Review of Eurowings flight Cologne → Hamburg in Economy

Eurowings- A Quick Backstory!

Eurowings as of June 2023 is one of the largest German airlines operating in Europe. A Low-Cost Airline subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group, it has seen a rapid expansion and massive change of business since its humble beginnings.

Founded in 1990, Eurowings spent most of its existence until the mid-2010s as a regional airline. It was owned by the Lufthansa Group from the mid-2000s as part of Lufthansa Regional. It was eventually placed as a subsidiary of low-cost division Germanwings. By 2014 the airline was mainly flying the Bombardier CRJ-900.

Eurowings was a regional airline for many years operating the Bombardier CRJ for a number of years.

However Lufthansa soon had bigger plans for Eurowings as they wanted the "EUROWINGS" brand to become their main pan-European LCC Brand alongside their mainline brands of Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian. They started to begin the switch over as Germanwings was phased out in favour of Eurowings, with the situation likely being expedited somewhat by the tragedy of Germanwings 4U9525 over France…

Germanwings finally closed its doors in April 2020 due to the Pandemic, and LH Group wanting to finish its long-term commitment to save money and resources in such a tumultuous time.

From 2014-2017 Eurowings took over from its parent airline Germanwings which was folded eventually in 2020.

By 2020, Eurowings was the full force brand covering the Lufthansa Group's LCC operation in order to rival the likes of IAG owned Vueling, Air France-KLM owned Transavia, and the LCC Titan's of Ryanair & easyJet- who both had been muscling into Lufthansa Group's territories in Germany, Austria & Switzerland during the 2000s.

The struggling Air Berlin Group fell in late 2017, which allowed for a great expansion of the airline within Germany. With Lufthansa focusing its short haul network out of Frankfurt Main & Munich, their other bases: Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin Tegel (now Berlin Brandenburg) all became bases for Eurowings (and formerly Germanwings).

I thought I'd report a retrospective report on this October 2016 Eurowings flight as it was my first time flying Domestically within a European Country that wasn't my native UK!

As to why I didn't make one in 2016 or 2017… I can't answer that, but better late than never, am I right?

A Night at Cologne/Bonn

So the trip begins at Cologne/Bonn Airport as part of a 24-hour trip to experience the budget airlines in the LH Group in October 2016..

I had flown London Stansted to Cologne/Bonn on an Airbus A319 (seen bellow) of Germanwings, and I had a 12 hour overnight stay in CGN Airport before flying around midday up to Hamburg Airport, then connecting for 3 hours before flying onward to London Heathrow….

Yes, it was a long trip. I think all three flights cost me about £120 back then, but I can't be 100% sure.

Amazingly, despite it being gone 10pm at night, the CGN Observation Deck was unlocked and open to anyone who fancied watching some of the night action at CGN that cold autumn evening… I used it to take out an hour of waiting.

Cologne/Bonn is a huge Cargo Hub for Europe, with bases for Three of the Cargo Titans: FedEx, UPS and DHL!

Whilst grabbing a snack at one of the few 24/7 bars in the Airport, I was thrilled to see this Retro-jet TUI Airways Germany Boeing 737-800 wearing the vintage Hapag-Lloyd livery!

It's not a brilliant photo, but as I don't live in Germany and I can't be guaranteed whether I'll see a special livery plane before its painted out, I'm very happy to possess this grainy and blurred shot!

To the regular travellers who read these articles, it will come as no surprise as to how eerie a major airport like Cologne/Bonn Airport is in the middle of the night when everything is closed up. All though I always enjoy admiring the portion of the Berlin Wall in the main Terminal lobby!

Cologne/Bonn still operated these vintage themed boards for displaying flight information for passengers. I haven't been since late 2018, so I am not sure if these are still around.

Dawn finally broke, with a bit of time spare before going airside, I opted to get a final photo session in at the Observation Terrace in day light before my Cologne-Hamburg flight. Cologne was the first German destination I ever visited, so its holds a special place in my travels.

In November 2016, Air Berlin operated a variety of German and Swiss destinations as well as some seasonal Spanish locations. Eurowings/Germanwings had a base there (which they still operate) and Ryanair was still growing there as an airline. The German Luftwaffe often bases their VIP Transport planes at Cologne/Bonn, on this occasion I lucked out to see this Luftwaffe Airbus A319.

The Flight: Eurowings EW4153 (CGN-HAM)

Going airside it time soon caught up and it was time to fly across Northern Germany.

My flight that day was operated by an Airbus A320ceo, D-AEWJ, a plane that was delivered brand new to Eurowings in June 2016, making it a mere four months old at the time of this flight happening. In the years since it has continued to fly for Eurowings, which is still does at the time of writing.

The mid-day flight was quite quiet. I was the last passenger towards the back of the plane. The cabin is identical to the mainline Lufthansa Airbus A320 aircraft to reduce costs and allow for easy fleet transfers when required. This plane holds 180 passengers of a maximum of 186 passengers on an Airbus A320ceo, this is likely to afford extra legroom seats for premium bookings and allow Star Alliance status holders some benefits when flying Eurowings on behalf of Lufthansa Group.

The flight time would be around 30 minutes after we departed Cologne/Bonn. It was quite a cloudy day in Germany.

Eurowings at the time of this flight was offering three bits of reading material on their flights. Wi-Fi hadn't been added at that time. So your IFE was a choice of the Safety Card, the Eurowings WINGS Bistro and Eurowings Shop.

I opted to buy a Fanta Orange (fittingly as the drink was created in Germany) and I also invested in a Eurowings 1:200 scale Airbus A320 snap fit display model! 

It still resides among my model airplane collection to this very day!

Seat 30A was where I opted to sit, I was the last passenger by Row number in the half full plane. The flight went pretty uneventful after the service was completed and I managed to enjoy a quick power nap of about 10 minutes before the plane began its arrival into Hamburg!

Before long we descended into the clouds and came out as we were on finals into Hamburg. We landed and taxied over to the Schengen Arrivals area as we were domestic and we disembarked without hassle. It didn't take long given the light pax load.

I went landside at Hamburg Airport as I knew they had a viewing deck like CGN, so I thought another spotting session would be in order as I had some 3-4 hours before my HAM-LHR flight that evening.

I was tired and it was my first time in Hamburg Airport, so it took a little longer than usual for me to find the exit, but I made my way over.

Getting up the Viewing Deck, I was greeted by the sight of a Lufthansa Boeing 707-400 used for ground training and as a film prop. This aircraft was controversially scrapped by Hamburg Airport in mid-2021, with museums in Germany unable to get the funds together to buy and transport the iconic Boeing 707. I do believe the cockpit section has been saved somewhat, so that might end up displayed in the future.

I was also in time to see my aircraft push back and depart on its next flight. I don't know where it went, but it was nice to get a photo of it jetting off on its next adventure- somewhere over Europe.