August 9, 2021

More articles from the category

August 9, 2021

Innsbruck is developing into a footballer's favorite

Over the last 15 years, the Austrian airport in Innsbruck has become a popular landing place for training camps for professional football teams. Charter and special flights land regularly at the Tyrolean airport. Friendly matches, training camps and major sporting events bring professional athletes to Tyrol. Before the 2008 European Football Championship, only a few football charters could be welcomed in Innsbruck, but since the 2008 European Championship, Tyrol and Innsbruck airport have become enormously popular with football clubs. In the year of the 2008 European Championship, a record-breaking 90 rotations of teams were handled. One highlight was the eventual European champions from Spain, who had set up their - very successful - training camp in Tyrol. "When the Spaniards landed after winning the final, but above all on the return flight to Spain in the afternoon in front of hundreds of fans, indescribable scenes played out here," recalls airport manager Marco Pernetta, who still fondly remembers it today. Since then, there have been an average of between 15 and 20 football charters in the summer months. The airport handles the different requirements of the teams in a very routine manner. People here are used to smooth and well-organized apron pick-ups, cheering fans, autograph requests and press interviews. In summer 2021, a total of around 30 football charters will be handled. These include 13 different airlines from 11 nations traveling from/to 14 countries via Innsbruck. Five of the teams are national teams (Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Austria and Russia). The gallery below shows the highlights of the past few years:

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Alleged defects: Qatar lands 13 Airbus A350s

Gulf carrier Qatar Airways is temporarily taking 13 of the 53 Airbus A350s in operation out of service. The company found that the surface material underneath the paint was peeling off too quickly. Until the matter is clarified, it does not want to take on any more aircraft of this type. There are problems with Airbus and Boeing aircraft that apparently only occur with Qatar Airways, or the Gulf carrier is the first to discover them. In this specific case, the Qatar Aviation Authority issued a temporary flight ban for the Airbus A350s in question. According to the authority's instructions, there is a risk that cracks could form in the composite material of the fuselage. Qatar Airways must now act because the capacity of this part of the fleet is shrinking. Therefore, it is mothballing more Airbus A330s from long-term storage. However, this can only be a temporary solution, because the manufacturer Airbus is not only demanding an explanation, but also improvements. To emphasize this, Qatar Airways is refusing to take on any more A350s.

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Working conditions: flight attendants make allegations against Chair

In the Swiss media, employees of the holiday airline Chair are making serious allegations against their employer. These are very reminiscent of a low-cost airline that is often in the crossfire of criticism. However, Chair rejects the allegations. Among other things, a cabin crew employee complains that the basic salary is 2.500 Swiss francs a month, which is below the industry average. Travel Inside and the Sonntagszeitung also report that a kind of culture of fear, including spying, is said to prevail and that, on top of that, flight attendants are also going to work when sick out of fear. Blick even claims that cabin crew who were particularly busy during the pandemic have been laid off in recent days and are now to be replaced by cheaper workers from abroad. The Polish charter airline Enter Air holds 49 percent of Chair. Company boss Shpend Ibrahimi confirms that there were three layoffs in July 2021, but makes it clear that nine additional employees were hired beforehand in June 2021. The Chair managing director rejects any connection with the deployment during the pandemic. Chair CEO: “Allegations are unfounded” An employee who worked for the carrier during the Germania era has made the allegation to Blick that a real culture of fear prevails. The senior flight attendants are supposed to write reports after every flight and document employee mistakes in them. There is supposed to be an instruction from the airline’s cabin crew manager to do this. CEO Ibrahimi does not want to leave the allegations as they are and stresses that the cabin crew manager “does good and highly qualified work” and that “the allegations regarding the working conditions are completely unfounded

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By 2030: Wizz Air wants to expand its fleet to 500 machines

According to Wizz Air boss Jozsef Varadi, the carrier will triple its fleet by 2030 and hire around 4.600 pilots. By the end of 2021 alone, the company plans to take on 300 additional pilots. The group has operational flights in Hungary, Abu Dhabi and the United Kingdom. Wizz Air did not say exactly where it plans to grow so strongly by 2030, as a change in strategy would be necessary within Europe, as there is hardly any more growth possible at many of the smaller airports that are used. This would mean that Wizz Air would have to turn even more to larger airports, but these are often associated with higher costs. According to reports, the carrier is considering reactivating its former subsidiary in Kiev-Zhuliany and using it to serve domestic destinations as well as destinations that require an AOC from Ukraine. Similar considerations are being made for other states in the area of ​​the former Soviet republics and in the Balkans. There is certainly a lot of potential here. Wizz Air is currently aiming to expand its fleet to 2030 aircraft by 500. At present, it has 140 aircraft, all of which are leased. Taking existing orders into account, the goal that the low-cost airline has set itself also means that a larger order from Airbus or another manufacturer - the latter is considered unlikely - will have to be placed in the near future. The low-cost airline's ambitious plan has not received only positive feedback everywhere. For example, the European pilots' union ECA has been criticising the working conditions for pilots for several years. Wizz Air also mentioned in

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Lufthansa: Compensaid is ignored by more than 99 percent

The "carbon dioxide indulgence trade" offered by Lufthansa under the Compensaid brand is apparently proving to be a complete failure, with more than 99 percent of passengers not using it. The Kranich Group entered the "carbon dioxide indulgence trade" business some time ago in order to be able to give passengers who want to donate to environmental projects or bio-kerosene during their flight an opportunity to compensate. In the German media, terms such as alleged flight shame and similar customer behavior that deviates from reality are repeatedly mentioned. A Lufthansa spokesman confirmed to "Welt am Sonntag" that less than one percent of customers donate to environmental projects via Compensaid. CEO Carsten Spohr said in 2019 that use was so low that he could greet all donors with a handshake. Apparently, interest has not changed significantly since then. Various platforms, including the Kranich subsidiary Compensaid, enable a kind of "indulgence trade". Passengers are offered the opportunity to offset the carbon dioxide emissions caused by their flight by making a donation to environmental projects. However, this option is rarely used and the "greenwashing" of a German ticket seller is unlikely to have strengthened confidence in serious projects. Lufthansa emphasizes, however, that there is increasing interest in compensation among corporate customers. This could also be related to the fact that more and more companies want to give themselves a green image. Private travelers seem to care little about the impact of their flights on the environment.

