November 2, 2021

More articles from the category

November 2, 2021

Nuremberg Airport: First flight to Bologna started

Bella Italia also in the winter months: Since October 31, Ryanair has been flying to Bologna in Italy every Thursday and Sunday. "With the launch of the connection to Bologna, the flight schedule for people and companies in the Nuremberg metropolitan region is being filled with attractive destinations. In particular, the offer to Italy is becoming increasingly diverse. In the spring, further destinations will follow with Venice and Lamezia Terme," says airport managing director Michael Hupe. In addition to Bologna, Ryanair will also fly to Palermo in Sicily in Italy in winter 2021/22. Ryanair plans to fly from Nuremberg in the future with a new version of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 tailored to Ryanair. The more economical successor to the Boeing 737-800 has 197 seats, eight more seats than its predecessor. According to Ryanair, the new aircraft will reduce fuel consumption per seat by 16 percent and reduce noise emissions by 40 percent.

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Vueling's first flight lands at Leipzig / Halle Airport

The route network from Leipzig/Halle is growing: Just in time for the start of the winter flight schedule, the Spanish airline Vueling is starting its connection to the French capital Paris. From November 2021, Vueling will connect Leipzig/Halle Airport with the French capital Paris. The scheduled flights to Paris-Orly will be offered twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. "Vueling's first flight from Paris to Leipzig/Halle is an encouraging signal for the recovery in passenger traffic. What has been evident in tourism for some time now, we are now also counting on in scheduled services: a significant revival. The new connection between Paris and Leipzig/Halle shows that Vueling, like us, believes in the potential of the region. We are optimistic. Now it is important that companies and people take advantage of this attractive offer," says Götz Ahmelmann, CEO of Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG.

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The Armed Forces also use the Pilatus PC-6 for forest fires

Since yesterday, the Federal Army has also been using one of its fixed-wing aircraft to fight the forest fire: the Pilatus PC-6, equipped with a thermal imaging camera (airborne infrared sensor technology). It is intended to support the emergency services with aerial photographs. Aerial photographs of the fire area are taken in order to be able to pinpoint the embers. The PC-6 enables hours of observation from the air. Countless embers are currently still being tracked down and extinguished by the deployed forces. "The advantage of using the Pilatus PC-6 is that the images can be transmitted directly from the air to the operations center. This enables the emergency services to quickly identify the embers and extinguish them with precision," said Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner. The Federal Army has been in continuous operation for days against the forest fire in the Rax area: A total of two Black Hawks, two Augusta Bell 212s, an Alouette 3 and, as of today, the Army's Pilatus PC-6, together with helicopters from the Ministry of the Interior and a helicopter from Slovakia (a civilian Mi17 helicopter), two firefighting aircraft from Italy (Canadair), two helicopters from the German Bundeswehr (Sikorsky CH53) and a civilian helicopter (Knaus), are supporting the emergency services in the fight against the major fire.

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Fleet is almost halved: Thai Airways is changing

Without changes, the airline will not be able to return to profitability in the foreseeable future. Thai Airways is therefore facing a radical change. With cost-cutting measures, the company wants to be back in the black by 2023 at the latest. Among other things, the fleet will shrink from 100 to 58 aircraft - a total of 42 aircraft will be disposed of. Employees will also have to suffer. The workforce is to be reduced by a third. In total, the airline is making more than 400 adjustments to reduce costs. This year, Thai Airways has only generated sales of the equivalent of 290 million euros - half of which came from air freight. After the travel market reopens, the airline wants to make up some ground in the near future, especially with additional European flights, as the aviation portal Aero reports.

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Smartlynx Malta receives two more Airbus A321F

The Smartlynx Group will acquire two more Airbus A321Fs. These will be operated by the Maltese subsidiary. The fleet is expected to grow to eight active aircraft by the end of 2022. The two new additions have the registrations 9H-CGC and 9H-CGD and are owned by Lessors Cross Ocean Partners. The passenger-to-freighter conversion will be carried out by Precision Conversions in the USA and the aircraft are expected to enter service in the first quarter of 2022. The expansion is an integral part of SmartLynx's strategic expansion plans to become the largest operator of A321F freighters in the near future. The A321F freighter has the highest revenue payload and the most versatile, customer-friendly features in the freight market today. SmartLynx already operates its first A321F to support the European DHL network, with a second aircraft to start operations primarily for DHL. "The addition of two new A321Fs to the SmartLynx fleet is part of a comprehensive expansion strategy aimed at cementing the company's position at the forefront of cargo operators and supporting demand for increased air cargo capacity. The A321F is the most fuel-efficient narrow-body freighter on the market and we have consciously chosen to follow the market's demands for more sustainable air transport. This aircraft selection underlines SmartLynx's commitment to the future, focusing on cleaner, environmentally conscious and sustainable air cargo transport. We are already observing a dramatically increased market interest in this aircraft type," said Smartlynx CEO Zygimantas Surintas.

