Lufthansa's Eurowings eyes Munich routes - executive

BERLIN (Reuters) - Lufthansa's (LHAG.DE) Eurowings low-cost unit is weighing up flying from Munich, a hub for Lufthansa-branded flights, an executive has told a German magazine, as the overall group looks to defend its market share against rival budget airlines.

"We're speaking about it internally. It's an option for 2017," Karl Ulrich Garnadt, Lufthansa group board member responsible for Eurowings, was quoted as saying by WirtschaftsWoche.

Munich has traditionally been used by Lufthansa as a hub for long-haul flights and serving business travel demand from southern Germany.

Transavia, a unit of Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA), became the first low-cost carrier to set up a base in Munich this year, while easyJet (EZJ.L) already flies to the airport and Ryanair (RYA.I) has also been looking at it, although the airport's boss has said slots at peak times are hard to come by.

Eurowings says it doesn't see itself as competing against the Lufthansa brand, but instead providing flights for more price-sensitive customers who otherwise may not chose to fly at all.

"We see ourselves as a defence line for the Lufthansa group ... We don't fly against Frankfurt and Munich but against the competition and we're trying to prevent the competition from getting bigger," Eurowings chief commercial officer Oliver Wagner told investors earlier this month.

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Greg Mahlich)