Français »
German "
Search
February 4, 2021

More articles from the category

February 4, 2021

Sebastian Kurz makes himself strong for Sputnik V.

Jan Gruber 4. February 2021 22:41

As recently as September 2020, Austria's Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) explicitly ruled out the possibility of using the Russian corona vaccine Sputnik V in a TV interview he gave to ORF. In view of the disaster that the governments of the European Union have created in cooperation with the EU Commission, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) is now calling for the approval of Sputnik V and Chinese competing products. The politician appeals to the European Medicines Agency that there should be "no geographical taboos" when it comes to approval. In a written statement that he sent to the Austria Press Agency, he demands that the EMA "should of course also examine the approval of Chinese vaccines or the Russian vaccine". This is the first head of government of an EU state - apart from Viktor Orban - to publicly commit to Sputnik V and the vaccines developed in China. Hungary has already granted the Russian product a national emergency approval and intends to do the same with substances developed in China. Kurz's statement is consistent with Neos' demand In Austria, Neos opposition politician Loacker demanded that Sputnik V be tested and, if necessary, approved. Until a few weeks ago, the Russian vaccine was still being ridiculed by Western media and politicians. Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) is said to be in talks with the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin. The aim is to be able to produce it under license in Germany or another European country. Currently, relevant specialist magazines are writing that Sputnik V is more effective than the cheap product from AstraZeneca, which the EU, Austria, Germany and

Continue reading "

Lufthansa is rescheduling a government loan of 1,6 billion euros on bonds

Jan Gruber 4. February 2021 17:50

Lufthansa organized itself on the capital market by issuing a 1,6 billion euro bond. Germany's largest airline intends to use the proceeds to partially repay the government loan granted through the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau. "We are very grateful for the support we receive in our home markets. The bond successfully placed today enables us to repay the entire KfW loan. The refinancing even reduces our financing costs. Despite the repayment, however, it is likely that we will make use of other elements of the stabilization package that are currently unused. The extent to which we will do this depends on how the pandemic progresses," says Remco Steenbergen, Chief Financial Officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. The bond, with a denomination of 100.000 euros, was placed in two tranches with a term of four and seven years respectively: The tranche with a term until February 11, 2025 has a volume of 750 million euros and bears interest at 2,875 percent per year. The tranche, which runs until February 11, 2028, has a volume of 850 million euros and bears interest at 3,75 percent per year. "With the long-term funds now raised and the funds raised in the amount of 2,1 billion euros in the second half of 2020, Lufthansa has secured the refinancing of all financial liabilities due in 2021 in the amount of around 2,6 billion euros. As contractually agreed as part of the stabilization measures last June, the raising of additional funds will lead to the repayment of Lufthansa's KfW loan. The loan in the amount of 1 billion euros will therefore be repaid to KfW early. The

Continue reading "

Munich: Lufthansa A350-900 has returned from record flight

Jan Gruber 4. February 2021 16:26

On Thursday at 13:34 p.m., Lufthansa returned with an Airbus A350-900 from the longest flight in the company's history. The carrier flew scientists from Hamburg to the Flakland Islands with the D-AIXP. The plane then flew back to Munich Airport. The long-haul jet and crew were greeted with a water fountain at the second-largest airport. Airport boss Jost Lammers and Stefan Kreuzpaintner, Lufthansa Chief Commercial Officer & Hub Manager Munich, also made sure to welcome the crew on the apron. Last Sunday, January 31, the 16-person crew led by Captain Rolf Uzat took off on the longest flight in Lufthansa's history. It took them a total of 13.700:15 hours to cover the 26-kilometer journey from Hamburg to the Mount Pleasant military base. According to Lufthansa, today's flight is also a record-breaking one: The Airbus A350-900 "Braunschweig" completed the 13.400-kilometer flight in 14 hours and 03 minutes. In the history of Munich Airport, no aircraft has ever landed that has covered such a long distance without a stopover. On board the special flight were 40 passengers from the crew of the research vessel "Polarstern", who were flying back home on behalf of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Bremerhaven. Since the hygiene requirements surrounding this flight were extremely high, the outbound and return flights will also go down in Lufthansa history for another reason: Two weeks before departure, the Lufthansa crew went into quarantine at the same time as the passengers in a Bremerhaven hotel. The entire business trip lasted a total of 20 days for the crew, and no crew had

