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July 16, 2021

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July 16, 2021

Hahn dispute: Lufthansa finally loses the case

Amely Mizzi July 16, 2021 19:57

The European Court of Justice has finally dismissed a lawsuit brought by Lufthansa against aid at Frankfurt Hahn Airport and agreements with Ryanair on fees under the reference number C-453/19P. The proceedings have been dragging on since 2014. At that time, Lufthansa filed a lawsuit against the EU Commission's approval of aid that Fraport, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse paid to Hahn. In 2019, the General Court of the European Union ruled that the appeal was inadmissible because Lufthansa had no party status due to the lack of use of Frankfurt Hahn Airport. The ECJ has now confirmed this view, meaning that the crane has finally lost the case.

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French Air Force buys nine more PC-21s

Jan Gruber July 16, 2021 19:04

The French Air Force is expanding its Pilatus PC-21 fleet by nine more aircraft. In 2021, the Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace acquired 17 aircraft of this type. These will be used for pilot training and for training purposes. France has now decided to purchase nine more aircraft. The PC-21s will replace twin-engine jet trainers that were previously used for pilot training. The French procurement authority Direction générale de l'armement (DGA) has signed the contract with F-AIR 21 (Cognac Formation Aero SAS France), with Pilatus acting as exclusive subcontractor and contributing the nine PC-21s as well as other ground-based training systems and spare parts. The order secures jobs at the Swiss factory, where the PC-21s are produced. "France evaluates in a highly professional manner, which is proof enough that we offer the world's best training system in this market. I am very pleased that the French Air Force has decided to purchase additional PC-21s," explains Pilatus CEO Markus Bucher. The PC-21s will be stationed at the Cognac Châteaubernard base in western France from 2023. PC-2018s have been in use there since 21. The first pilots completed their training in 2020. With the PC-21s now ordered, the fleet will increase to a total of 26. Alongside Switzerland and Spain, France is the third European nation to rely on the world's most modern training system with the PC-21. Over 230 PC-21s are in service with nine air forces worldwide. The PC-21 is also used to train future test pilots at the Empire Test Pilots' School in Boscombe Down in England.

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FAA asks all Boeing 737s for inspection

Amely Mizzi July 16, 2021 18:32

The US aviation authority FAA has ordered the inspection of all Boeing 737 aircraft. The cabin pressure devices are to be examined. Previously, there was a problem with the so-called pressure switch on three Boeing 737s. These are said to have failed during necessary functional tests. The operator of the three aircraft reported this to the manufacturer and the FAA. According to the authority, it could happen that the corresponding warning system is not activated at an altitude of 3.050 meters. The consequence of this could be that the oxygen concentration in the cabin could be too low. According to the FAA, 9.315 aircraft worldwide are affected by the order. Of these, 2.502 fly in the United States of America.

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Roland Hüser is the new Paderborn boss

Jan Gruber July 16, 2021 18:02

On August 1, 2021, the previous authorized officer Roland Hüser will take over the management of Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport. Until now, the manager was the airport's commercial director. Sales manager Klaus Marx will remain on board. "With the new management, which has already proven itself in the recent past, we are optimally positioned for the future. Everyone involved is enthusiastic about their new tasks and does not need any start-up time to reposition our airport and lead it to success," says the district administrator of the Paderborn district, Christoph Rüther, as chairman of the supervisory board. "We have a strong team that knows the challenges and goals exactly. I see my new task as a matter of the heart and approach things with a lot of confidence and optimism," Hüser makes clear. The 2021 summer flight schedule has a small but subtle flaw. The holiday flights boastfully announced by the ticket marketer Green Airlines are already a thing of the past after just a few legs. Only the Sylt route remains - at least for the time being. Other providers, such as Eurowings and Corendon, are flying as scheduled. In the future, Paderborn also wants to focus more on air freight. This year, passenger numbers are expected to exceed the 2020 level of fewer than 100.000 passengers. Paderborn Airport is aiming for around 2025 passengers by 800.000. The number of direct employees is to rise from the current 70 to around 100 in the same period; at the same time, the number of jobs indirectly connected to the airport is to increase from the current 700 to around 1.000. The new management also has clear goals for operating profit: after losses of more than 10 million euros in 2020, the company is to achieve a profit of around XNUMX million euros by XNUMX.

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Holiday flights: Green Airlines no longer has a “flight partner”

Jan Gruber July 16, 2021 16:04

The charter marketer Green Airlines has finally stopped sales on the holiday routes from Groningen, Paderborn and Rostock-Laage due to a lack of "flight partners". A few days ago, the company posted on its homepage and on social networks that it would be flying again from August 1, 2021. Green Airlines wanted to market "climate-friendly flights" with around 30-year-old Boeing 737-300s from Alk Air from Paderborn and Rostock-Laage. After just a few days, the Bulgarian aviation company jumped ship and publicly criticized the ticket seller's payment morale. Just Us Air decided not to fly for Green Airlines in the first place and publicly stated that it had not signed a contract with this company at all. Nevertheless, tickets were on sale under the codes of Alk Air and Just Us Air. Green Airlines originally announced that the holiday flights from Groningen, Paderborn and Rostock would be operated by German Airways. But the former WDL only flew sporadically from Groningen and that is also over. "German Airways will no longer fly for Green Airlines from Paderborn and Groningen with immediate effect," the airline announced. The reason given is: "The reason for this is the rapidly changing market environment due to the Covid pandemic and the rising incidence in some countries." German Airways only wants to continue flying on the Cologne/Bonn-Paderborn-Westerland route. Most recently, the airline accepted extremely long positioning flights for this, which do not exactly make the "green image" of Green Airlines appear "eco". Against this background, the official statement from Green Airlines seems downright absurd. It should also be noted that competitors on some

