March 17, 2021

More articles from the category

March 17, 2021

SZG wants to invest in the expansion: the supervisory board postpones the decision

Revenues are in the basement because of the CoV crisis, but at the same time the management wants to invest in the expansion of the airport. Yesterday the supervisory board of Salzburg Airport met to decide on the investment needs. The Corona crisis hit aviation with full force. Air traffic is recovering very slowly and has since practically come to a standstill. The airports are only kept afloat by cash injections. Nevertheless, the management team wants to invest 100 million euros in the next few years to modernize the airport. Among other things, the plans include completely rebuilding Terminal 1, which houses the arrival and departure areas. Parts of the complex, which consists of 16 individual buildings, are more than 50 years old, reports the Kurier. But no final decision could be made today. This is now to be made in June. In view of the upcoming investments, it is quite possible that the owners will have to pump money into the project, says Supervisory Board Chairman Christian Stöckl: "At least as far as large investments are concerned." Supervisory Board member and SPÖ deputy mayor Bernhard Auinger can also imagine subsidies from the owners. Selling the land could cover half of the required investments. He also brings another financing option into play: selling a property. A potential buyer has already been found. Österreichische Post AG has been looking for building land for a new distribution center for some time - and is now desperate. This is proving to be quite difficult in the Salzburg area. With a sale, Salzburg Airport could therefore cover half of the planned investments. An area

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Austro Control Recruiting Day online for the first time this year

Good news for prospective air traffic controllers: The Austro Control Recruiting Day is taking place despite CoV restrictions - but not as usual. This year, the event will be held virtually for the first time on March 20. Above all, the applicants will be given a look behind the scenes of air traffic control. "We accompany air traffic controllers to their workplace in the tower, in arrival and departure control or in the area control center. Discussions about training and everyday working life round off the program of the recruiting day," says the AC. "Air traffic controller is a great and fascinating job that has a lot to offer - high responsibility, a varied job and also a good work-life balance. It is particularly important to us that significantly more women have this profession on their personal radar. Our first online recruiting day is a good opportunity to get comprehensive information, and hopefully we will be able to welcome many new air traffic controllers in the near future!" says Austro Control Managing Director Valerie Hackl. We are looking for high school graduates who have good spatial awareness, are resilient and want to face the challenges of a selective training course. The prerequisite for admission is passing a multi-stage selection process with a final assessment center and a positive aviation medical check. The training lasts around three years and takes place at the Austro-Control training center in Vienna.

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Germany supports Trendtours with 23 million euros

Due to the corona pandemic, the Federal Republic of Germany is helping the tour operator Trendtours with 23 million euros. The funds are provided from the Economic Stabilization Fund. A spokesman for the tour operator told Wirtschaftswoche that this would create "room for a successful restart in good time". The tour operator had around 2019 customers in 400.000 and specializes in older travelers. The company is therefore optimistic that there will be a corresponding demand in the 2021 season. According to its own information, Trendtours employs 170 people in Germany. The Federal Republic has supported its competitor Tui AG several times with a billion-dollar sum.

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Bulgaria wants to start tourism on May 1st, 2021

The Bulgarian government announced that the tourist season will open on May 1, 2021. People who can show that they have been vaccinated against Covid or have recovered from it will be given relief. According to current planning, everyone else will be required to present a negative PCR test upon entry. The Ministry of Tourism also announced that, for example, in hotels, the obligation to wear masks will remain in place in common areas. On the beaches, umbrellas must be placed at least 1,5 meters apart. A maximum of two people are allowed to sit under umbrellas. Families are exempt from this. Work is also to be carried out on green corridors for the holiday resorts of Varna and Burgas. This means that there could be exceptions to PCR tests. Last year, tourism collapsed due to the pandemic and the travel warnings issued by Germany and Austria in particular. Around 80 percent of the hotels around Varna and Burgas remained closed due to a lack of bookings.

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2020: Customers avoided travel agencies and preferred to book directly

Although package tour customers are better protected, according to a study by the German Travel Association, the market share of tour operators and travel agencies fell to 39 percent last year. In 2019, it was 51 percent. Sales fell by 66 percent to 12,5 billion euros. Direct sales by service providers increased. Airlines, hotels, car rental companies, bus and train companies increased their market share from 37 percent to 48 percent. Due to the corona pandemic, sales fell by around 40 percent to 15,4 billion euros. The market share of online portals of agents was 13 percent. Sales of 4,1 billion euros were generated - a decrease of half compared to 2019. The developments of the previous year show a trend that during the crisis, more people were booking directly with service providers. It is unclear why customers decided to take this step. There may have been greater confidence when bookings were "in one's own hands". It remains to be seen whether this trend will continue this year.

