Eurowings eyes Frankfurt flights from summer 2018

* Eurowings eyes Frankfurt routes from summer 2018

* Exec says encouraged by bookings at Munich

* Exec says costs to fall this year (Recasts with Frankfurt plans, adds comments on load factors)

BERLIN, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Lufthansa (Xetra: LHAB.DE - news) 's budget unit Eurowings is studying whether it can start flying from Frankfurt airport from summer 2018, as the airline group battles Ryanair's growth in its home market.

The Lufthansa brand traditionally focuses on premium and business routes from its two hubs in Frankfurt and Munich, where low-cost carriers have been slow to expand.

But faced with rising low-cost growth in Germany and with Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) 's Ryanair starting flights from Frankfurt, its budget Eurowings is operating out of Munich this summer to tourist destination not served by Lufthansa.

It is now studying the possibility of flying from Frankfurt, a Lufthansa executive said on Thursday.

"The market reaction in Munich gives us confidence to look at doing similar in Frankfurt," Karl Ulrich Garnadt told journalists, saying the Lufthansa group wanted to start offering new leisure destinations before others jumped in first.

"Eurowings is the platform of choice for that and we are working on a solution for summer 2018," he said.

Ryanair will fly to four tourist destinations from Frankfurt in summer and is planning more routes, including to Israel, for winter 2017.

Garnadt said Eurowings' load factors - how full its planes are - on tourist routes were over 90 percent, similar to those achieved by Ryanair. Load factors on routes between cities or on routes serving more business travellers are not as high, he added.

He also said bookings for the year were very positive and said Eurowings expected to bring unit costs down by a single digit percentage this year, partly thanks to a deal to lease 33 crewed planes from Air Berlin (LSE: 0GPE.L - news) .

Eurowings, which is growing rapidly this year, is also on track to make an operating profit in 2017, excluding one-off expansion costs, he said. (Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Maria Sheahan)