Eurowings is currently investing 50 million euros in its operational optimization program SCOPE - Sustainable customer oriented process enhancement. Over the past few months, Eurowings has scrutinized all operational processes on the ground and in the air. Four focal points are in focus: planning, maintenance, Ops improvement and dealing with irregularities. The aim is to offer passengers reliable flight operations and remain one of the most punctual airlines in Europe.

Eurowings has been on the road for months with a reliability of more than 99 percent and punctuality values of over 80 percent for its customers – despite strikes and weather conditions. Since the start of the winter flight schedule (October 2018), Eurowings has once again been one of the most punctual and reliable airlines in Europe. Eurowings is currently doing everything in its power as an airline to guarantee this good performance for the busy summer and to be one of the best in the industry in terms of punctuality and reliability: the airline is investing around 50 million euros to optimise its operational processes – and to compensate for the remaining deficits of its system partners in the best possible way.

In order to minimise subsequent delays and avoid cancellations, so-called ‚Wellenbrecher‘ were introduced in the summer flight plan: bundled longer ground times for individual aircraft at noon to compensate for morning delays. A ‚Wellenbrecher‘ of 90 to 180 minutes was planned for every seven aircraft in the fleet. In addition, the block times were extended and ground times adjusted. These were increased by 5 to 15 minutes in many places.

Eurowings prevents technical problems with predictive maintenance. Eurowings has brought forward diagnostic maintenance activities to winter in order to avoid lay days in summer. Additional checks were carried out on 121 aircraft during the winter months in order to avoid technical breakdowns in summer. The material supply at all stations is being further optimised so that the right spare parts can be accessed quickly in the event of technical problems. In close consultation with the service providers, additional mechanics were hired to ensure that sufficient resources were available for maintenance at all stations.

Eurowings has implemented a new reference model for the first flights of the day ('First Wave'). This enables us to start the day on time and lay the foundation for punctual flight operations in the further course of the day. In Cologne, we introduced a new ground product with improved boarding processes and a strict application of hand baggage rules, which will now be rolled out to all Eurowings stations. The boarding process will be more structured with the selective increase in gate personnel and two boarding lanes.

Uniformly communicated and implemented boarding processes and the strict application of cabin baggage rules guarantee a smooth boarding process. With the selective increase of gate personnel and two boarding lanes, the boarding process is more structured. Clear advance communication of cabin baggage regulations encourages passengers to hand in their carry-on baggage at check-in. After a successful test phase in Cologne, this new Eurowings-specific ground product will be rolled out to all Eurowings stations in the summer flight schedule.

At Irreg Handling we have invested a lot in processes and IT to improve our Irreg Management. If irregularities cannot be avoided, we deal with them transparently and actively inform all relevant interest groups.