* Annual profit boost to be realised fully in 2019
* Announces streamlined management structure
* Expects strong summer to offset 2015 strike costs (Adds detail, context)
By Victoria Bryan and Peter Maushagen
ESSEN, Germany, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Lufthansa isstepping up its cost-cutting overhaul with a streamlinedmanagement structure it said will boost profit by 500 millioneuros ($564 million) a year and provide a new boss for theEurowings budget brand that has raised tensions in itslong-running dispute with pilots.
The German airline, long known for a focus on businesscustomers, is expanding budget operations as it battles thelikes of Ryanair and easyJet on Europeanshort-haul routes, but parallel measures to cut costs have metdetermined resistance from pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit.
The union and management's dispute has resulted in 13strikes over 18 months, with a row over retirement benefitsescalating as Lufthansa began its Eurowings expansion drive.
The latest restructuring will result in the loss of about150 management jobs from a total of 1,000 worldwide, the companysaid on Wednesday, with the 500 million euro annual profit boostbeing realised fully in 2019.
Though the pilots' industrial action has cost Lufthansaabout 100 million euros in the first half of the year, notincluding this month's two-day walkout, the company said it isoptimistic that its strong summer would offset strike-relatedlosses.
The company expects to achieve full-year adjusted earningsbefore interest and tax (EBIT) of more than 1.5 billion euros,it said, with CEO Carsten Spohr adding that the target includesstrike costs from the first three quarters.
Under the new structure, which takes effect from 2016, Lufthansa will group together its hub airlines -- Lufthansa,Austrian, Swiss and Brussels -- under the oversight of executiveboard member Harry Hohmeister, who will move from his role asCEO of Swiss.
The Eurowings division will be represented on the managementboard by Karl Ulrich Garnadt, currently head of Lufthansa'sGerman airlines. The German airlines division will cease to haveits own board.
"We want to create the best possible conditions for growthfor Eurowings," Spohr said.
Although the duties have been reassigned, the group'sfive-member management board remains the same, with CEO Spohr inplace, Simone Menne maintaining her finance role and BettinaVolkens heading personnel.
The contracts of Hohmeister and Volkens were also extendedfor five years, Lufthansa said.
The group's cargo, maintenance and catering divisions willcontinue to be managed separately, it said in a statement.
Lufthansa and Vereinigung Cockpit are due to resume talks onThursday over pilots' early retirement benefits. ($1 = 0.8872 euros)
(Writing by Harro ten Wolde; Editing by Greg Mahlich and DavidGoodman)