospitality.”

With this award, Eurowings has once again visibly set itself apart from its competitors. Skytrax had already certified Eurowings as a four-star airline in 2024 – as the first German airline in the low-cost segment to receive this distinction.

Eurowings CEO Jens Bischof:

"The award as Europe's best low-cost airline is an outstanding honor for our entire team – both in the air and on the ground. We have consistently reorganized Eurowings in recent years, with a clear focus on quality, reliability and customer orientation. The award shows that our commitment is recognized – and appreciated."

The award is based on customer surveys conducted by Skytrax with more than 20 million responses worldwide. According to the analysis, Eurowings' service quality, professional crews, a modern fleet and unique selling points such as lounge access, flexible rebooking options or earning miles in the Miles & More program were particularly decisive for its success – advantages that clearly set Eurowings apart from the competition.

“We are delighted to be able to offer our guests such a top performance,” says Eurowings CEO Jens Bischof. "During the Easter holidays alone, we flew more than one million passengers to their destinations across Europe – with a regularity of almost 100 percent. The fact that, according to surveys, more than 80 percent of our customers would choose to fly with Eurowings again is the result of an outstanding team effort. It spurs us on to continue this strong performance in 2025, which is once again shaping up to be a strong year for bookings."

Eurowings also recorded strong demand for tourist flights in the first quarter of 2025 and expanded its offering by 12 percent – including additional direct connections to the Gulf region, which Eurowings has gradually increased in response to positive feedback. Overall, Lufthansa Group's point-to-point business segment – consisting of Eurowings and the stake in SunExpress – posted a loss of EUR 201 million (adjusted EBIT) in the first quarter of 2025. In addition to the traditionally weaker winter business, this reflects the continuing rise in taxes and fees at Germany's aviation hub. The number of employees rose to just under 5,400.

The once again profitable financial year is largely due to the focus on and expansion of the tourism business. In 2024, around 23 million passengers chose Eurowings, which recorded an 11 percent increase in revenue to around EUR 2.9 billion. The number of employees rose to 5,300. As part of its expansion, Eurowings benefited in particular from the first direct connections to the Gulf region, which were successively expanded due to strong demand. Germany's largest leisure airline connects the destinations of Dubai, Jeddah and – in future – Abu Dhabi with German metropolitan regions such as Berlin. Strong impulses for growth are also coming from the establishment of the company's own tour operator. Eurowings Holidays offers the more than 20 million customers of Eurowings tailor-made and fully relaxed holiday packages from a single source. The new company is set to become one of the ‘top ten’ German tour operators in the next few years.

Jens Bischof, CEO Eurowings: "The strong 2024 result is first and foremost an outstanding team effort by our employees throughout Europe, which deserves the highest recognition. The figures also show that our repositioning as a value airline for Europe is increasingly bearing fruit. This motivates us to continue this success story in 2025."

With this strategic start-up, Eurowings is setting an important milestone in the growing tourism business. Eurowings Holidays GmbH is taking over the staff and tourism IT systems of well-known media and tourism entrepreneur Karlheinz Kögel in Baden-Baden (whose businesses include the HLX Group) in order to rapidly implement and utilize proven expertise. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price of the transfer. In the initial phase, around 100 tourism experts will work for Eurowings Holidays, of which more than 50 employees will come from Binoli GmbH, a subsidiary of Kögel's HLX Group. 

Kögel, who also owns the market research company Media Control, is regarded as a pioneer of the dynamic tour operator model, which enables more individual holiday offers than the classic package tour. As the founder of tour operator L'Tur, Kögel successfully established last-minute travel in the market. Since 2020, the HLX Group has also built up the Eurowings Holidays holiday brand and has developed it into a relevant player in the German tourism industry within a short space of time. 

Tailor-made holidays for more than 20 million customers
The new company under the umbrella of the Lufthansa Group will create a tour operator that can offer customized holidays from a single source – including for more than 20 million customers who have mainly booked flights with Eurowings to date. In future, the company will offer flexible travel packages that include hotel accommodation, transfers, etc. in addition to flights. With low deposits and the option to rebook free of charge as well as to cancel at a reasonable price, Eurowings Holidays offers maximum flexibility in holiday planning.

The expansion to a more data-driven business model and the integration of advanced technologies are key factors for future growth. Eurowings Digital GmbH, a company with expertise in the fields of e-commerce, data science and artificial intelligence (AI), will make a significant contribution to the further development of Eurowings Holidays. The Eurowings Digital subsidiary based in Cologne's Schanzenstraße start-up district has grown dynamically since its founding in 2018 and now employs almost 300 digital experts from 36 countries around the world.