Continue reading "

Norwegian Air UK no longer pays the wages

Jan Gruber 4. February 2021 15:55

The employees of Norwegian Air UK did not receive any salary on February 1, 2021. According to the union Balpa, they were instead informed that they would not receive any wages, vacation pay or severance pay. The employee representatives are citing the communication from KPMG, which is acting as the insolvency administrator of Norwegian Air UK. There are no plans to continue this airline, which is why liquidation has been initiated. Balpa is angry with the management because it had promised to pay wages just a few weeks ago. The employee representatives are now demanding clarification and are also pointing out that the group will receive financial aid from the government in its home country of Norway. In this context, they are criticizing the fact that the UK subsidiary is being dropped and the employees have not received any more money.

Continue reading "

Friedrichshafen cuts the trees

Jan Gruber 4. February 2021 15:15

Due to the corona pandemic, the number of flights at Friedrichshafen Airport is currently very limited. Nevertheless, the airport has to carry out pruning measures in the approach and departure areas for safety reasons. These will be carried out in February at the western and northern ends of the airport site - along the trade fair feeder road, on the Allmannsweiler Bach and on Allmannsweilerstrasse. According to the Air Traffic Act, Bodensee-Airport Friedrichshafen is obliged to ensure that the approach and departure areas are clear of obstacles. In recent years, tall trees that protrude into the airspace that must be kept clear have therefore been repeatedly pruned back accordingly. The necessary work was coordinated with the city of Friedrichshafen and the Bodenseekreis district office in advance. The corresponding official approval has been granted. A detailed assessment and assessment was carried out in advance by the Office for Landscape Ecology with the aim of avoiding unnecessary interference with flora and fauna. The work is expected to be completed by the end of February.

Continue reading "

Helvetic employees dance in the Jerusalema video

Jan Gruber 4. February 2021 14:40

In their free time, employees of the regional airline Helvetic Airways produced their own version of the Jerusalema Dance Challenge. This has already been published on the video portal YouTube. Following an internal call, numerous employees from the cockpit and cabin volunteered to take part. Almost thirty employees were selected to dance to the song "Jerusalema" by the South African singer, DJ and producer Master KG. Initiated by the Angolan dance troupe "Fenomenos do Semba" on YouTube in February 2020, the challenge went viral, mainly thanks to the social network TikTok. Since then, the challenge has inspired numerous videos in which thousands of people around the world can be seen performing the famous choreography. "We are currently flying relatively little and wanted to use our free time creatively. This allowed us to strengthen our team spirit in a constructive and playful way," explains Sara Müllhaupt, cabin attendant at Helvetic and initiator of the project. As Head of Cabin Crew at the Swiss airline, Franz Lindauer supports the approach: "This project once again shows the solidarity and positive attitude of our flying staff - despite the current turbulence in the industry." The clip, produced exclusively with internal resources and in their free time, was created in mid-January by Angsumalin Frank (Senior Cabin Attendant) and Peter Strohmeier (Maintenance). It was filmed in the buildings of Zurich Airport, on the tarmac and in the maintenance hangar of Helvetic Airways - a total of almost twelve hours over three days. The video was produced before the Federal Council's new measures to combat the coronavirus came into force on January 18, 2021.

