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February 8, 2022

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February 8, 2022

Tui wants to repay the first state aid

Granite Pireci February 8, 2022 19:57

The travel group Tui is expecting strong summer business despite the Omicron virus variant and wants to repay the first part of the state aid. The return of aid funds from the Corona crisis amounting to around 700 million euros is planned on April 1, the company announced when presenting the figures for the first winter quarter on Tuesday in Hanover. After the existential setback in the early days of the Corona crisis, the group sees a clear stabilization. "Demand for travel is high across all markets. The way out of the pandemic is becoming increasingly clear," said CEO Fritz Joussen. In the first financial quarter to the end of December, Tui generated sales of 2,4 billion euros, around five times as much as in the first Corona winter a year earlier. The bottom line is that the group was able to roughly halve its seasonal loss from 780 million to 384 million euros.

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Union Vida demands consequences for “anti-worker” low-cost airlines

Granite Pireci February 8, 2022 19:08

"A major investor is showing politicians where the journey to a more social Europe must go in aviation," commented Daniel Liebhart, head of the aviation department of the Vida union, on a report by the German aviation portal www.aero.de, according to which a Danish pension fund is pulling out of Wizz Air as an investor because the budget airline does not believe in staff representatives and unions. It is also time for politicians to rethink, as low-cost carriers such as Wizz Air and the Ryanair Group have been trampling on workers' rights in Vienna for years, Liebhart continued. "The Ryanair Group has also been taking legal action against a legally elected works council for years and has repeatedly unlawfully dismissed the works council chairwoman." Politicians must put a stop to such corporate practices with legal initiatives. "The European Commission should also promote better working conditions and co-determination rights: The capital market urgently needs more transparency not only in ecologically sustainable investments, but also in socially sustainable investments, which requires appropriate regulations. Because, unlike the nuclear energy industry, a 'social catastrophe' has already become a reality in the aviation industry in many low-cost airlines." The management of the Hungarian Wizz Air will not change its position either. The low-cost airline has now confirmed this clearly to critical investors. "The behavior of the (Wizz Air) management is not compatible with human and employee rights, as set out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, among other things," said the head of the "AkademikerPension", Jens Munch Holst. In addition to the pension fund, 13 other major investors had called on Wizz Air to recognize staff representatives - according to media reports, the airline found this request quite annoying. "Pension fund

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FRA: With Schauinsland-Reisen directly to Porto Santo

Granite Pireci February 8, 2022 18:02

The Portuguese island of Porto Santo is becoming increasingly popular with holidaymakers. The travel company Schauinsland-Reisen is therefore offering direct flights from Frankfurt to Porto Santo for the first time this summer. From May 26, the tour operator will be offering direct flights from Frankfurt to Porto Santo two days a week, on Thursdays and Sundays. "Porto Santo is the perfect beach destination for anyone who wants to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life," says Schauinsland-reisen's tourism director Andreas Rüttgers. There are a total of nine kilometers of golden sandy beach on the island. The climate is also mild. "The island is therefore perfect for simply letting your mind wander," says Rüttgers.

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Kuwait Airways is again operating Vienna flights

Jan Gruber February 8, 2022 17:03

Gulf carrier Kuwait Airways plans to return to Vienna-Schwechat Airport in mid-June 2022. The comeback flight is currently scheduled to take place on June 12, 2022. The Kuwait City route will initially be served seasonally. For the time being, the airline plans to fly between the two capitals twice a week. The plan is to use the Airbus A320 aircraft. The flights will be offered on Thursdays and Sundays. Kuwait Airways has been offering a seasonal flight connection from Vienna to Kuwait City for several years. The airline is one of the smaller Gulf carriers and carries around 4,5 million passengers a year. Its home base is Kuwait City Airport. The Gulf carrier's fleet currently consists of seven Airbus A320s, six A320neos, five A330-200s, two A330-800neos and ten Boeing 777-300ERs, as well as some business jets. These are an ACJ319-100, an ACJ320, two ACJ340-500s, a Boeing 737-900BBJ and a 747-8BBJ.

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Lufthansa Technik takes over CFM56 maintenance for West Jet

Granite Pireci February 8, 2022 16:02

West Jet has awarded its CFM56-7B engine maintenance program to Lufthansa Technik. This agreement gives the former AUA managing director's new employer access to a wide range of services, including overhaul capacity and on-site maintenance support. Under a separate agreement, Lufthansa Technik has worked with FTAI Aviation to provide access to CFM56 modules and materials to support this maintenance program. An important principle of this maintenance concept is the exchange of modules so that the service life of the engines is optimized and resources are used in the best possible way, the company said in a press release. "Lufthansa Technik is pleased to be working with West Jet on one of its largest maintenance programs and to continue our strong relationship. Even when subcontracting to a provider such as FTAI, we are confident that we can deliver a high-quality and reliable product at competitive costs. An important pillar of our cooperation is that we are able to further optimize the service life of an engine if necessary. This results in high engine reliability and stable operations for West Jet,” said Georgios Ouzounidis, VP Corporate Sales North America at Lufthansa Technik.    

