Germanwings to take on Ryanair with Dublin-to-Cologne service

Lufthansa subsidiary latest carrier to boost Irish-German flights

Cologne: the launch of the new winter service means Germanwings is boosting its overall annual capacity on the route between Dublin and the German city by 31 per cent.
Cologne: the launch of the new winter service means Germanwings is boosting its overall annual capacity on the route between Dublin and the German city by 31 per cent.


Lufthansa subsidiary Germanwings is planning to launch a Dublin-Cologne service this winter in a move that will see it taking on Irish low-cost operator, Ryanair.

The Irish airline recently announced the introduction of a daily service from Dublin to Cologne-Bonn Airport as part of an expansion of its overall winter schedule.

It emerged at the weekend that Germanwings plans to offer twice-weekly flights on the same route from October to March, making it the second airline to announce winter flights between the two airports in the space of a month and putting it in direct competition with Ryanair.

It flies four times a week to the city during the summer months.

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Dublin Airport has seen significant growth in services to Germany recently. Aer Lingus has launched a summer service to Hanover, while late last year Ryanair began flying to Bremen. The country is Ireland's third biggest tourism market after the US and Britain.


Short-haul operations
Germanwings has been operating from Dublin for a decade. Over the past year its parent, Lufthansa, has been moving all its short-haul operations to the airline, apart from those serving Frankfurt and Munich airports. Earlier this year Germanwings took over the Dublin-Dusseldorf route, and has since doubled flights on it to four times a week for the summer season.

Barry O'Halloran

Barry O'Halloran

Barry O’Halloran covers energy, construction, insolvency, and gaming and betting, among other areas