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Domestic flights: Ukraine before VAT is abolished

While governments in Germany and Austria, for example, have artificially increased the cost of flying by increasing taxes, Ukraine wants to take a different path. The abolition of VAT on domestic flights is planned. This is intended to support the struggling airlines. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced that he wants to reduce the cost of flights within Ukraine. One of the ways to achieve this goal is the planned abolition of the 20 percent VAT on domestic connections. Transport Minister Vlayislav Krikliy told the Unian news agency that he expects the tax rate to be reduced to zero percent and that the implementation will take place this year. "It is very important that we send a signal that shows that aviation is not a secondary issue for us, but a priority. Aviation is very important for Ukraine," the minister told Unian. SkyUp and Ukraine International, among others, have been calling intensively for a reduction in VAT on domestic flights in recent months. Most recently, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also brought up the possibility of a tax cut for domestic flights. In Austria, taxes on short and medium-haul flights were drastically increased in the middle of the Corona crisis. Transport Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) even announced minimum prices for airline tickets in the summer. These are questionable under European law. The controversial plan has not yet been implemented.

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EU Commission waves Finnair state aid through

The EU Commission gave the green light to state aid of EUR 351,28 million for the airline Finnair. This will take the form of a so-called hybrid loan. This includes compensation for the losses incurred between March 16 and December 31, 2020. For the period from March 16 to June 30, 2020, Finnair will receive full compensation for the entire loss of income due to the travel restrictions. From July 1, 2020, this will be limited to those routes that were still affected by restrictions. The EU Commission describes this form of aid as "appropriate" because it would not go beyond the actual damage. The part of the rescue package granted as a loan also includes a clawback mechanism under which any public support that goes beyond the actual damage suffered must be repaid to the Finnish state.

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Easter: Ryanair continues to increase the offer

The Irish low-cost airline Ryanair is further increasing its offering around Easter. The carrier is once again flying to Porto from Berlin, Cologne/Bonn, Memmingen and Frankfurt am Main. From Germany's largest airport, the low-cost airline is also adding flights to Valencia in Spain. Ryanair wrote in a media statement that it had seen a sharp increase in bookings for the Easter holiday period. The low-cost carrier also announced an increase in connections to Palma de Mallorca. Around Easter, the company will be offering 200 additional flights to the Mediterranean island. "We are delighted to be able to announce even more flights from Germany at Easter after travel restrictions to Germany's most popular sunny destinations in Europe were relaxed. Due to strong customer demand, we have today added additional flights to Porto and Valencia from March 28 to mid-April," said Jason McGuiness, Commercial Director at Ryanair. The additional Easter routes at a glance: Connection Flights per week Berlin-Porto 2 (+2) Cologne/Bonn-Porto 1 (+1) Frankfurt International-Porto 2 (+2) Frankfurt International-Valencia 2 (+2) Memmingen-Porto 2 (+2)

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Digital EU passport should come on June 1st

The CoV crisis is restricting all of our lives. The desire to travel is growing as time goes on. Now EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is holding out the prospect of a way out of the dilemma: the "Green Pass". If the EU has its way, the digital European vaccination certificate should be introduced by June 1. The electronic ID could thus enable travel in the summer months. Countries could, for example, waive existing testing and quarantine requirements. "We are taking back our European way of life," said EU Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas before the official presentation. The Commission calls the project "Digital Green Certificate" - based on the "Green Pass" for vaccinated people in Israel. However, the EU does not only want to document vaccinations, but also the results of approved PCR and rapid tests as well as recovered CoV infections. This is reported by the ORF. Which doors the certificate should open is still up in the air in the EU states. Some holiday destinations such as Greece and Spain are pushing for travel easing to be linked to such a document. Germany, on the other hand, has spoken out against easing the rules for vaccinated people as long as there are still few people who have a chance of receiving the protective vaccination. This view is also shared by SPÖ EU delegation leader Andreas Schieder, who also questions the EU's optimistic timetable. "The timetable for the vaccination pass seems almost absurd in view of the delivery delays from vaccine producers and uncertainties with AstraZeneca." Austria will begin implementation in April Austria will create the legal basis for implementation in the next few days. On this basis, operational implementation could begin as early as April, Tourism Minister Elisabeth Köstinger announced in a press release on Wednesday. "This is

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At Easter: Swiss is expanding its range of flights

The abolition of quarantine regulations for Spain and Portugal has triggered a strong surge in demand - fivefold within a week. That is why the Lufthansa subsidiary is now increasing the frequency of flights to these countries over the Easter period. On the one hand, more flights will be operated, and on the other hand, larger aircraft will be used. As Swiss CCO Tamur Goudarzi Pour explains, the examples of Spain and Portugal show that the lifting of quarantine requirements and the introduction of reliable travel regulations immediately lead to a noticeable increase in demand. Swiss is able to react to such changes at short notice. There are additional flights to Palma de Mallorca, Málaga, Barcelona, ​​Alicante and Valencia. This means that 29 (instead of 43) flights to Spain will be operated in the week starting March 34th, and 5 flights in the following week (from April 59th). In addition, the frequencies to Porto and Lisbon will also be increased. In some cases, Swiss plans to fly with A321 aircraft, the largest short-haul aircraft in the fleet with 219 seats. The carrier said the use of long-haul aircraft is also being considered.

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