The next step in Eurowings' tourism expansion has come at the right time: under CEO Jens Bischof, Eurowings has developed from an airline primarily focused on business travel into a leading and commercially successful holiday airline. Among other things, Eurowings operates a base on Europe's favorite sunny island of Mallorca and offers more than 400 weekly connections between Palma and 26 different airports during the high season. Eurowings is also the undisputed market leader at German locations such as Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Cologne and Stuttgart.

Eurowings CEO Jens Bischof: “We are combining our leading position in holiday flights with excellent package tour and digital expertise. We are thus strengthening our business model and developing into an innovative force in the growing tourism market. The high profile and popularity of our brand will help to establish Eurowings Holidays among the ‘top ten’ German tour operators in the near future.”

Karlheinz Kögel: “The Eurowings Holidays brand has made a significant contribution to the outstanding development of the HLX Group, which counted 333,000 guests last year and generated revenue of 275 million euros. It is not easy for me to sell significant parts of this successful business segment, but it also fills me with pride that we have turned our dynamic tour operator into a real success story with a great deal of passion and meticulousness. My sincere thanks go to our joint team, whose excellent work made this success possible in the first place.”

The approval does not just provide Eurowings with state-of-the-art jets and engines that have particularly low fuel consumption and noise emissions thanks to their efficiency: It will also achieve significant progress towards more sustainable flying, as the latest generation of jets consumes up to 30 percent less kerosene and emits correspondingly less CO₂. The order for 40 brand-new 737 aircraft is equivalent to an investment of around five billion dollars at list price. This makes it by far the largest and most expensive sustainability project in the more than 30-year history of Eurowings.

Modern travel experience, more range, more seats
Delivery of the first Boeing 737-8 MAX to Eurowings is scheduled to begin in 2027 and will be completed with a total of 40 jets by 2032. The new aircraft will gradually replace the Airbus A319 fleet as well as older Airbus A320 models. With its capacity for 189 passengers, the Boeing 737-8 MAX offers 39 additional seats compared to the A319. Its significantly longer range also makes it the perfect choice for longer medium-haul destinations, which Eurowings is increasingly offering in its portfolio. Eurowings guests can look forward to a redesigned cabin with more comfort on board and a travel experience that meets the latest airline standards. 

Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of the Lufthansa Group:
“Eurowings has established itself as the European point-to-point airline of the Lufthansa Group with a convincing strategy and thanks to its outstanding employees in an extremely competitive market. The company’s strategic focus on expanding its tourism business and its consistent expansion in Europe is paying off for the entire Lufthansa Group. Our decision today is a well-deserved and strong signal for a successful future of Eurowings.”

Jens Bischof, CEO Eurowings:
“Economic success makes Eurowings attractive for investment. At the same time, we have a responsibility to reconcile economic and ecological topics. With 40 state-of-the-art aircraft, we are laying the foundations for a successful Eurowings future that is geared towards ambitious sustainability goals. The largest investment in our company's history shows that we are making rapid progress towards low-emission flying – through significantly lower fuel consumption, lower emissions and significantly less noise. The high cost efficiency of the new jets also enables us to continue to offer Eurowings customers fair and attractive fares. Without such a technological leap, an airline will hardly be able to operate successfully on the market in the 2030s.”

All information can be found in the press release: Lufthansa Group finalizes 41 percent stake in ITA Airways.

“Our new brand essence ‘More ease for everyone’ very precisely reflects both the essence of our rational customer benefits and their emotional significance for our guests,” explains Dirk Otto, Head of Marketing at Eurowings. “With the ‘That’s fly!’ campaign, Jung von Matt SPREE has succeeded in communicating our vision creatively and succinctly. Building on this, we want to communicate in a bolder, more humorous and strikingly different way than the competition going forward and develop the Eurowings brand into a love brand.”

The TV premiere will take place tonight (1 October) during prime time. Further releases will follow in cinemas, on streaming platforms and on social media such as YouTube and Instagram. 

Watch the TV spot on YouTube

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To further enhance your travel experience, Eurowings made substantial investments in its Airbus fleet over the past year and introduced numerous service improvements both in the air and on the ground. These include lounge access, flexible rebooking options, and the option for a free middle seat – ensuring a more comfortable and enjoyable journey for you.

To the press release