Eurowings announced the wet lease contract with the regional airline. That means the end for the airline Walter. She goes into bankruptcy.
The next airline is on its knees in the wake of the corona crisis: The airline Walter LGW has filed for self-administration at the Düsseldorf District Court. “In view of the current economic situation in the aviation industry, there is no lasting positive economic outlook for the regional airline,” reports the Zeitfracht group as the owner.
“We used our 15 De Havilland Dash 8 aircraft exclusively in a long-term cooperation at Eurowings,” says Managing Director Dominik Wiehage. However, against the background of the pandemic, the Lufthansa low-cost airline ended the wet lease contract with LGW at short notice. “After the cooperation was terminated, we made intensive efforts to employ our aircraft throughout Europe,” said Wiehage.
354 employees affected
“Due to the practically complete standstill of air traffic, these efforts have so far not been successful,” the manager continued. This will continue to be tried in self-administration. In view of the oversupply on the market, however, this will not be easy.
The airline Walter currently employs 354 people, 294 of them as pilots and flight attendants, 60 on the ground in technology and administration. “We are very sorry for the employees of LGW,” said Wiehage. All are “very well trained, very motivated and very customer-oriented” employees, says the managing director.
LGW was looking for buyers for aircraft
The 15 De Havilland Dash 8 fleet is currently parked at the airport in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava. The original plan was to replace the turboprop machines with Embraer E190. That should have been done by 2022.
LGW and the other time freight airline WDL Aviation have been appearing on the market for some time under the German Airways brand. The other airline is also struck. WDL’s main customer is Braathens – and the airline filed for bankruptcy in April. It is uncertain whether the Swedish regional airline will return as planned.
New managers
On Wednesday (April 22), lawyer Dirk Andres was appointed provisional administrator of the LGW. In addition, lawyer Michael Wilbert joins the management of the company as another managing director.
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