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March 8, 2023

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March 8, 2023

Summer 2023: Play incorporates Glasgow-Keflavik

Jan Gruber March 8, 2023 08:07

The low-cost airline Play is launching another new route in May 2023: The carrier plans to fly four times a week between Keflavik and Glasgow. The first flight is scheduled for May 26, 2023. The route will be served on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays with Airbus A320 aircraft. For the time being, this is a seasonal offer, as no decision has yet been made on a possible continuation in the 2023/24 winter flight schedule.

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Amsterdam: IATA sues against Schiphol restrictions

Amely Mizzi March 8, 2023 07:35

Under the guise of "environmental and noise protection", the Dutch government wants to reduce the capacity of the country's largest airport. This is being protested not only by airlines, but also by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The latter also wants to take legal action against the decisions. It was previously announced that a total of five airlines, including KLM, have applied for an interim injunction against the Dutch government's decision. The IATA believes that the Netherlands is violating EU law with its decision and therefore also wants to take legal action. It is not very common for the industry association to take countries to court on behalf of its members. In this specific case, the IATA is of the opinion that not only EU Regulation 598/2014 is being violated, but also the Chicago Convention of the International Civil Aviation Organization. The latter is a binding treaty that the Netherlands has signed. It is also citing Annex 16 of the agreement, which contains provisions for a balanced approach to aircraft noise management. The EU regulation in conjunction with Annex 16 stipulates that before decisions are made to reduce noise at an airport, the parties concerned must be consulted, that the needs and concerns of residents, the environment and the local economy must be weighed against the economic and social benefits of air traffic and, finally, that flight reductions should only be implemented as a last resort. The Dutch government is accused of failing to consult airport users. The flight restrictions were ordered without first considering the possible economic damage that the industry has suffered as a result of the corona pandemic.

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Package tours: Alltours pleased with the booking boom

Jan Gruber March 8, 2023 07:03

The German tour operator Alltours says it is currently recording significantly more bookings for the 2023 summer season. In direct comparison with the same period last year, there is an increase of around 30 percent. For the full year 2023, the tour operator expects it to be around 20 percent above the previous year's figure. In 2022, Alltours had around two million customers and generated an EBITDA of 61,3 million euros. "Interest in vacation travel remains very high after the Corona-related travel restrictions of recent years. We already exceeded the pre-crisis level last year and are experiencing a real booking boom for vacation travel in summer 2023," explains Willi Verhuven, owner and managing partner of the Alltours group of companies at the company's ITB press conference.

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India: Jet Airways plans to order “at least” 200 new aircraft

Amely Mizzi March 8, 2023 06:39

The Indian airline Jet Airways actually wanted to take off again in the summer of last year. So far, this has not happened because of various legal disagreements. Now the company has surprised everyone by announcing that it wants to place a large order for "at least 200 new aircraft". The background to the legal disputes is the same in almost all cases: it is about legacy assets that were purchased when the insolvent company was taken over. Wages of former employees as well as leasing rates, taxes and airport fees are affected. The buyers fight pretty much every single case because the Indian legal situation is not always clear. The banks that previously financed the company had filed an appeal against the transfer of ownership to the Jalan Kalrock consortium. This further hampered Jet Airways' restart. Now the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has ruled in favor of the buyers. It refused to stop the transfer of ownership. It is considered unlikely that the financial institutions will make another attempt. However, there is the possibility of filing an appeal before the Supreme Court of India. The local financial newspaper "Mint" is now reporting, citing sources from the Jalan Kalrock consortium, that preparations are underway to order at least 200 new aircraft. The order is to be officially communicated by around June 2023. Talks are currently underway with Airbus, Boeing and Embraer. The exact breakdown is still completely open. One source says that the large order is expected to be announced during the Paris Air Show in 2023.

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Zurich will conduct measurement flights in March and May 2023

Amely Mizzi March 8, 2023 06:09

At Zurich-Kloten Airport, periodic measurement flights to check the navigation systems will be carried out between March 13 and 18, 2023 and May 1 to 6, 2023. These will take place both in the afternoons and partly at night. In addition, the measurement aircraft will check the navigation of departure routes during the day between March 6 and 8. The periodic check ensures the accuracy of the navigation systems. This requires approaches that start to the side, above and below the published flight path. This is why the measurement flights sometimes take place away from the usual flight routes. During a survey, the respective flight route is flown several times. The signals sent by the corresponding navigation systems are recorded and evaluated. In addition, the navigation of new departure routes from runway 6 will be checked during the day between March 8 and 10. For this purpose, the corresponding departure procedures are carried out several times. The measurement flights are carried out with a twin-engine propeller aircraft of the Beechcraft King Air 350 type. The aircraft is equipped with the latest navigation aids and a high-precision flight measurement device. The air traffic control company Skyguide is responsible for planning and carrying out the flights.

