June 14

More articles from the category

June 14

Vienna: “Small but important step”

More and more airlines are resuming their flights from Vienna-Schwechat. On Monday, numerous shops and lounges will also reopen. Life is slowly but surely returning to Vienna Airport, as more and more airlines are resuming their services. Austrian Airlines will also resume operating some routes on Monday. Lauda and Level want to follow suit at the beginning of June. Wizzair has been flying again since the beginning of May 2020. "Slowly but surely, aviation is returning. Numerous airlines have announced that they will resume more scheduled flights from mid-June and in the weeks thereafter. This is very pleasing and a small but important step towards overcoming this crisis, which is unique in global aviation history," said Julian Jäger, CEO of Flughafen Wien AG. Austrian Airlines will again serve over 20 destinations across Europe from mid-June and will then gradually add further destinations to its route network. In addition, Aegean, Air France, Brussels, Croatia Airlines, Ethiopian, Emirates, Luxair, Pegasus Airlines, Peoples, Sunexpress, Tarom and Turkish Airlines will start passenger flights to and from Vienna this month. Other scheduled flights will be resumed by Lufthansa, Eurowings, Qatar and KLM, airlines that have already flown continuously throughout the crisis, and Air Baltic, Air Serbia, Bulgaria Air, Swiss and Wizz Air will also be expanding their flight offerings. Wizz Air has been flying to Bremen, Tel Aviv, Tuzla and Cologne since May and will be adding numerous other and new routes in June and July, such as Brussels, Tallinn, Rhodes and Marrakesh. Eurowings already serves Düsseldorf and Hamburg and will be expanding to include Cologne and Stuttgart in June.

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AUA boss Hoensbroech: “We owe customers money”

In the eyes of the General Director of Austrian Airlines, an industry collective agreement is not a universal solution. The competition would then fly in employees from abroad. Austrian Airlines CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech is of the opinion that the company he leads has been saved permanently with the aid package worth around 600 million euros. In an interview with the daily newspaper "Der Standard", he points out that Austrian Airlines was in the profit zone for seven years. In order to obtain state aid, all shares and the 40 aircraft owned by Austrian Airlines had to be pledged to the Republic of Austria. The manager commented on this as follows: "If you need money, you have to give up everything you have." Regarding the surplus of employees, von Hoensbroech told the "Standard": "Our goal is 80 percent of the company's previous size in 2022. From our current perspective, we would then have 1100 employees too many. We are planning two years of short-time work, during which time there can be no layoffs, and we assume that we will achieve a large part of the reduction by 2022 through fluctuation. Just for comparison: without the aid package, we would have slipped into restructuring with self-administration or into real insolvency. In the case of restructuring, we would have had to lay off 2500 employees immediately, and in the case of bankruptcy, the majority of employees. The aid package is a major joint effort by employees, banks, government, suppliers, the airport, Lufthansa and taxpayers. We are very grateful for it." After short-time work, staff will have to do without an average of 15 percent. This also applies to the management board, although it will have to cut half of its total income.

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Lufthansa: Free middle seats against payment

The Kranich Group wants to open up new business areas with free middle seats for an additional charge and paid corona tests before departure. Lufthansa will offer free middle seats on long-haul flights for an additional charge due to the corona crisis. However, this will come at a price. Board member Christina Foerster announced to the news magazine "Der Spiegel": "It won't be cheap." Another business model that Lufthansa wants to set up, according to the media report, is corona tests at the Frankfurt am Main and Munich hubs. Test centers are to be set up in cooperation with laboratories by the beginning of July at the latest. Travelers should receive the results within four hours. This service will be subject to a fee.

