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October 14th

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October 14th

SmartLynx boss: “Despite the crisis, we have grown”

Amely Mizzi 14 October 2021 09:03

The Latvian SmartLynx Group sees itself on track regardless of the corona pandemic. In a press release, the company explains that it has grown even during the crisis. The expansion took place particularly at the Maltese branch in the cargo sector. The fleet was expanded to 35 aircraft. Among other things, five widebodies of the Airbus A330 type were added to the fleet. These are used as freighters and join the A321F. "We recently had the opportunity to prove how great the new aircraft are and transported a shipment around the world in just 7 days," says Zygimantas Surintas, CEO of SmartLynx Airlines. "One of our most recent customers had us fly from France to Chicago, with loading in Vietnam. The entire route took us around the globe: France-Cambodia-Vietnam-South Korea-Alaska (USA)-Chicago (USA). The necessary stops were made for refueling and for the crew to rest.” Since the beginning of 2021, SmartLynx Malta has been operating for Deutsche Post-DHL with currently two Airbus A321Fs. The aircraft are mainly used from the DHL hub in Leipzig/Halle. In the passenger sector, bases in Saarbrücken and Basel were set up in the third quarter of 2021. The company flies on behalf of the tour operator Tui. Although the company is still recovering from the effects of Covid-19, it operated over 5500 flights from July to September. This was partly due to the growing airline clientele. “We were delighted to work with such well-known companies as DHL, Volotea and Royal Air Maroc and offer them exceptional ACMI services for passengers and cargo. The fact that such reputable companies have chosen to work with

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Salzburg is to become a mobility hub

Amely Mizzi 14 October 2021 08:36

In Salzburg, the individual modes of transport are still barely interlinked. This is set to change, and the airport is set to play a central role as the region's mobility hub. Under the project name "Airport 4.0", the airport, business and state politics are working intensively on linking a wide variety of mobility options. Traffic to the actual destinations is to be bundled. Both locals and tourists are set to benefit from this. "The timing couldn't be better; we are currently planning the new terminal landscape at the airport and we need every input for future-oriented infrastructural changes. A functioning and easily accessible airport is essential for the establishment and continued existence of international companies. The mobility project is intended to show the airport the possibilities of how further development into an attractive mobility hub in the regional transport system could look. In addition to direct flight passengers, existing large and small companies are also set to benefit significantly from this," says airport managing director Bettina Ganghofer, underlining the importance of the ambitious project. The “Airport 4.0” is to be embedded in the everyday, multimodal transport system - attractive footpaths and cycle paths, demand-oriented new offers in public transport, and alternative mobility options for tourists as well as commuters and residents (also usable outside of air traffic) are to be created. “We want to use methods from geoinformatics and data science to show how the intermodal route chain of travelers can be bundled and further developed into the Salzburg regions. In the form of accessibility and planning scenarios, demand-oriented optimizations in the environmental network as well as other future-oriented mobility offers at Salzburg Airport can be simulated and their effects estimated. This supports the implementation of new offers and everyday, multimodal

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Tui Austria expects a strong winter

Jan Gruber 14 October 2021 08:02

The tour operator Tui Austria believes that there will be strong demand for warm water holidays this winter. However, bookings will continue to be made at short notice. "We are pleased that we can once again offer our guests a comprehensive range of options in the most popular winter destinations this winter," says Gottfried Math, Managing Director of Tui Austria. "Bookings are increasing continuously and, in addition to the classic Tui winter travel destinations of the Canary Islands and Egypt, demand for long-distance travel is also continuing to rise." Holidays in the Canary Islands are particularly popular, closely followed by the Maldives and Egypt. Mexico and the Dominican Republic are in fourth and fifth place. This year, Tui is offering Cancun as a non-stop destination from Vienna-Schwechat in cooperation with Austrian Airlines. "Higher vaccination rates also lead to an increased sense of security among customers and we feel that this has a positive effect on bookings," says Math. It has also been noticed that bookings increase immediately after government travel restrictions are lifted.

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Varadi is maddening the Wizz Air compensation program

Amely Mizzi 14 October 2021 07:33

The Wizz Air Group entered the “compensation trade” some time ago and offers passengers the opportunity to offset the carbon dioxide emissions caused by their flight. CEO Jozsef Varadi, of all people, made downright disparaging comments about such programs at a conference. During the World Routes Milan, the manager described compensation offers as “a bit of a joke”. It was just greenwashing and would achieve absolutely nothing. Apparently Varadi was not even aware during his speech that the company he heads was offering optional compensation in a downright pushy manner. The fun continued accordingly: A journalist confronted the Wizz Air boss with this fact during the usual Q&A. Downright confused, Varadi stared at his employees present and asked the question: “Are we really doing this?” After the Wizz Air boss had to admit that they were offering something that he didn’t think much of and obviously didn’t know anything about, he defended his position. “But that doesn’t change the world. Imagine: you're flying on an old, crappy plane, and you're polluting the world like hell. Do you really think that if you plant two trees, everything will be solved?" It's also worth noting that Wizz Air calls itself the "greenest airline in Europe." Its competitor Ryanair does the same, although neither company has publicly disclosed the reasons behind their respective self-proclamations. However, both low-cost airlines regularly rant against competitors such as Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa or Air France, accusing them of using old, particularly climate-damaging planes.

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After the Openskies Agreement: Wizz Air expands in Ukraine

Jan Gruber 14 October 2021 07:03

The low-cost airline Wizz Air is back on course for expansion in Ukraine. Five more aircraft will be stationed at Kyiv-Zhulyany Airport and two in Lviv. A total of 26 additional routes will be launched from this country. The carrier justifies the expansion step, among other things, with the Open Skies Agreement signed on Tuesday between the European Union and Ukraine. This makes it comparatively easy to obtain route rights. But this also applies to Ukrainian carriers. Skyup and Bees Airlines, for example, are already planning additional EU destinations. Wizz Air will launch a total of 26 new routes from Kyiv-Zhulyany, Lviv, Odessa and Kharkov. Frequencies will be increased on some existing routes, including Vienna-Kiev. According to a media statement from the carrier, five additional Airbus A2022s will be stationed at the start of the 321 summer flight schedule period. The airline will launch routes to Paris Beauvais, Brussels-Charleroi, Eindhoven, Nice, Barcelona, ​​Madrid, Alicante, Malaga, Porto, Palma d Mallorca, Chania (Crete) and Basel Mulhouse Freiburg. At the same time, a new base with two A321s will be built in Lviv. Non-stop flights will launch to Paris Beauvais, Madrid, Eindhoven, Barcelona, ​​Brussels-Charleroi, Nice, Treviso, Athens and Thessaloniki. In addition, the airline will also invest to create more travel options for passengers from Odessa and Kharkov, as the airline will launch new routes from Odessa to London Luton, Pardubice and Athens, and from Kharkov to Thessaloniki and Pardubice. In addition, Wizz Air will increase the frequency of 25 routes already served from Ukraine, including the Kyiv – Vienna route, which will be increased from four to seven flights. Wizz Air had

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