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BER boss Massenbach: “We need money quickly”

Things are currently not going well at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport. The new managing director Aletta von Massenbach explained in an interview with the Tagesspiegel that the airport's liquidity will only last until the end of March 2022. Among other things, the manager also said: "We need money quickly, we need cash." Von Massenbach estimated the financial requirement up to 2026 at around 2,4 billion euros. "We will not be able to handle the capital service ourselves for a long time," the airport boss told the Tagesspiegel. The German Federal Ministry of Transport is not very happy about the chaos for which BER has repeatedly made headlines in recent weeks. The ministry, led by Andreas Scheuer (CSU), asked the BER company to submit a written report. The federal government holds around a third of the shares.

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Elephant wedding: Aercap completes takeover of Gecas

The elephant wedding among the leasing companies is now taking shape, as Aercap announced the completion of the takeover of competitor Gecas. The group's portfolio now consists of around 2.000 aircraft and 300 helicopters. As a result of this transaction, the former Gecas owner General Electric now holds around 46 percent of Aercap. The joint company is the world's largest aircraft leasing company. The group's formal headquarters are in the Netherlands, although it has branches and special purpose companies worldwide.

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Russia: Azimuth superjet collides with deer on landing

On November 1, 2021, the Sukhoi SSJ-100-95 with the registration RA-89180, operated by Azimuth, collided with a deer at Pskov Airport, causing material damage to the aircraft. Flight A4 101 was en route from Krasnodar to Pskov. During landing, the superjet and a deer made an unwanted acquaintance. The aircraft was damaged and the animal probably did not survive the incident. According to Rosaviatsia, the RA-89180 suffered damage to the wing area on the right side. The engine is also said to have been affected. A video on YouTube uploaded by Aviation Herald also shows that these areas are heavily smeared with blood. There were six crew members and 96 passengers on board, all of whom were able to exit the superjet unharmed.

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Green Airlines: Only 60 Naturefund trees donated

The ticket seller Green Airlines operated the last charter flights between Paderborn and Westerland at the weekend - at least for the time being. Embraer Phenom 300 business jets from Pad Aviation were used as "environmentally friendly aircraft". Demand on this route was not particularly great, as the ticket agent was rarely able to persuade more than a single-digit number of travelers to buy tickets per flight. Recently, individual legs were no longer operated at all. The aircraft was positioned all over Europe, which was not exactly environmentally friendly. According to Naturefund, Green Airlines has only donated 60 trees so far. In mid-August 2021, according to a report by Airliners.de, there were 52 trees, so the funds provided to the environmental project are likely to be very limited. Misleadingly, the ticket agent does not link to its own donations to Naturefund on its homepage, but to the overall project. If you consider that the cost of tree donations is in the cent range and you multiply this by 60, the total is a small amount. In any case, the many positioning flights criss-crossing Europe are by no means "compensated". Naturefund provides information at this link on how many trees "Green Airlines" has actually donated. From February 2022, Green Airlines plans to offer charter flights from Weeze and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden. It remains to be seen whether this will actually be accepted. The carrier's last expansion step ended in a fiasco, with the airline strictly refusing to pay affected passengers compensation in accordance with the Air Passenger Rights Regulation.

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Hamburg: man died on Pegasus flight from Turkey

A 51-year-old man from Schleswig-Holstein died on a flight from Istanbul to Hamburg operated by Pegasus. According to the police, there is no evidence of third-party negligence, but a corona infection was found during the autopsy. According to the current information, corona is unlikely to be the cause of death. The executive explained, among other things, that the male passenger had various pre-existing medical conditions. During the flight, he is said to have sat by the window and worn a mask. The cabin crew is said to have only become aware of the situation when the man did not leave his seat when disembarking. He could not, because he was no longer alive at the time. Some tabloid media have even claimed that the man had already died in Turkey and that he had been put on the plane to make him Germany's problem. Forensic medicine contradicts this account, because the autopsy showed that the deceased passenger definitely boarded the Pegasus plane alive. However, no information was given on the exact cause of death - also for reasons of privacy protection. Due to the positive corona test, which was carried out posthumously, the death has repercussions for the passengers who were sitting around. They were blessed with a quarantine notice from the Hamburg Health Department. The death occurred on October 25, 2021, but was not made public by the police until Monday.

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