Lufthansa's Eurowings delays some long-haul routes after tough start

FRANKFURT, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Lufthansa's budgetunit Eurowings has pushed back the start of some long-haulroutes as it grapples with costly delays that have grabbedheadlines in Germany.

Eurowings will commence routes to Boston and Miami fromCologne in June, a month later than originally planned, aspokesman said on Wednesday. A planned route to Tehran in Iranhas also been put on hold.

While Eurowings is mainly aimed at the short-haul market,the carrier is also offering cut-price flights from Germany tofurther-flung tourist destinations such as Cuba, Thailand andMexico.

But with a fleet of only two long-haul jets, delays havebeen stacking up when technical problems occur, including oneincident that resulted in a delay of over 60 hours on a flightfrom Cuba.

Parent group Lufthansa has temporarily taken control of aroute to Dubai while Eurowings works on stabilising theoperation.

The unit is due to receive two more A330 long-haul jets overthe next two months and aims to have a fleet of seven wide-bodyplanes by 2017.

Lufthansa wants to make Eurowings the third-largest low-costcarrier in Europe, behind Ryanair and easyJet,as it seeks to tap into growing demand for leisure travel andfend off its rivals at home in Germany. (Reporting by Peter Maushagen; Writing by Victoria Bryan;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)