October 19th

More articles from the category

October 19th

Vida and AUA reach an agreement: more wages for flying employees

Austrian Airlines recorded two significant events on Wednesday: On the one hand, the first commercial flight with the Airbus A320neo aircraft was carried out with the OE-LZN, and on the other hand, an agreement was reached with the Vida union on wage increases for flying personnel. Most recently, there was a fierce dispute over the austerity package that was concluded at the beginning of the pandemic. In the meantime, the cost of living in Austria has risen enormously, but AUA continued to stick to the wage cuts. It did not look at all like things would go well without a strike or similar protest measures. Only last week, employee representatives threatened a strike decision by the Austrian Trade Union Confederation. At the same time, however, they emphasized that this would only be the last resort, because they were still relying on dialogue, i.e. the negotiating table. Austrian Airlines originally wanted to pay a maximum of 6,99 percent more wages. Before that, however, the "flyers" had to accept losses of 10,08 percent after short-time work ended. Next year, the figure would have been 12,73 percent again. The exact extent of the savings package varies depending on the job and income. But now things are different: As of January 1, 2023, wages will increase by eight percent and from June 1, 2023, by another 12,73 percent. Taking the previous cuts into account, this means an average increase of 10,4 percent, according to the Vida union. The negotiations, which are formally conducted by the social partners, are said to have been complicated. Austrian Airlines is under pressure due to the corona pandemic, the state loans that have not yet been fully repaid, and the sharp rise in costs. The latter

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AK consumer protection on travel complaints 2022: No flights, hotels of horror

Of the more than 1.300 inquiries to the AK consumer protection agency on the topic of travel, roughly one third each concerned flight bookings, package tours, online travel platforms, rental cars and train journeys. The compensation payments amount to up to 400 euros per person. There were around 530 inquiries about flight bookings alone from May to mid-September. In July in particular, massive delays caused by overloaded airports caused trouble. Many flights were also cancelled: "But usually just in time so that no compensation was due," says Bettina Schrittwieser, head of the AK consumer protection agency. After intervention, the travellers got their flight price back. However, anyone who had booked a hotel separately was left with any cancellation fees. It was also noticeable this year how many suitcases did not arrive. "Either it took three to five weeks or the suitcases went missing," says Schrittwieser. In the event of a no-show, travellers receive a maximum of 1.500 euros in reimbursement. In general, it can be said that the budget airlines stand out among all the problems. Avoid online travel platforms Flight bookings via platforms also stood out among the complaints. Often the agents offered flights that were not bookable with the airline. "Our advice is to book directly with the airline," says the expert. Overbooked accommodations For package holidays, there were mainly negative experiences with hotels. "This year, for the first time, we often had to deal with overbooked hotels. The travelers were then often assigned a much worse hotel. A better hotel would only have been possible for an additional payment," explains Schrittwieser. In these cases, the additional charge was refunded and compensation was demanded for the loss of vacation enjoyment. Hotels to run away from (massive) defects in hotels were also again

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United Airlines posts higher revenue than before the pandemic

Thanks to continued good business, the US airline United Airlines is expecting a higher operating margin than in 2019 for the first time since the outbreak of the corona pandemic. Sales increased by more than 2019 percent to 13 billion dollars in the third quarter compared to the pre-crisis period in 12,9, as the German aviation portal Aero reports. Passenger numbers were 10 percent below the level three years ago. As spending on kerosene increased, the bottom line profit fell by 8 percent to 942 million dollars. United says it is confident of being more profitable by the end of the year than before the pandemic: the operating margin should be around 10 percent in the fourth quarter, higher than in 2019. Higher revenue per flight kilometer offered and cost savings should help with this.

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Greek tourism expects record income

Revenues in the Greek tourism industry have reached record levels this year. Despite the difficulties resulting from the war in Ukraine this year, Greece has managed to achieve record levels compared to 2019 figures, according to ORF. In August, hotel revenues rose by 23,4 percent and restaurant revenues by 13,6 percent compared to the same month in 2019. Tourism Association President Sete Yannis Retsos said tourism revenues this year are expected to reach and probably exceed 2019's total revenues. Greece had doubled its efforts this year to make up for the decline in profits during the past two pandemic years. With a record number of 33 million holidaymakers, 2019 is a reference year for Greek tourism. It contributed greatly to the recovery after the debt crisis of 2009-2018. Tourism accounts for almost a quarter of gross domestic product.

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2023: Swiss hands over A320 aircraft to Edelweiss

Edelweiss is taking over an Airbus A320 from its sister company Swiss. The aircraft will be used from spring 2023. Edelweiss is expanding its fleet with another Airbus A320 aircraft. The aircraft will be taken over by the Swiss sister company and will be used for short and medium-haul flights from Zurich from April 2023. The airline announced this in a press release. With the additional Airbus A320, the Swiss carrier will operate a fleet of 18 aircraft from Zurich next year (13 Airbus A320s and 5 Airbus A340s). As things currently stand, the holiday airline Edelweiss will serve 2023 destinations in 21 countries in the 15 summer flight schedule.

