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March 2, 2022

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March 2, 2022

Germany deletes all high-risk areas

Jan Gruber March 2, 2022 12:03

Germany had issued travel warnings for large parts of the world due to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The Robert Koch Institute is now changing its approach and will only classify areas as high-risk areas if more dangerous variants are circulating. "Areas will only be classified as high-risk areas if there is a high incidence of variants with higher virulence, i.e. pathogenic properties, than the Omicron variant," says the RKI. The consequence of this is that so-called high-risk areas will no longer be designated due to the Omicron variant. This also means that all countries will be removed from the high-risk list with effect from March 3, 2022. Most recently, 63 countries were classified in this way. Until now, the RKI used the seven-day incidence as the main criterion for classifications. This also meant that countries that were better off than Germany ended up on the list. This caused international criticism. The current change is probably also due to Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD). Among other things, he explained that the seven-day incidence rate had lost all significance due to the Omicron variant. For travelers, the Robert Koch Institute's turnaround means that even unvaccinated people can enter the country more easily. The 3G rule applies. The so-called entry registration is no longer necessary in almost all cases, as it was previously linked to the classifications of high-risk area and virus variant area.

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From March 29, 2022: City Airport Train starts without a climate ticket

Jan Gruber March 2, 2022 11:03

In March 2020, the City Airport Train had to temporarily cease operations. Passenger numbers have plummeted to almost zero due to the fact that the first wave of corona almost brought flight operations to a standstill. The CAT train plans to make its comeback on March 29, 2022. In the meantime, the traction was leased to the Austrian Federal Railways. For example, the CAT sets were used as regional trains in Vorarlberg. However, only the carriage crew, not the staff, was leased to the ÖBB. Now the trains are returning to their main route between Vienna-Mitte (Landstraße) and Vienna-Schwechat Airport. The first train departs from Vienna Mitte at 05:37 a.m. The last train leaves the airport at 23:38 p.m. - from March 29, 2022. "Even if the number of passengers at Vienna Airport is still far from being comparable to that before the pandemic, there is again strong demand for a non-stop express connection directly to the city center. We therefore consider it important to offer all passengers from home and abroad a premium connection to the airport again," say CAT managing directors Michael Forstner and Christoph Korherr. The Austrian climate ticket will not be valid on the City Airport Train. A spokeswoman confirmed in an interview with Aviation.Direct that this is not recognized because it has not yet been possible to join it. The CAT would not meet the requirements for this, as one of the requirements of the Ministry of Transport is that you must at least belong to a transport association or have at least three so-called hubs on the route. In the case of the City Airport Train, it is

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Thilo Schmidt is the new managing director at Cologne/Bonn Airport

Jan Gruber March 2, 2022 10:03

Cologne/Bonn Airport has a new CEO in the form of Thilo Schmidt. The manager will now manage the fortunes of the German airport together with Torsten Schrank. "The war in Ukraine is causing us all great concern, and my start at Cologne Bonn Airport today is also influenced by current events. Despite everything, I am looking forward to this new, exciting task with confidence and joy. Cologne Bonn Airport is very well positioned with its two business areas of passenger traffic and freight and offers a lot of development potential," explains Thilo Schmid. "Together with my fellow managing director Torsten Schrank and all employees, I want to set the course for a successful and sustainable future. In addition to the core business of flying, we will also be particularly concerned with the issues of sustainability, climate neutrality, noise protection and tomorrow's mobility, which we intend to continue to drive forward intensively. Thilo Schmid held a management position at Düsseldorf Airport until the end of February. As Senior Vice President Aviation & Accountable Manager, he was responsible for all operational and commercial business areas at the airport with a total of around 900 employees.

