Eurowings Receives Award In Athens
The First Time In History: "Gold
Award" Of The European Regions Airline Association (ERA) Is Handed
Over To German Airline
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Athens, Greece / Dortmund, Germany (ots)
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Europe's highest distinction for regional air carriers, the "Gold Award" of the European Regions Airline Association (ERA), went this year to Eurowings Luftverkehrs AG. This is the first time a German airline is honored with the coveted award. Eurowings received this prestigious honor for its excellent performance in setting up and expanding its fleet, its financial stability, its economic success and the outstanding quality of its route network.
On Thursday evening, during the Annual General Assembly of the ERA in Athens, Friedrich-Wilhelm Weitholz, Chairman of the Board at Eurowings, accepted the "Airline of the Year 2001/02" Gold award on behalf of his entire team. "The whole Eurowings team has merited this award," he said, "and every single member of our staff has contributed to this success. Last year, we already received the "Silver Award," but now we regard this year's gold award as the crowning achievement. It has to be stressed that these have been the most successful twelve months in our company's history. This award underlines once again that our policy of opening up new routes and services to link the various European regions to the continent's business hubs is the right one."
Furthermore, the Eurowings Chairman said: "We are linking Europe together. Our mission is to connect regions to the continent's large captials nonstop. We also regard this award as a vindication of the strategy behind our fleet. Eurowings has long banked on a strategic mixture of economical and environmentally friendly turboprops and state-of-the-art regional jets. This has allowed us to react extremely flexible to recent developments on the various markets we are present in."
"While handing over this award to the Eurowings Luftverkehrs AG, the jury highlighted the company's solid and stable management," said Mike Ambrose, Director General of ERA. Added to this, the impressive expansion in the airline's fleet and network of services was also an important criteria for the jury. Even though Eurowings is now partner of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the company managed to maintain its own unique profile within this partnership and the world's leading airline alliance, the Star Alliance. All this was also a persuasive argument for honoring the German airline in this manner.
The ERA jury had nine members. Under the leadership of Chairman Dr. Ton Leyer, the jury members, all of them leading international aviation journalists, had a total of 18 applications to judge from. ERA is the representative organization of the regional European air transport industry. Its members currently include 80 airlines, 41 airports and more than 130 other companies from the aerospace industry.
With a daily traffic volume of up to 330 flights to 58 destinations in 19 countries, Eurowings is one of Europe's largest regional air carriers. In fiscal 2000, the airline carried around 3.2 million passengers and made record turnover of more than 406 million with operative results of 7.8 million. Since January 1, 2001, Eurowings can also count Deutsche Lufthansa AG among its shareholders. Lufthansa, one of Europe's leading airlines, presently holds a 24.9% stake in the Eurowings Luftverkehrs AG, however with an option to increase this stake to 49%.
Eurowings currently has a fleet of 47 aircraft at its disposal. With an average age of around six years, it is one of the youngest fleets in the airline industry and is constantly being updated. The backbone of the fleet is its 44-seat ATR 42 turboprops and its 68-seat ATR 72s, of which Eurowings presently operates a total of 27. The jets in the fleet are the 98-seat BAe 146, of which Eurowings operates ten, and the 142-seat Airbus A319, of which five are presently in service. Of the fifteen 50-seat Bombardier CRJ 200 regional jets on order and due for delivery by the end of 2003, five are already in service on Eurowings routes.
ots Original Text Service: Eurowings Luftverkehrs AG Internet: http://www.presseportal.de
Contact:
Dr. Martin Mönnighoff
Eurowings Luftverkehrs AG
Mobil: ++ 49 (0)170 - 63 26 469
Tel.: ++ 49 (0)231 - 92 45 - 7302
www.eurowings.de
Thomas Wilde / Matthias Burkard
w&p Wilde & Partner
Mobil: ++ 49 (0)172 - 89 03 738
Tel.: ++ 49 (0)89 - 17 91 90 - 0
www.wilde.de