Germanwings 2.71

Germanwings GmbH is a German low-cost airline based in Cologne and a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa. Its main hubs are Cologne Bonn Airport, Stuttgart Airport, Hamburg Airport, Berlin Tegel Airport and Düsseldorf Airport; further bases are Hannover Airport and Dortmund Airport.Germanwings operated independently until October 2015, when a merger with its sister company Eurowings was started. The merger was completed in early 2016. The Germanwings brand has not been used since then, although the actual airline continues to operate under the Eurowings brand using Germanwings flight numbers.HistoryEarly yearsIn 1997, Eurowings set up a low-cost department, which became a separate company under the name Germanwings on 27 October 2002. On 7 December 2005, the airline signed an agreement to purchase 18 Airbus A319-100 aircraft with a further 12 options, with deliveries scheduled from July 2006 until 2008.During winter 2004–2005 Germanwings leased two Boeing 717-200s from Aerolíneas de Baleares to test the aircraft type, but no order was made afterwards.