German Airways

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title: "German Airways" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["defunct-airlines-of-germany", "airlines-established-in-1980", "airlines-disestablished-in-2020", "1980-establishments-in-west-germany", "companies-based-in-north-rhine-westphalia", "companies-based-in-düsseldorf", "lufthansa", "german-companies-disestablished-in-2020", "german-companies-established-in-1980"] description: "Defunct German regional airline headquartered in Cologne" topic_path: "geography/germany" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Airways" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Defunct German regional airline headquartered in Cologne ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox airline"]

Field	Value
airline	German Airways
logo	German Airways Logo.svg
logo_size	125
image	Hannover Airport German Airways Embraer ERJ-190LR D-AWSI (DSC07674).jpg
caption	A German Airways Embraer E190 at Hannover-Langenhagen Airport
fleet_size	8
IATA	ZQ
ICAO	GER
callsign	GERMAN EAGLE
parent	Zeitfracht Group
founded	1980
ceased	21 April 2020
headquarters	Cologne, Germany
website	germanairways.com
::

| airline = German Airways | logo = German Airways Logo.svg | logo_size = 125 | image = Hannover Airport German Airways Embraer ERJ-190LR D-AWSI (DSC07674).jpg | caption = A German Airways Embraer E190 at Hannover-Langenhagen Airport | fleet_size = 8 | destinations = | IATA = ZQ | ICAO = GER | callsign = GERMAN EAGLE | parent = Zeitfracht Group | company_slogan = | founded = 1980 | ceased = 21 April 2020 | headquarters = Cologne, Germany | key_people = | bases = | secondary_hubs = | focus_cities = | frequent_flyer = | lounge = | alliance = | website = germanairways.com | aoc = | hubs = | num_employees =

German Airways Fluggesellschaft GmbH, operating as German Airways and formerly named Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter or LGW for short, was a German regional airline headquartered in Cologne.

Originally LGW was an independent provider of scheduled and chartered low-volume passenger flights. After years of cooperation with Air Berlin, it eventually became a subsidiary of Air Berlin in 2017. After the collapse of Air Berlin it was purchased by Lufthansa in October 2017 and became a unit of the group's low-cost carrier Eurowings. Zeitfracht Group completed the purchase of LGW from Lufthansa on 1 April 2019 and renamed it in early 2020. The contract with Eurowings was terminated in April 2020 and LGW filed for insolvency.

Its former sister company German Regional Airlines continues to operate using the German Airways brand.

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Walter_-DORNIER_228(2410926999).jpg" caption="An LGW [[Dornier 228]] in 2004"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/2011-05-01_15-34-12_Switzerland_Kanton_Zürich_Zürich_International_Airport.jpg" caption="De Havilland Dash 8-400]] operated for [[Air Berlin]] in 2011"] ::

Independent company

Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter was founded in 1980 by Bernd Walter, the owner of a flying school at Dortmund Airport. Initially, LGW offered on-demand charter and air taxi services. During the 1990s, the airline grew a network of scheduled domestic flights. At that time, it had 25 employees and the Dornier 228, with its capacity of 19 passengers, was the largest airliner in its fleet.

Partnership with Air Berlin

In 2007, LGW entered into a partnership with Air Berlin, which at the time was the second largest German airline. Effective 12 October of that year, LGW flights to Düsseldorf Airport and Berlin Tegel Airport were sold via the Air Berlin booking engine. In 2008, Air Berlin added the De Havilland Dash 8-400 to its fleet. The ten aircraft of that type were leased to LGW and operated on regional routes.

Subsequently, LGW discontinued its independent corporate identity. It no longer offered any chartered services, but operated scheduled flights on behalf of Air Berlin, using Air Berlin flight numbers and branding. The website lgw.de was shut down and replaced with a redirect to airberlin.com. On 2 March 2009, Air Berlin notified the Federal Cartel Office that it would become the controlling shareholder of LGW.

As LGW staff did not have a collective agreement, salaries were considerably lower than at Air Berlin. Since that year, LGW also employed jet pilots, as a number of Embraer 190 aircraft were transferred to the airline from Niki (another Air Berlin subsidiary), the first of which arrived on 14 March and left the fleet in November 2013.

By spring 2015, LGW increased their fleet of De Havilland Dash 8-400s from 12 to 17.

In May 2017, Air Berlin announced plans to buy Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter outright, having held a controlling stake since 2009.

Sale to Lufthansa

Lufthansa bought LGW in 2017 as part of Air Berlin's bankruptcy proceedings. After Air Berlin ceased operations on 27 October 2017, LGW started wetlease operations for Eurowings, taking over parts of the wetlease agreement previously provided by its parent for the Lufthansa subsidiary. In addition to its existing fleet of Dash 8-Q400 aircraft, it received 13 Airbus A320-family aircraft and started hiring crews in November 2017. The acquisition was closed in January 2018 after receiving approval from the European Commission on 21 December 2017.

In late 2018, all LGW Airbus A320 family aircraft were moved to other companies within the Eurowings network.

