Eurowings (EW, Düsseldorf) Chief Officer, Karl Ulrich Garnadt, has confirmed the Lufthansa Group budget carrier has no immediate plans to establish a hub at Geneva Cointrin Airport.

Garnadt's comments to Swiss aviation portal aeroTELEGRAPH in an interview earlier this month come at a time when many in the French part of Switzerland have expressed concern over the LCC's possible arrival in Geneva.

It is recalled that in August last year, Lufthansa Group warned Swiss (LX, Zurich) that unless it was able to revamp its Geneva-based regional European operations, then the airport could be turned over to Eurowings. At the time, Swiss media reports indicated Eurowings had been tasked with drawing up a business plan in the event the move was put in motion.

While those plans may be shelved, Swiss's "Geneva Reloaded" turn-around plan is still in force. The two-year plan, which runs until 2018, is aimed at improving the profitability of the carrier's Geneva hub operations.

"The development plan we have presented is based on a new fleet of Bombardier C-Series being deployed [to Geneva] as of Spring," the Head of Swiss's Western Switzerland operations, Lorenzo Stoll, told Radio Romande this month. "We intend to decrease the number of destinations we serve so as to increase frequencies [to remaining destinations] a bit."

Stoll added that he was confident the airline could pull off turning Geneva into a profitable hub by 2018.

According to the ch-aviation route database, Swiss's European operations ex-Geneva extend to Ajaccio, Athens, Barcelona El Prat, Biarritz, Calvi, Catania, Dublin International, Edinburgh, Florence Peretola, Gothenburg Landvetter, Irakleion, Kerkyra, Lisbon, London City, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Madrid Barajas, Malaga, Moscow Domodedovo, Munich, Nice, Olbia, Oslo Gardermoen, Palma de Mallorca, Porto, Prague Václav Havel, Rome Fiumicino, St. Petersburg, Stockholm Arlanda, Thessaloniki, Valencia Manises, and Zakinthos.