Research project with Germanwings

A CBS research group was able to conduct an interesting market research project between February and May 2010, managed by Prof. Dr. Guido Sommer with the company Germanwings. Germanwings, one of the most successful low cost airlines in Europe and a member of the Cologne Business Network (CBN) of the CBS for several years, expanded and opened a new Germanwings location in Hanover in 2010. In addition to Cologne//Bonn, Stuttgart, Berlin-Schönefeld, Hamburg and Dortmund, Hanover in the meantime is the 6th location in Germany from where 16 direct routes and 12 one-stop routes are offered as of April 2010. This expansion means at the same time that direct confrontation with the major competitors TUIfly and AirBerlin, who collaborate in the meantime, takes place.

In order to be successful right from the start, targeted market knowledge and fitting marketing measures are necessary to raise the awareness of the new offer. The new flight destinations from Hanover were advertised in two phases in January and March 2010, using radio advertising, print media, out of home media as well as online media. These phases were accompanied by price campaigns as well as by background work using poster and info screen advertising.

The objective of the research project was to examine the brand and image status of Germanwings at the new Hanover location compared with the competitors' following completion of the two advertising phases and the analysis of the profile of potential Germanwings customers from Hanover. Data collection was made at the end of March 2010 using face-to-face polls on a weekday and a weekend day. At the same time, the graduation year airline management course carried out the poll both at the airport and in Hanover's city centre. This enabled the generation of a total of 761 fully completed questionnaires.

When the results were presented on 19.05.2010 with Janine Maly and Stefanie Zimmermann from Germanwings National Marketing, it was possible to show

• How far Germanwings already penetrates the new location

• How Germanwings is viewed by the potential customers (in particular compared to the competitors)

• How far the Germanwings offer is deemed to be attractive and is booked

• The profile of the typical Germanwings customer at the Hanover location

In particular, it could be seen that the awareness of Germanwings in Hanover is only marginally lower than the competitors' although operations had not started up at all at the point in time of the poll. Above all, the advertising message of low prices has been noted as an attribute by potential customers.   However, ultimately the actual booking patterns will be decisive for success or non-success at the new location.

The poll results remain a snapshot in time. If the poll is repeated in spring 2011 after one year of flight operations from Hanover, initial trends could be shown.