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Salzburg with many holiday destinations in the 2022 summer flight schedule

Amely Mizzi February 8, 2022 15:03

Salzburg Airport will once again be able to offer a wide range of holiday destinations in the upcoming 2022 summer flight schedule period. Classics such as Greece are once again in focus, but there are also a few small new features. The destination of Heraklion is offered by the airlines Corendon Europe and Eurowings, so that passengers will again have two carriers to choose from this year. The Lufthansa subsidiary also serves the destination of Rhodes. On behalf of tour operators such as Tui, flights are also made to Karpathos, Kos, Corfu and Zakynthos. The Corsica specialist Rhomberg Reisen has added another Greek destination to Calvi once a week - Lefkas (Preveza). Palma de Mallorca will be served daily in the 2022 summer flight schedule until mid-October 2022. There are also two flights a week to the second largest island in the Mediterranean, Sardinia (Olbia), and once a week to Calabria (Lamezia Terme). Larnaka (Cyprus) will be offered once a week this year. Corendon Airlines is launching two weekly rotations to Antalya in Turkey this year. Eurowings, in cooperation with the tour operators ETI, Tui and FTI, will fly to Hurghada in Egypt twice a week. The destinations Tenerife and Gran Canaria will be extended this year until mid-May 2022. In the past, these ended around Easter at the latest. Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines plans to offer up to two daily Istanbul rotations in the summer period of 2022. The destination Ordu will be offered once a week from Salzburg this year. Emirates sister company Flydubai is planning up to six weekly rotations to Dubai, where transfers to Emirates are possible. Eurowings flies to Germany to Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Cologne. The Lübeck Air route to Lübeck, which was added last year, will also be offered again this year.

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Smartlynx will soon be fleeting the first Boeing 737 Max 8

Jan Gruber February 8, 2022 14:02

The Latvian SmartLynx Group has signed a contract with the lessor SMBC Aviation Capital for two Boeing 737 Max 8s. These are to join the fleet of the group, which specializes in ACMI, charter and cargo services, in April. In the past, SmartLynx primarily relied on aircraft from the manufacturer Airbus. The decision has now been made to add Boeing 737 Max 8s to its fleet. The first two aircraft will be purchased through the aforementioned lessor. It was already announced in December 2021 that the US model will play a major role in the future. "As SmartLynx Airlines continues to modernize its fleet, there is no doubt that the Boeing 737 Max 8 is the right aircraft for us and we were delighted to work with SMBC to make this happen. Only these aircraft will enable us to expand our services and the markets we can cover, it will also enable us to provide even better service and unmatched technical reliability," says company boss Zygimantas Surintas. A recruitment campaign has already been launched to find suitably qualified crews for the newly leased aircraft.

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Air Baltic: 2021 travelers booked via mobile devices in 320.000

Granite Pireci February 8, 2022 13:03

The Latvian airline recorded a total of 320.000 bookings via mobile devices last year. This means that the share of mobile bookings has increased from 23 percent before the pandemic to 28 percent today, and at times even reached 35 percent. "A growing share of customers using their mobile devices to search for and book flight tickets has been an ongoing trend for several years. To maintain our high level of service, we continue to improve the mobile-friendly services we offer and last year we also introduced a brand new option to order items on board from a mobile device," said Eva Plakane, SVP Revenue Management at Air Baltic.

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Ryanair is temporarily no longer flying to Kherson and Kharkiv

Jan Gruber February 8, 2022 12:35

The Ryanair Group is suspending all flights to Kherson and Kharkiv for an indefinite period. Ticket sales have been generally suspended, so that no tickets to the two airports in Ukraine are currently available. A spokesperson for the low-cost airline confirmed to Aviation.Direct that due to the current political instability, the two destinations will no longer be served and that ticket sales have been suspended for an indefinite period. Ryanair is monitoring the current situation closely and will decide on resuming flights in due course. The other destinations offered by the low-cost airline in Ukraine are not affected by this measure. These are Kiev-Borispil, Odessa and Lviv. These are still on sale and, as things stand, will continue to be served as before. In Austria, Ryanair's decision means that the planned Kherson connection from Vienna will not be resumed for the time being. According to a spokesperson, flights to Borispil will continue as before.

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Bundeskartellamt: Lufthansa impedes Condor long-haul routes

Amely Mizzi February 8, 2022 11:13

The German Federal Cartel Office has officially warned Lufthansa about feeder flights. According to preliminary results of the investigation, the authority is of the opinion that Condor "has a claim under antitrust law against Lufthansa for access to feeder flights for its long-haul passengers." "According to our preliminary results, the Lufthansa Group is dominant in the feeder market, which mainly connects German airports with Condor's long-haul network. No other airline can offer transport to the major German hubs Frankfurt, Munich and Düsseldorf beyond individual flights. Lufthansa is therefore subject to antitrust abuse control and is subject to special obligations. We have concerns about the admissibility of terminating the Condor cooperation if Lufthansa thereby unfairly hinders its competitor in the downstream markets for long-haul flights," said Andreas Mundt, President of the Federal Cartel Office. Condor and Lufthansa have been working together in the area of ​​feeder flights for many years. Following intervention by the Federal Cartel Office, Lufthansa has suspended the original termination of this business relationship on June 1, 2021 for a limited period until May 10, 2022. Based on the investigations to date, the Federal Cartel Office has come to the preliminary conclusion that Condor is entitled to an antitrust claim against Lufthansa for access to the feeder flights beyond this point in time. Furthermore, the Federal Cartel Office has identified various other restrictions on competition in the previous agreements between Lufthansa and Condor, the admissibility of which it is currently also critical of. Condor itself does not maintain a feeder network; according to the investigations to date, there are also no suitable slots available at the central hubs such as Frankfurt to set up a corresponding network. The passengers who book a feeder flight live on average at least 300 km from the departure airport for the long-haul route. For them, according to the

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