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Braunschweig: “Der Schmidt” charters Boeing 737 Max for flights to Ras al Khaimah

Amely Mizzi March 2, 2022 09:36

The German tour operator "Der Schmidt" is further expanding its charter offer at Braunschweig Airport. From autumn 2022, flights to Ras al Khaimah will be offered with Boeing 737-Max. In the current summer period, the tour operator is focusing on tried and tested destinations such as Rome, Sicily, Sardinia and Dubrovnik. Managing Director Philipp Cantauw explains: "The demand for these trips is already huge again. Our customers appreciate the short distances and manageable size of the regional airports." Due to the great popularity, new destinations will be added in autumn. In addition to the Greek Peloponnese, Crete and Paphos in Cyprus, there will be non-stop flights to Dubai for the first time. "A new generation of aircraft based on the Boeing 737M allows us to fly to more distant destinations from airports that do not normally have a long-haul runway. This means we can also serve these destinations, which are almost 7 hours away, non-stop," says Cantauw. Ras al Khaimah will be the destination airport in the Emirates due to the short distances. In 2022, a total of 8300 seats to ten destinations are on sale. According to the company, it has never had such an extensive charter program from Braunschweig before. Boeing 737 aircraft with 189 seats are used. The airlines Tuifly and Smartwings are the flight partners this year.

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Qatar Airways: Airbus is suing for $220 million

Amely Mizzi March 2, 2022 09:03

Gulf carrier Qatar Airways and Airbus have been at loggerheads for some time and various lawsuits are now pending. The manufacturer is now taking the matter to court in the United States of America and wants to demand 220 million US dollars from the airline as well as the repayment of loans. The core of the dispute is quality defects that Qatar Airways has identified in the A350 aircraft. The Qatar Civil Aviation Authority has subsequently issued a flight ban. However, the manufacturer sees the matter completely differently and, in particular, far less dramatically than the customer. At first, Qatar Airways refused to accept any more aircraft of this type. The dispute then reached its preliminary climax in Airbus' cancellation of a large A321neo order. The Gulf carrier took the matter to court and, after an initial hearing, was able to achieve its first success, as the court has provisionally prohibited the reassignment of the delivery slots. This order is initially valid until the next hearing, which is scheduled for April 4, 2022. Qatar then wants to apply for an interim injunction to provide temporary legal protection for the entire duration of the proceedings. Whether or not this is granted is at the discretion of the court. Airbus has now filed a lawsuit against Qatar Airways in the United States and is demanding, among other things, 220 million US dollars in damages for A350s that were not accepted and the repayment of loans granted. When asked, the airline concerned said that it had not yet heard of this legal step. It had not yet received a lawsuit. This should probably only be a matter of a few days.

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Vienna: Terminal 2 and City Airport Train will start on March 29, 2022

Jan Gruber March 2, 2022 08:22

Vienna-Schwechat Airport counted around 10,4 million passengers last year, significantly fewer than before the corona pandemic. Financially, however, the company got through it with the proverbial "black eye". Vienna Airport, including its foreign subsidiaries Malta Airport and Kosice Airport, recorded a total of 13,1 million passengers in 2021, a passenger drop of 66,8 percent compared to the pre-crisis year of 2019. Vienna Airport also recorded a massive drop in passengers in 2021 and, with 10.405.523 passengers in 2021, still counted 67,1 percent fewer travelers compared to the pre-crisis level (2019). For the current year 2022, the Management Board expects around 21 million passengers across the group. Of these, around 17 million travelers are expected to travel to the Vienna-Schwechat location. While the first three to six months will be weak from today's perspective, a significant increase in passengers is expected from summer and in the second half of the year. "Despite the corona crisis, Flughafen Wien AG was able to close 2021 positively and, in contrast to most other airports, achieved a clear black zero, thanks to a tough austerity program, short-time work and recently increasing passenger numbers. 2022 is expected to bring a strong upturn and more passengers. I would like to thank all employees for their great commitment during this difficult time of crisis, despite the salary reduction. It is now important to further reduce travel restrictions and to end the all-inclusive entry controls at the airport; instead, in future, checks should only be carried out before departure. The current events in Ukraine have deeply affected us and I welcome the West's determined response and the measures taken.