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In cooperation with HLX: Eurowings Holidays is to be expanded

Amely Mizzi March 8, 2023 05:31

Until now, the tour operator brand Eurowings Holidays has had a rather niche existence. The brand, which was created together with Karlheinz Kögel's HLX Group, is now to be expanded significantly. The Lufthansa subsidiary wants to position itself more strongly in the area of ​​package tours. "Since the end of the Corona pandemic, we have seen a significant increase in the number of bookings through Eurowings Holidays," says Michael Erfert, Head of Sales, Distribution & Digital Eurowings and Managing Director Eurowings Digital GmbH. "We want to use this upswing to establish ourselves among the top 10 German tour operators in the next few years. To this end, we are currently hiring numerous IT and marketing experts at Eurowings Digital in Cologne's Carlswerk startup quarter - 30 of around 150 planned new hires alone will work exclusively on the expansion of Eurowings Holidays." A low-cost airline was once active under the name Hapag-Llyod Express, or HLX for short. The current company has nothing to do with the former aviation activities, as Karlheinz Kögel's group of companies only acquired the trademark rights a few years ago. The company operates as a tour operator and travel agent under the brand. In the future, Eurowings is to play an even greater role in the partnership with HLX: The airline's digital division will take over web development, marketing and data analysis in the future. In addition, the Eurowings Holidays offer is to be integrated even more deeply into the company's own homepage eurowings.com. This means that customers will be offered comprehensive, attractive travel packages in addition to the flight offer. Flexibility is also an important plus at Eurowings Holidays: the booked vacation can be rebooked free of charge up to 14 days before the start of the trip and can also be canceled inexpensively for 50 euros. "It remains

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Eurowings takes on Dusseldorf-Monastir

Amely Mizzi March 8, 2023 05:07

The Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings is launching another Tunisia route from Düsseldorf in the 2023 summer flight schedule. The destination is Monastir, which will be offered once a week from the beginning of April 2023. The carrier intends to fly between the two cities with Airbus A5s on Wednesdays from April 2023, 320. For the time being, this is a seasonal route that will be offered during the warm season of 2023.

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Comment: Aging long-haul AUA fleet vs. modern Boeing 787-9

Jan Gruber March 8, 2023 04:35

A long-running issue for many years: the ageing long-haul fleet of Austrian Airlines and its possible successor. Never before have the management of Lufthansa and its Austrian subsidiary made such concrete statements. So it will be the Boeing 787-9, but when it will be delivered is still unclear. The vast majority of the existing long-haul fleet still comes from an order placed by Niki Lauda. Austrian Airlines' long-haul fleet is getting on in years, but there are also operators in Europe and even within the Lufthansa Group who have older aircraft on the AOC. The "problem" of the ageing AUA long-haul fleet is less to be seen in the "now" but more in the future. The comparison shown below for illustration purposes is greatly simplified: Similar to a car, maintenance costs increase with age. Here and there a part breaks that needs to be replaced and the scope of the work required becomes more and more extensive. In addition, older vehicles tend to consume more fuel than newer ones. With aircraft, the costs for professional maintenance and kerosene are of course significantly higher than with a motor vehicle, but in principle they are comparable. At some point it simply becomes too expensive. Most airlines cannot pay for aircraft with available cash, but instead finance them with loans or opt for leasing. Older, but paid-off machines do not incur leasing payments or loan repayments. This cost block is eliminated. Similar to a car: once the loan is paid off, you save on monthly payments. As long as the maintenance and fuel costs do not reach what feels like an immeasurable amount, the costs are reduced.

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Winter 2023/24: Condor reactivates Agadir flights

Jan Gruber March 8, 2023 04:08

The German airline Condor intends to reactivate flights to Agadir from four German airports in the 2023 winter flight schedule. For the time being, these are seasonal routes. Condor already had Agadir in its portfolio in the past. Due to the corona pandemic, some airports have not flown to this airport in Morocco for some time. From Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Munich and Hamburg, there will be twice-weekly flights with Airbus A2023s from the beginning of November 320. From November 1, 2023, flights from Germany's largest airport will return to Agadir on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Flights from Munich and Düsseldorf will follow one day later on Thursdays and Sundays. From Hamburg, flights to the city on the Atlantic coast will be available on Mondays and Saturdays from November 4, 2023.

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