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A321XLR: Wizz Air doesn't want to fly across the pond

Jan Gruber July 16, 2021 15:32

From 2023, the low-cost airline Wizz Air will receive a total of 20 Airbus A321XLRs. The first units are to be stationed at the home base in Budapest. However, the company does not intend to enter the transatlantic business with this model. If you look at the range of the A321XLR, this type of aircraft would be suitable for flying between Europe and the two American continents. But Wizz Air is not considering that. Chief Commercial Officer George Michalopoulos once again stressed to Simple Flying that the long-haul model will be used to connect the outermost points of the existing route network. "Our plan is really to connect the dots. There are points that we currently serve from our 191 airports where you simply cannot fly directly because we do not have the range of the A321XLR. This is the main purpose for us in purchasing the XLR," the manager told Simple Flying. Flights to India, for example, could be operated from Abu Dhabi, but no final decision has been made yet. However, passengers on board the A321XLR fleet cannot expect any particular comfort. The seating will be based on that of the existing fleet. George Michalopoulos stresses that the best price is what counts for passengers.

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ACG-Hackl: “Road traffic emits more CO2 than aviation”

Amely Mizzi July 16, 2021 15:03

Austro-Control boss Valerie Hackl does not believe in terms such as "flight shame" or "flying is a climate killer". In the "Friday in the Arena" event, financed by Ökostrom AG, she counters that normal road traffic emits significantly more carbon dioxide than flying. "Aviation only accounts for three percent of global CO2 emissions, while road traffic accounts for around 18 percent. If we are ashamed of flying, we must also be ashamed of driving a car - I am in favor of strict shame," says Hackl, who also speaks out against "patronization", because everyone has to decide for themselves what they want to impose on themselves and the environment. When asked about alternative propulsion options, the ACG manager replied: "A lot is happening in research at the moment. However, the all-purpose weapon for avoiding kerosene has not yet been found - unfortunately, batteries or hydrogen are not yet alternatives."

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After floods: Luxembourg is running out of fuel

Jan Gruber July 16, 2021 14:45

This week's floods have had a significant impact on Luxembourg Airport, which is slowly but surely running out of fuel. The airport is supplied with fuel via a NATO pipeline, and this is precisely the pipeline that has been damaged. It is not yet known exactly where the damage occurred, but it is suspected that a valve in Echternacherbrück was damaged. The kerosene pipeline is 5.000 kilometers long and is particularly important for NATO, as it supplies several military facilities. Luxembourg Airport confirmed that its kerosene supply will only last for today, Friday. All airlines and private pilots have been urgently warned that kerosene will continue to be extremely scarce in the coming days and that refueling in Luxembourg may not be possible. Pilots are advised to fill up with enough fuel for the return flight or to have the oil companies truck the kerosene to the airport. According to reports, the fuel companies are trying to bring in the fuel needed for the planes by truck, but the same quantities are not available as usual via the pipeline. Luxembourg is a very popular place for airlines to fill up their tanks. It remains to be seen whether the effects of the flooding will be felt at other airports. Zurich, Frankfurt am Main, Brussels and Amsterdam are also connected to this pipeline. The repairs that have to be carried out on the German side are said to take a few days.

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British Airways abandons passengers due to ‘wrong’ AstraZeneca vaccination

Amely Mizzi July 16, 2021 14:31

Residents of the United Kingdom who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 are allowed to enter Malta without quarantine. At least in theory, because if you are vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, your vacation trip can end at the gate in the UK. The reason behind this is that there are two different variants of this vaccine. The one produced in Europe is known under the brand name Vaxzevria and has been approved by the EMA. If you have received both jabs with it and at least 14 days have passed, you can enter Malta without any problems. However, the Indian licensed product Covishield is also administered in the United Kingdom. This has a UK emergency approval but not from the EMA. And that is precisely the problem, because British Airways, for example, has already refused boarding for flights to Malta to British passengers who have been vaccinated with the "Indian variant". An unclear wording on the part of the Maltese government is likely to be the root cause, because the official documents only mention AstraZeneca. The Ministry of Health has not specified which of the two variants is meant. In addition, British travellers can only tell whether they have received Vaxzevria or the licensed product Covishield by looking at the batch number. British Airways appears to have researched this carefully and trained its staff accordingly.

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Ireland: Ryanair thwarted domestic PSO route

Jan Gruber July 16, 2021 14:06

Following the bankruptcy of the regional airline Stobart Air, the low-cost airline Ryanair has announced that it will start operating the domestic route between Dublin and Kerry from July 28, 2021. Ticket sales have already begun. Previously, this route was served by Stobart Air using PSO subsidies. Ryanair will serve this route on a commercial basis, i.e. without support. This makes a corresponding tender by the government superfluous, as PSO subsidies can only be awarded on routes where there is no market economy operation. Ryanair plans to serve the domestic route once a day for the time being. An increase to twice the daily limit has been announced as of September 1, 2021. The start of the new route also represents the new high point of a dispute that the low-cost airline and the Irish government are publicly fighting. The low-cost airline accuses the government of doing too little for aviation and is demanding lower airport fees. The government is not particularly happy about Ryanair “sitting” on the former PSO route, as there are no connections to the Aer Lingus route network.

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