From 1 July 2016 onwards, the airline Eurowings will be the new "Champion Partner" of Borussia Dortmund. The company, which forms part of the Lufthansa Group, will closely accompany the BVB squad from next season and will serve as the club's official airline for away matches.

Eurowings' cooperation with the eight-time German Bundesliga champions and 1997 Champions League winners comprises numerous different components which extend beyond the scope of traditional sponsporing.

The cooperation includes the presence of advertisements in the stadium (e.g. hoardings, giant video screens, coaches' benches) and, on top of that, an extensive digital cooperation, including social media. On Facebook alone, Borussia Dortmund currently has more than 14.2 million fans.

"This partnership brings together two dynamic, ambitious companies which both have an enormous binding power and want to play a significant role in their respective core businesses on a national and international level," said Borussia Dortmund Chief Executive Officer Hans-Joachim Watzke. Carsten Cramer, the club's Director of Marketing & Sales, added: "Eurowings is a new brand that originates in Dortmund. Similarly to Borussia Dortmund, Eurowings sees itself as a challenger and is therefore a very good fit for us. We are excited to see the link-up play between high-speed football and high-speed travel."

Team airbus for BVB

The most tangible sign of the new partnership is an aeroplane completed paint in black and yellow colours, which Eurowings and BVB unveiled to the public for the first time at a press conference at Signal Iduna Park this Wednesday. The team airbus, of the A320 variety, has not been chosen for Champions League away days solely because of its top speed of well over 900 kilometres an hour. One of its other key attributes is the exterior design - an homage to the black and yellow of Borussia Dortmund which is over 37 metres long and almost 12 metres high. "When it comes to designing the plane, it was our requirement to go significantly beyond the usual placement of a logo on the tail unit. That's why we have developed a solution that will provide Borussia Dortmund with an impressive appearance all over Europe" said Eurowings CEO Oliver Wagner.

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Press conference with Sascha Fligge, Hans-Joachim Watzke and Karl Ulrich Garnadt, Julian Weigl (from left to right)

"The partnership with Borussia along with its huge fan community will help us to make the Eurowings brand better known across Europe and to strengthen in a likeable and innovative way," said Lufthansa board member Karl Ulrich Garnadt, who is responsible for expanding the new Eurowings into the second European-wide brand of the Lufthansa Group. Eurowings is the largest carrier in North Rhine-Westphalia, the market leader at Stuttgart airport and has a strong presence at other German airports such as Berlin, Hamburg and Hanover. In the coming years, the airline is set to expand beyond Germany's borders and is to be developed into one of the leading European providers in its core market.