February 23, 2023

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February 23, 2023

Iceland: Keflavik with last 401.976 passengers

Iceland's largest airport, Keflavik, counted a total of 2023 passengers in January 401.976. They traveled on 59 routes, with London, Copenhagen, Manchester, Paris and New York being the busiest routes. In recent months, Keflavik has again seen significantly more transfer passengers. According to the tourist office, around 2022 percent of the pre-crisis volume had already been reached in November 82. Most foreign nationalities came from the United States of America and the UK.

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Chinese carriers are gradually bringing Boeing 737-Max back into the air

In the People's Republic of China, the airline Lucky Air is preparing to put its three Boeing 737 Max 8s back into service. In the last few days, it has carried out a number of test flights. It is the fourth carrier in this country to put the model back into service. Lucky Air took over the aircraft, which have the registrations B-1143, B-206N and B-207P, in the fourth quarter of 2018. At the beginning of 2019, a worldwide flight ban was imposed on this model. China has held on to this for much longer than other countries. Without much fanfare, Lucky Air transferred its three Boeing 737 Max 8s to Haikou and carried out a number of test flights. At the beginning of this month, an application was made to the Chinese Civil Aviation Authority to put the three aircraft, which had been out of service for around four years, back into service. The CAAC has ordered improvements to the manuals and crew training. The requirements are currently being implemented, so it can be assumed that the Chinese carrier will be allowed to put the three Boeing 737-Max-8s back into commercial scheduled service in the foreseeable future. Since January 2023, China Southern Airlines has been operating limited flights with this model again. Six of 18 B737-Maxs have now been reactivated. Hainan Airlines is also flying again with one of eleven B737-Max-8s. Just last week, Fuzhou Airlines put an aircraft of this type back into scheduled service. Other carriers are still taking a wait-and-see approach, but due to high demand, it can be assumed that they will gradually put the model back into scheduled service.

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Charter: Middle East Airlines takes on Beirut-Barcelona-Madrid

Skyteam member Middle East Airlines will start charter flights from Beirut to Barcelona and Madrid in April 2023. These will be operated with medium-haul Airbus A321neo jets. From Beirut, the flights will depart as ME7241 and first go to Barcelona. They will then continue on to Madrid. The return flights will depart from Spain's capital as ME7242 and then go back to Beirut via Barcelona.

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Sitting together: United Airlines no longer charges children

More and more airlines are trying to generate additional revenue by deliberately separating passengers travelling together. If this is not accepted, they are asked to pay for paid seat reservations. The authorities in the United States of America are now taking action against this practice. It used to be more or less a given that people who had booked together, such as couples or families, could sit together on an aircraft. If you were late at the check-in counter, this could go wrong, but only because of a lack of adjacent seats and not because of the airline's financial interests. More and more carriers have now programmed sophisticated software that "purely randomly" assigns seats in such a way that if you want to "sit together" you have to buy as many paid reservations as possible. Who says that the seat next to you has to be free? With a few lines of programming, it is possible to position the people booked together in such a way that if you don't like it, you can be asked to pay twice for the seat change. In the USA, the authorities are annoyed by this practice, as there are legal regulations that state that families with children under 12 can sit together without paying an extra charge. However, not all providers have taken this very seriously and United Airlines, for example, has certainly gotten into trouble. The Star Alliance member has now said it has given in and assured that from March 2023, children under 12 will always be allowed to sit next to an adult who is on the same booking confirmation free of charge. The programming of the booking software has been changed to this end, according to the airline.

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Stockholm-Arlanda: Lufthansa with a new handling partner

The Lufthansa Group and the Aviator Airport Alliance have agreed on a new collaboration. From May 2023, the service provider will provide ground handling and de-icing services at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport for Lufthansa AG, Brussels Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines and Austrian Airlines for five years. "It is with great enthusiasm that we welcome the Lufthansa Group as our new customer. We are confident that this long-term contract will give us the opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to first-class services and we look forward to a strong and successful partnership with them. We pride ourselves on providing high-quality services and we are confident that the commitment and experience of our team will exceed the expectations of the Lufthansa Group," said Jo Alex Tanem, CEO of Aviator Airport Alliance.