Sale to Zeitfracht Group and rebranding

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Hannover_Airport_German_Airways_Embraer_ERJ-190LR_D-AWSI_(DSC07693).jpg" caption="German Airways [[Embraer 190"] ::

In January 2019, it was reported that Lufthansa planned to sell LGW to Zeitfracht, which already owns German ACMI and charter airline German Airways (formerly branded WDL Aviation). Zeitfracht had already purchased parts of Air Berlin's maintenance division. The deal was completed on 1 April 2019, following the approval of supervisory authorities and the fulfillment of customary conditions. The takeover also marked the beginning of a longer-term lease agreement between LGW and Eurowings.

In May 2019, LGW announced it would replace all of its De Havilland Dash 8-400s with newer Embraer 190s from late 2019. These aircraft will be operated for Eurowings as part of a long-term lease.

In March 2020, Zeitfracht announced a rebranding for LGW which became German Airways operating within the German Airways branding alongside sister company WDL Aviation. In April 2020, the company filed for insolvency with plans to restructure due to the cancellation of Eurowings' wetlease contract for their entire Bombardier DHC-8-400 fleet in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Destinations

As of January 2019, German Airways operated European routes on behalf of Eurowings with a focus on Düsseldorf Airport, where most aircraft were based. This contract was terminated in April 2020.

Fleet

Current fleet

As of March 2020, the joint German Airways fleet consisted of the following aircraft

::data[format=table]

Aircraft	In Service	Orders	Passengers	Notes	C	Y	Total	Total	8	0
Embraer 190			—	100	100	Operated by German Regional Airlines
::

Historical fleet

Previously, LGW operated the following aircraft types under its own brand or on behalf of other airlines:

::data[format=table title="'''LGW historical fleet'''"]

Aircraft	Introduced	Phased-out	Notes
Airbus A319-100			Operated for and returned to Eurowings
Airbus A320-200			Operated for and returned to Eurowings
Britten-Norman Islander
Cessna 404 Titan
Dornier 228
Bombardier DHC-8-400			Operated for Air Berlin and Eurowings.
Embraer 190			Taken over from and returned to Niki on behalf of Air Berlin
::

References

References

1. https://centreforaviation.com/data/profiles/airlines/lgw-luftfahrtgesellschaft-walter-he {{Bare URL inline. (August 2025)
2. [http://aerotransport.org Information about Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter at the Aero Transport Data Bank]
3. [http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/he1.htm LGW timetable front covers, at timetableimages.com]
4. (24 March 1999). "World Airline Directory". [[Flightglobal]].
5. (11 October 2007). "Air Berlin kooperiert mit LGW Walter". airliners.de.
6. (7 November 2008). "Air Berlin setzt erste Q400 ein.". [[Air Berlin]].
7. Friedrich, Tina. (21 December 2012). "Air Berlin: Hungerlohn im Cockpit". [[Spiegel Online]].
8. (3 March 2009). "Angemeldete Fusionen: Air Berlin / Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter (Kontrollerwerb)". [[Federal Cartel Office]].
9. Busche, Dirk. (30 January 2013). "Kostendruck: Air Berlin wird zur Spardose". Neue Presse.
10. (11 December 2012). "airberlin will offenbar auch Jets über LGW bereedern". Flug Revue.
11. [http://www.ch-aviation.ch/portal/airline/HE LGW ch-aviation.com - Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter] retrieved 22 November 2015
12. [http://www.austrianaviation.net/detail/air-berlin-uebernimmt-luftfahrtgesellschaft-walter/ austrianaviation.net - "Air Berlin takes over Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter"] (German) 25 May 2017)
13. [http://www.austrianaviation.net/detail/niki-wird-mit-jahreswechsel-geschichte-sein/ austrianaviation.net - "Niki to be history by year's end"] (German) 25 October 2017
14. "Careers". Career.
15. (2017-12-21). "European Commission approves the Lufthansa Group's acquisition of Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter". Lufthansa Group {{!}} Newsroom.
16. http://www.austrianaviation.net/detail/lgw-beendet-das-jetzeitalter-erneut/ austrianaviation.net - "LGW again ends the jetage". (8 January 2019)
17. [https://www.aero.de/news-30844/Eurowings-loest-LGW-auf.html aero.de - "Lufthansa prepares LGW sale"] (German) 30 January 2019
18. [https://www.pressebox.de/pressemitteilung/zeitfracht-gmbh-co-kg/Zeitfracht-neuer-LGW-Eigentuemer-Reibungsloser-Uebergang-Flugbetrieb-ohne-Stoerungen/boxid/950198 pressebox.de - "Zeitfracht Holding New LGW Owner - Smooth Transition - Flight Operation Without Disturbances"] (German) 1 April 2019)
19. [https://www.airliners.de/lgw-wdl-namen/54156 airliners.de - "LGW and WDL get new names"] (German) 11 March 2020
20. [https://www.airliners.de/luftfahrtgesellschaft-walter-insolvenz/54952 airliners.de - "Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter files for insolvency"] (German) 22 April 2020
21. [https://germanairways.com/fleet/embraer-e190/ germanairways.com - Fleet] retrieved 10 March 2020
22. (24 May 2023). "Wet-lease for KLM: Committed and enduring relationship between German Airways and KLM Cityhopper for the KLM routes". [[aviator]].
23. (26 March 1997). "World Airline Directory". [[Flightglobal]].

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