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Alltours hotels are almost fully booked in October 2022

The German tour operator Alltours recorded high demand in October 2022. The group's own hotels are said to be almost fully booked. Nevertheless, the trend of vacation trips being booked at very short notice has not changed. The tour operator was able to identify differences in a direct comparison with summer 2022. During the main holidays, higher-quality offers with many extras are said to have been booked, but for the autumn holidays, package travelers tended to opt for cheaper offers. Alltours also found that Egypt and Turkey, which are currently considered destinations for cheap vacations, are in increasing demand. "The volume of travel in October is significantly higher than expected. Our Allsun hotels in Mallorca, the Canary Islands and Crete are almost 100 percent booked. More and more of our customers have decided to take a vacation in the autumn at short notice. The need to travel remains unbroken," explains Alltours owner Willi Verhuven. The company is optimistic about the upcoming 2022/23 winter season. Advance booking figures are expected to be significantly higher than last year. Alltours believes that early booking discounts and the option to cancel or rebook up to 14 days before departure are the main reasons for this trend. Verhuven said: "This is a unique offer in the tourism industry. It allows you to plan your vacation trip in the long term and without financial risk, while also benefiting from our attractive early booking discounts."

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BlaBlaCar Bus: The French Flix challenger in the test

For some time now, the French long-distance bus operator BlaBlaCar Bus has been challenging the German market leader Flixbus. Both providers want to get their passengers from A to B at low prices. How does the challenger fare given the extremely small product differences? Aviation.Direct took a closer look at BlaBlaCar Bus on a domestic German trip. BlaBlaCar Bus has been active on the market under many names. It originally launched in July 2012 as IdBus. At that time, it was a wholly owned subsidiary of the French national railway company SNCF. It later came up with the brand name Oibus before the provider was sold to Comuto, the operator of the BlaBlaCar ride-sharing service, in 100. In connection with this transaction, SNCF became a minority shareholder in Comuto SA. The long-distance bus routes were initially continued as BlaBlaBus. Due to the corona pandemic, operations in the main markets of France and Germany were repeatedly stopped and restarted. In March 2018, the brand name was changed again: Now the company is active as BlaBlaCar Bus. According to the company, the core markets are France, Germany and Belgium. Due to the fact that the current bus company emerged from an SNCF subsidiary, the company offers the most routes within and to/from France. In the Federal Republic of Germany, in addition to France, the company is active not only with international routes, but also with purely domestic routes. The company wants to challenge market leader Flixbus. The route network offered in Germany is considerably smaller than that of its competitor Flixbus. However, the company has the edge in France, because it offers more routes here. However, it is complicated to determine

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Bosnia: Banja Luka aims for Greece flights

At the Bosnian airport Banja Luka, non-stop flights to Greece are expected to begin in 2023. The capital airport of the Republika Srpska region is currently mainly served by Ryanair, Wizz Air and Air Serbia. The small airport was able to report comparatively high passenger numbers this year. This is also due to the fact that the regional government distributes generous subsidies for the establishment and operation of flight connections. Banja Luka is primarily used in the visiting friends and relatives segment. For example, there are numerous connections to Germany and also to Vienna. Managing Director Milan Račić assumes that there will be a non-stop connection to Athens next year. He also hopes for flights to one or more Greek islands. However, he has not yet named a carrier. The aim for 2023 is to have around half a million passengers. Currently, the number of travelers is around 300.000. The two top dogs in Banja Luka are Ryanair and Wizz Air, which together offer 12 destinations. Air Serbia connects the capital of Republika Srpska to its hub in Belgrade. Air Montenegro and Air Cairo operate seasonally. In the summer months, Freebird Airlines offers charter flights to Antalya in Turkey.

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September 2022: Zurich with around 2,3 million passengers

In September 2022, exactly 2.322.882 passengers flew through Zurich Airport. This corresponds to an increase of 68 percent compared to the same period last year. Compared to September 2019, passenger numbers in the reporting month were 80 percent. The number of local passengers in September 2022 was 1.639.601. The proportion of transfer passengers was 29 percent, which would correspond to 677.906 passengers, the airport said in a press release. The number of flight movements increased by 29 percent compared to the same month last year, to 20.724 takeoffs or landings. The monthly comparison shows that flight movements are 85 percent of the 2019 level. The average number of passengers per flight was 134 passengers, 15 percent higher than the previous year. Seat occupancy also increased by 11 percentage points to 82 percent compared to the same month last year.

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Sundair and Skyexpress expand Germany-Greece traffic

The Greek airline Skyexpress plans to fly more frequently between Athens and Munich in the 2023 summer flight schedule. In the future, the airline plans to offer seven weekly rotations with Airbus A320neo. This means that the route, which was previously served five times a week, will be flown daily. Skyexpress has been expanding towards Germany for some time. However, one or two routes have been quietly discontinued or not started at all after a short time. The carrier was originally a regional airline that operated turboprop aircraft for several years. In the middle of the corona pandemic, the industry was surprised by the announcement that it would become an Airbus A320neo operator. The Greek airline's fleet currently consists of one A320ceo, eight A320neo, four ATR42-500, five ATR72-500 and six ATR72-600. Sundair starts Thessaloniki from Bremen Sundair is launching a new Greece route from Bremen in the 2023 summer flight schedule. The German holiday airline plans to fly to Thessaloniki once a week from May 12, 2023. By May 29, 2023, the company plans to serve this route twice a week. Sundair is a German holiday airline whose fleet currently consists of two Airbus A319s and three A320s. The company also currently has four aircraft from its Croatian sister company FlyAir41 on wet lease. The aviation company, based in Zagreb, currently has two A319s and two A320s each.

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