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After eight hours travel time: Japan Airlines passengers back in Tokyo instead of in Fukuoka

The passengers of Japan Airlines flight JL331 actually wanted to fly from Tokyo-Haneda to Fukuoka on February 19, 2023. However, nothing came of it, because after more than eight hours of flight time, they landed back at the departure airport. According to plan, the Airbus A350 was supposed to arrive in Fukuoka at 20:30 p.m. But bad weather meant that takeoff was initially delayed by two hours. The long-haul aircraft took off at 20:18 p.m. local time. Now it was tight, because landings at the destination airport were only allowed until 22:00 p.m. So it happened as it had to: At 21:58 p.m. the pilots were informed that landings in Fukuoka were no longer permitted and that the plane would be diverted to another airport. At around 22:56 p.m. the Airbus A350 then landed at Kansai Airport near Osaka. There the crew was replaced and the plane refueled. However, the passengers were not taken by land to Fukuoka, around 45 kilometers away, but had to wait for further information. It was then decided to fly back to Haneda Airport. The A1 left Osaka Airport at 55:350 a.m. and landed in Tokyo at 2:44 a.m. local time. The passengers thus reached Haneda Airport again after more than eight hours of travel. Hotel and meal vouchers were then issued there. According to Japan Airlines, the travelers were rebooked on other Fukuoka connections on February 20, 2023. Incidentally, the carrier could not give a conclusive answer as to why the passengers were not taken by land from Osaka to Fukuoka.

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Air Arabia Abu Dhabi announces Iraq flights

The low-cost airline Air Arabia Abu Dhabi intends to offer non-stop flights from the capital of the United Arab Emirates to Iraq in the 2023 summer flight schedule. Initially, the airline plans to fly to Baghdad and later also to Erbil. The low-cost airline plans to fly between the two capitals on Mondays and Thursdays with Airbus A320s from June 22, 2023. From September 15, 2023, flights to Erbil will be added on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

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A321XLR: Wizz Air stationed the first aircraft in the UK and Abu Dhabi

The Wizz Air Group intends to register its first Airbus A321XLR aircraft at the AOCs in Abu Dhabi and the United Kingdom. The group believes that the greatest market potential lies in these two countries. Wizz Air Abu Dhabi manager Krislen Keri explained during the "Routes Asia 2023" that it is already certain that the first Airbus A321XLRs will go to Abu Dhabi and the United Kingdom. For the other aircraft, the market potential for Budapest is also being evaluated, but no decision has yet been made in this regard. Regarding the use of this model, CEO Jozsef Varadi repeatedly ruled out that the Wizz Air Group could enter the classic transatlantic business. Keri named destinations in Southeast Asia, India and Central and West Africa as possible destinations. There are also some European destinations in the pipeline that could be offered from Abu Dhabi. It has been explicitly ruled out that the point-to-point concept could be abandoned with the introduction of the A321XLR. The airline does not intend to offer any official connecting flights in the future either. The Wizz Air Group expects to deliver 47 aircraft of this type. It is hoped that the first aircraft can be taken into service next year.

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Valletta Airlines applies for approval for USA flights

The Maltese start-up Valletta Airlines has applied to the authorities in the United States of America for a US Foreign Air Carrier Permit and for permission to operate charter flights to the USA. The application document does not yet contain any specific routes and/or clients. However, Valletta Airlines requests in the document that the review be accelerated, as the company wants to enter the US market as quickly as possible. The start-up's fleet currently consists of the Airbus A320-200 with the registration 9H-NZL. The company also plans to add two long-haul Airbus A330-200 aircraft to its fleet over the course of this year. Commercial flight operations have not yet begun.

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Graz: Lufthansa is significantly reducing the Munich hub connection

In the 2023 summer flight schedule, Lufthansa is making extensive cuts on some Munich routes. This also affects the hub connection to Graz, as this will only be offered once a day. Originally, the Graz-Munich connection was to be increased to up to 33 weekly rotations. However, this will not happen, as the Kranich Group will only offer seven rotations between the two cities with effect from the change to the 2023 summer flight schedule period. This reduction is quite dramatic for the connectivity of the Styrian airport, as numerous transfer connections via Munich can no longer be reached. In addition, trips to the Bavarian state capital on a double-day basis will no longer be possible in the future. The economy in particular will be affected by the reduction in frequencies, for which Lufthansa has not provided any further reasons. It is currently planned that the number of Munich flights from Graz will remain limited to seven flights per week, i.e. once a day, for the entire 2023 summer flight schedule period. With the start of the 2023/24 winter flight schedule, the company plans to increase its flights again, but it remains to be seen whether this will actually happen. Passengers can alternatively use the hub connections to the AUA hub in Vienna, the KLM hub in Amsterdam and the Lufthansa hub in Frankfurt am Main, but the extensive cuts to Munich mean that a lot of capacity and transfer options are lost. The reduction of the Graz route from Munich is not an isolated case. Lufthansa is also operating on the routes to Amsterdam, Ancona, Athens, Barcelona, ​​Basel, Bilbao, Billund, Birmingham, Wroclaw, Budapest, Bucharest, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Cologne/Bonn, Copenhagen, London-Heathrow, Madrid, Manchester, Nice, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly, Prague, Rome-Fiumicino, Toulouse and Warsaw. The extent of the cancellations will be greater or lesser depending on the route. In some cases, this is due to

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