Continue reading "

Minimum prices: headwind for Gewessler from Brussels

Jan Gruber 4. February 2021 14:35

The minimum prices for airline tickets planned by Austria's Minister of Transport and Climate Protection Leonore Gewessler (Greens) are facing opposition from Brussels. The EU Commission has now called on the government to explain in detail how a minimum price of 40 euros is intended to reduce carbon dioxide emissions on short-haul flights. According to ORF, Brussels believes that Leonore Gewessler's plans could violate EU Regulation 1008/2008, which guarantees the aviation sector price freedom. Spain has also felt this in the past, as this country wanted to ban fares without included luggage. The European Court of Justice banned the Spanish move, citing the EU regulation. Leonore Gewessler announced in June 2020 that there would be minimum prices for airline tickets in Austria in the future. She named the price of taxes and fees, around 40 euros, as the lower limit. The change was due to come into force in September 2020, but the plan has not yet been implemented. The State Secretary responsible for aviation, Magnus Brunner (ÖVP), initially expressed concerns about European law. Experts also said that an Austrian solo effort would de facto only affect airlines with domestic certificates, as foreign providers would not be covered at all due to international agreements.

Continue reading "

The demand for business travel could increase in 2021

Granite Pireci 4. February 2021 14:30

The global business travel association is expecting higher spending on business travel this year. According to the business travel association GBTA, spending worldwide is expected to rise by 21 percent, after falling by 2020 percent to $52 billion in 694 due to the virus pandemic. The association would also expect a rapid recovery to pre-crisis levels, as the travel portal Reisevor9 reports. By the end of 2024, spending could reach around $1,4 trillion - almost the peak of 2019. But there are also dissenting voices. Quite a few experts expect a permanent decline in business travel, as dozens of companies are increasingly questioning their travel activities. Video conferences have recently had to be used. And this type of communication is currently proving to be quite useful, so business trips are likely to be the order of the day only in exceptional cases in the future. This assumption is supported by data from the German business travel association VDR from the end of January. According to the study, 58 percent of companies expect a decline in business travel of up to 30 percent beyond the Corona pandemic. Eleven percent even predict a decline of around half.

Continue reading "

Graz: Luxair flies to Calvi by charter

Jan Gruber 4. February 2021 14:25

The tour operator Rhomberg Reisen will also be offering the destination Calvi from Graz in the 2021 summer flight schedule. This will be served from mid-June 2021 with Luxair's DHC Dash 8-400. Flights will take place on Saturdays. "In addition to Karpathos, Zakynthos and Naxos, we can now offer Calvi as a fourth new destination in the coming summer flight schedule," explains Wolfgang Grimus, Managing Director of Graz Airport. "A big thank you goes to our tour operator partners, in this case to Rhomberg Reisen, who are creating new products despite the major challenges posed by the corona pandemic and together we can offer our passengers a comprehensive selection of attractive destinations for the summer." "We are delighted to be offering Graz Airport passengers a new flight connection directly to Corsica from their regional departure airport from June 19," says Rhomberg boss Marco Wohlfahrt. The charter route will be served from June 19.06.2021, 25.09.2021 to September XNUMX, XNUMX.

Continue reading "

Travel insurance fund is in the starting blocks

Granite Pireci 4. February 2021 13:50

In the future, package holidaymakers are to be insured through their own travel insurance fund. This is clear from the draft bill now available. The new regulation is intended to replace the previous insurance provided by insurers and credit institutions. Insolvency protection is to be organized through a central travel price insurance fund, which is subject to strict state supervision at least during the start-up phase, but can be managed by the travel industry itself as a GmbH. In addition, an advisory board made up of representatives from the federal government, states, tourism and consumers is to ensure that the respective interests are taken into account, expressly including those of small and medium-sized tour operators. The regulation was actually supposed to come into force in November 2020. But the Corona crisis slowed down the responsible authorities. The draft now presented has been coordinated with the ministries of economics and finance, which are also involved, as well as the Federal Chancellery, as fvw.de reports. The target capital of the fund is set in the draft at 750 million euros, which must be reached by the end of 2026.

Continue reading "

Navigation

Visit us on

Facebook f X-twitter Instagram LinkedIn Youtube Telegram rss Threads, Google Hm-mail-open Wordpress
login logo

Aviation.Direct is published with love in and