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Austria: costs for helicopter rescue increased significantly

Wiener Städtische Versicherung found that the number of leisure, sports and household accidents has increased significantly since the beginning of the Corona crisis. Most recently, around 780.000 accidents were recorded per year. At the same time, the costs of rescue by helicopter have increased. Mountain climbing and hiking are becoming increasingly popular, which has led to an increase in the number of accidents on the mountain and in the field, especially during the Corona pandemic: According to the Austrian Mountain Rescue Service, accidents caused by increased activities on the mountain and in the alpine region led to more than 2020 operations in 8.000 alone (an average of 22 per day) and even resulted in the deaths of 261 people. If an accident is very serious or occurs in inaccessible terrain, a helicopter rescue is often unavoidable. And the costs for this have increased in recent years: while the average cost per rescue at Wiener Städtische in 2018 was around 3.000 euros, last year it was already 3.290 euros, and this year an operation costs an average of around 3.900 euros. Depending on the duration of the operation, these costs can be significantly more than double. "Many hikers and bikers are not aware that without private accident insurance they have to pay for the costs of a helicopter rescue themselves. An accident therefore not only has health consequences, but is often also associated with major financial consequences," says Doris Wendler, CEO of Wiener Städtische Versicherung.

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July 2021: Airbus was able to deliver 47 aircraft

By the end of July 2021, the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus had delivered a total of 344 aircraft to 69 customers. In the recently completed month, 47 aircraft were delivered to 32 customers. At the same time, Airbus was able to land two new orders in July 2021. 22 A320neo, 17 A321neo, one A321ceo, four A220-300, two A350 and one A319ceo were delivered. The two new orders were placed by Volaris and concern the A320neo aircraft type. The four A220-300 were delivered to the US low-cost airline Jetblue. Further details are available for download in table form at this link.

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Austrian Airlines had to involuntarily “park” OE-LPA in Chicago

The Boeing 1997-777 with the registration OE-LPA, originally delivered to Lauda Air in September 200, had to wait at O'Hare Airport in Chicago from August 1 to 4, 2021. According to Austrian Airlines, there were problems with the on-board power supply. The approximately 24-year-old long-haul jet landed in the US metropolis on August 1, 2021 as OS65. Technical problems were already discovered during the flight. These had to be fixed before the return flight to Austria, but it was not that easy, the Swiss portal Aerotelegraph.com first reported. The technicians had to look for the proverbial needle in a haystack, because the cause of the error message had to be laboriously determined. Spare parts were also required, which had to be organized first. Ultimately, the technical staff was busy for around three days getting the OE-LPA back in shape. However, this was absolutely necessary because, according to the principle of "safety first", this Boeing 777-200 could not be allowed to take off again without first resolving the fault. There was never any danger for the passengers and crew who flew on OS1 from Vienna to Chicago on August 2021, 65. However, Austrian Airlines emphasizes that this fault had to be resolved before the next flight. With no passengers on board, the OE-LPA was then transferred to Vienna by ferry on August 4, 2021. The flight number OS1474 was used. The affected aircraft was temporarily converted into a so-called Preighter at the beginning of the Corona pandemic. Aviation Direct has provided a comparison photo at this link. However, this Boeing 777-200 is now flying again

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DHL is discontinuing drone projects without replacement

Have your online order delivered quickly by drone from DHL? That won't happen in the foreseeable future, at least, because the Deutsche Post subsidiary announced that development of the parcelcopter had been discontinued some time ago. A spokesperson confirmed a corresponding media report in Welt am Sonntag, which also stated that a cooperation for the delivery of medicines in Tanzania had also been discontinued. The collaboration with drone manufacturer Wingcopter has been terminated. Deutsche Post-DHL also stressed that it had repeatedly pointed out that the regular use of drones in Germany is not planned and that it would no longer undertake any new pilot projects. Apparently, the results of the first tests did not convince the management of the logistics group.

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For re-registration: Boeing flies 737-Max-7 to China

The Chinese Civil Aviation Authority has not yet granted re-certification for the Boeing 737 Max model. The manufacturer has now flown a Max-7201 to Shanghai with the N7S. This is intended to support the testing process. China is being cautious due to the two crashes and, unlike the FAA and EASA, has not yet given the green light. This is quite problematic for the aircraft manufacturer, as this country in particular is considered a particularly important sales market. Boeing is now providing the local aviation authority with a 737 Max-7 for testing purposes. This will enable official China to check the modifications to the aircraft and also carry out test flights. However, safety concerns are obviously not the only reason for the delays, as a trade conflict has been simmering between the United States and China for some time. It is therefore not surprising that the US model is not exactly being given priority. At most, China - like the EASA and Canada - is insisting on conducting its own test flights with its own pilots.

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