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Easyjet boss criticizes state aid

Air France-KLM, Alitalia, Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines are just a small selection of the airlines that will receive large government loans. Easyjet now also wants to take action against this. Following Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary, the general director of competitor Easyjet, Johan Lundgren, is now also being more explicit about state aid for various airlines. He criticised the news magazine "Der Spiegel" that "billions upon billions are being distributed across Europe to some of the most inefficient, climate-damaging, worst airlines in Europe". The Easyjet boss expects the EU Commission to put a stop to the distribution of funds to a few selected carriers, including Lufthansa. He also demands that state support due to the corona pandemic must be open to all airlines, but that this is not the case in many countries. This would lead to a significant distortion of competition.

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Israel could nationalize El Al

If there are not enough investors for a capital increase, the state will take over 61 percent of the shares. Nevertheless, around 6.000 employees will lose their jobs. In Israel, a possible re-entry of the state into the airline El Al is currently looming. In 2004, the public sector, under the leadership of the prime minister who is still in office today, sold off the majority. This could now change in connection with aid measures due to the Corona crisis. The State of Israel currently holds no shares at all in the listed El Al. Now the management and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have negotiated a package that is intended to save the carrier from bankruptcy. The loan of 250 million euros is to be 75 percent guaranteed by the public sector. As part of a capital increase, a further 150 million euros are to flow into El Al's cash-strapped coffers. But the measures also have their price, because the carrier has to lay off around 6.000 employees and temporarily reduce the salaries of management and, among others, those of the captains. Dividends may no longer be paid to shareholders for a while, and even free flights for employees are taboo for at least five years. Furthermore, the State of Israel is securing access to up to 61 percent of the shares through the capital increase. If there are not enough investors on the free capital market, the public sector will step in. However, this stake would be resold after five years at the latest.

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Condor can repay loan in ten years

Condor has ten years to repay the state loan of 550 million euros, but is not currently actively looking for a buyer. The airline Condor is currently in talks with the social partners and can no longer rule out possible job cuts. The insolvent carrier will also no longer be able to top up short-time work benefits from the summer. This was explained by managing director Ralf Teckentrup to the portal Aerotelegraph.com. The low fuel price would temporarily play into Condor's hands, because due to the protective shield procedure, it was only possible to hedge up to and including March 2020. The result of this is that the holiday airline is currently refueling at the current daily price. This is currently comparatively low, but if fuel prices rise again, this could turn into a boomerang for Condor. The wet lease contracts with Thomas Cook Aviation and Thomas Cook Balearics have already been terminated in view of the ongoing protective shield procedure. According to Teckentrup, the elimination of 170 jobs was already initiated in December of last year. The long-haul aircraft, which were recently converted into freighters, are to be returned to their original function when long-haul passenger flights resume, the airline boss told Aerotelegraph.com. Teckentrup is expected to leave the protective shield procedure at the end of September 2020. However, due to the corona pandemic and the failed sale to LOT's parent company PGL, the company is currently not looking for a buyer. The state loan totaling ten million euros is to run for "more than ten years," the manager explained to Aerotelegraph.com.

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Varna: Voyage Air dares to try again

With a Boeing 28-737 that is over 500 years old, Voyage Air wants to connect Varna with various German cities. What's the difference from previous attempts? The company now has AOC and OL. The Bulgarian start-up Voyage Air is making another attempt to get into the air this year. In previous years, the announced flights, including to Graz, had to be canceled again and again. From July 6, 2020, the company now wants to fly to various German cities from Varna with a Boeing 737-500. Specifically, the company has announced Bremen, Erfurt, Münster/Osnabrück, Munich and Stuttgart. They also want to fly to Kyiv-Boryspil and Lodz. In contrast to previous years, Voyage Air now has both a valid AOC and a valid operating license. This was confirmed by the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport. The 2-letter code assigned by the IATA is VO. This was used in the past by VLM and Tyrolean Airways. According to Voyage Air, the Boeing 737-500 used has 126 seats. The aircraft has the registration LZ-TER and was built in 1992. The medium-haul jet was previously used by China Southern Airlines, Transaero and Africa Charter Airline, among others.

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