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Lufthansa wants to outsource short and medium-haul routes to a new subsidiary

Amely Mizzi March 2, 2022 08:02

The most recent negotiations between Lufthansa and the Cockpit Association have not led to a compromise. Now the crane group wants to set up a new subsidiary to take over short- and medium-haul flights from Frankfurt and Munich. Naturally, the plan, which the employers' side officially announced in an internal circular, has met with little enthusiasm from the unions. For example, UFO, which is responsible for flight attendants, said: "We are very concerned about the jobs of our cabin colleagues at Lufthansa CityLine. Such a new platform poses a massive threat to them, as it has already been announced that production here will be at much lower costs. A split of Lufthansa Passage into long- and short-haul will also lead to overstaffing there and ultimately to the destruction of collectively agreed jobs," said Chairman Daniel Kassa Mbuambi. Lufthansa's approach is described as a "blackmail strategy". VC President Stefan Herth said, among other things: "The strategy of constantly setting up new platforms and then closing them down again has not brought the desired success for Lufthansa in the past and is short-sighted and uncreative. Instead, Lufthansa should definitely concentrate on improving its product quality and on more efficient structures, rather than seeking salvation in ever new platforms. In its 2020 annual report, the goal of a desired consolidation is already to reduce the number of flight operations and thus the complexity.” Lufthansa sees this completely differently in this circular, because the pilots of Germanwings, which was shut down in the wake of the Corona pandemic, should be given the opportunity to work for the new company. The Kranich Group wants to

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Vienna: Wizz Air stops Milan-Malpensa

Jan Gruber March 2, 2022 07:32

The Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air is discontinuing another route from Vienna-Schwechat. The destination Milan-Malpensa will no longer be served from the beginning of the 2022 summer flight schedule period. On this route, the company is currently competing with Ryanair and Austrian Airlines. Before the corona pandemic, Wizz Air flew up to twice a day between Vienna and Milan. For a short time, there were particularly many providers, as Austrian Airlines, Easyjet and Level Europe had this airport in their program. Alitalia also offered the destination Linate and Laudamotion used Bergamo Airport. According to current information, only Austrian Airlines and Ryanair will be operating between Vienna and Milan in the 2022 summer flight schedule. The Irish low-cost airline offers both Bergamo and Malpensa. Last year, AUA briefly had the inner-city airport Linate in its portfolio.

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Norwegian: Comeback of the Boeing 737 Max 8

Amely Mizzi March 2, 2022 07:02

The low-cost airline Norwegian Air Shuttle will initially add ten Boeing 737 Max 8s to its fleet. These will be purchased through the leasing company AerCap and are to be taken over in the course of 2023. The carrier had 18 units in operation before the worldwide grounding of this aircraft type. These were then phased out as part of the insolvency proceedings. The restart took place with a pure Boeing 737-800 fleet. The company is currently also in talks with Airbus about a possible large order. "The addition of these aircraft will help us achieve our goal of building a larger, modern and more fuel-efficient fleet. This in turn will enable us to deliver our products and services on a wide route network in the Nordic countries and to European destinations," said company boss Geir Karlsen.

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FFP2 mask (Photo: Pixabay / NightRainer).

Jet2 drops the masks

Amely Mizzi March 2, 2022 06:32

The British holiday airline Jet2 is exempting its passengers from the previous mask requirement. The carrier only wants to recommend wearing mouth and nose protection, but no longer makes it compulsory. It is the first carrier in the United Kingdom to decide to take this step. However, it is not a European pioneer, because within the Scandinavian region, the obligation to wear a mask on board commercial aircraft has long been abolished. British law no longer requires mouth and nose protection, which is why Jet2 has decided to abolish it. However, competitors such as British Airways, Ryanair and Easyjet want to continue to require it on the basis of their house rules. However, it will only be possible to fly without masks at Jet2 if the government of the destination country does not order them to be worn by means of a NOTAM. For example, Austria requires all airlines flying to/from Austria to wear FFP2 masks on board. This means that confusion is inevitable at Jet2.

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