Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) has applied for an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) for its new leisure subsidiary Ocean (Frankfurt International), although the newly-incorporated unit will not operate under its own brand.
"The idea is to develop a new product line in the quality leisure segment based on the Edelweiss Air (WK, Zurich) business model," Lufthansa told Cirium.
While Lufthansa has confirmed that it is in the process of simplifying its leisure-focused operations under a single AOC, it did not provide further details about Ocean. In a 2019 presentation, the airline outlined its plan to launch a leisure unit with 11 unspecified aircraft based out of Frankfurt International, Düsseldorf (four each), and Munich (three), with a projected launch date of 2022.
Currently, Lufthansa's leisure-heavy routes are operated by the mainline under its own brand, by Lufthansa CityLine (CL, Munich) operating for Lufthansa, by Eurowings (EW, Düsseldorf) under its own brand, and by Brussels Airlines (SN, Brussels National) operating on behalf of Eurowings. The recently liquidated SunExpress Deutschland (Frankfurt International) also operated on behalf of Eurowings.
Edelweiss Air is a sister company of Swiss (LX, Zurich), itself a Lufthansa subsidiary. The Swiss carrier operates ten A320-200s, two A330-300s, and four A340-300s, providing a full-service product on scheduled leisure-focused routes.
