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ÖAMTC: Great interest in the new EU drone regulation

guest Author March 2, 2021 15:10

The new EU-wide drone regulations have been in force in Austria since the beginning of the year, bringing with them important innovations such as online registration, drone license and new categories for dividing up aircraft. Currently, 25.000 drone pilots have installed the ÖAMTC drone info app with all the information on the new rules. The great interest in the aircraft is also reflected in numerous inquiries to the ÖAMTC about what needs to be taken into account in order to travel legally and safely in the airspace. "Especially now, with spring-like weather and a few weeks before Easter, many parents contact us who want to give their children a drone. They ask whether a certain drone is considered a toy drone or whether registration and the completion of the drone license are necessary," explains ÖAMTC drone expert Benjamin Hetzendorfer. The information is usually sobering: For all drones with a mounted camera, liability insurance must be taken out and online registration must be carried out. "The only exception is if the drone falls under the EU toy directive and is therefore suitable for children under 14 years of age. Another indication is the CE marking. This must be clearly visible on the packaging. If this marking is missing, the device cannot be sold as a toy," explains Hetzendorfer. Experience has shown that only very small drones, no larger than the palm of a hand, fall under this toy directive. The five most important innovations in the EU drone regulation If the drone is not considered a toy, you should find out about the applicable regulations - ideally before purchasing it. The ÖAMTC drone expert summarizes the most important points: Registration requirement: All drones over 250 g must be registered on the online platform www.dronespace.at.

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Traveling in times of Corona: Fighting the virus with bureaucracy

guest Author 14. February 2021 12:39

I have long known my passport number by heart. This is not due to a voluntary learning exercise, but to the banal need for mobility in Europe, namely to get from A to B by plane in 2020 (and 2021). Flying has suddenly become the godsend of many national-populist politicians who used the virus as a welcome opportunity to undermine basic rights through the back door. In May 2020, I arrived in Vienna with Lufthansa from Frankfurt. First lockdown, hardly any flights, but a Gründerzeit mood among bureaucrats. On the plane, two forms were handed out which had to be filled out and were supposedly collected again. Both forms asked for data that was already in the passport or flight booking: name, address, date of birth, passport number, expiration date of the passport. None of the forms were collected. Police officers and officials from the Ministry of Health were then positioned in the gate area to process the arrivals. I was next in line with a man in his mid-2s wearing a sweaty rowing shirt. He explained in a rude tone that he was not interested in the slips of paper from the plane and that I would have to fill out a new form. A good 100 passengers felt the same way. The 'lucky slips of paper' were ready on a table, about 2 x 1 m, and the few pens were passed through the hands of all the passengers. According to the instructions on 'How do I get infected properly', there was obviously no point in keeping my distance, as the 10 x 10 m room simply did not allow 100 passengers to line up with a distance between them. Back at the sweating official at his desk, I was told that I would have to tick 'quarantine' on the form and sign it. I explained to him

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Chamber of Labor: You should pay attention to this when booking a vacation

guest Author 26 January 2021 15:23

Anyone who books their vacation now in Corona times should be careful and take uncertain factors into account. Travel warnings apply to almost all countries in the world! Sometimes, cancellations cannot be made later for free. The AK advises: book at short notice. If possible, agree in writing in the contract that cancellation is free of charge up until the start of the trip. Attention: If, on the other hand, the organizer cancels the trip, no cancellation fees may be charged! Book your vacation now - this is what you should consider: Find out about the current status of security warnings and further developments in the individual countries on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Book trips at short notice and do not make too high advance payments. The deposit may not be more than 20 percent of the trip price. Any amounts above this may not be insured in the event of insolvency! Find out about the cancellation fees for a trip before booking. It would be ideal if you could agree in writing with the contractual partner that cancellation is free of charge up until the start of the trip. Keep travel documents. Many travel cancellation insurance policies have an exclusion clause in their contracts in the event of a pandemic or epidemic. The insurance then generally does not cover any cancellation costs resulting from the cancellation or termination of a trip. Package tour - this is what you should bear in mind when booking: Travel price refunded: If the trip is cancelled by the tour operator, no cancellation fee is due. You can request a refund of the entire travel price. You do not have to accept a voucher or rebooking. No free cancellation: Be careful, as there is an increased risk of corona in almost all countries, you must take this into account when booking in the middle of the corona crisis.

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Exceptions: KLM can carry out mini long-distance programs

guest Author 23 January 2021 11:42

Contrary to the company's original announcement, the Dutch airline KLM does not have to completely stop long-haul flights. The new rule that a rapid test must be completed before departure does not apply to the Netherlands Antilles and nine other territories or states. The government decided at short notice to make exceptions for the following departure points: Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, St. Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius, Iceland, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and China. This means that KLM can maintain air traffic with these areas. For all regions or states that are not mentioned, the following now applies: Before departure, all passengers and crew members must complete a rapid test. If the test is positive, the trip ends. This also explicitly applies to crew members. KLM therefore announced the suspension of long-haul flights and some European routes with night stops.

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73,9 percent fewer overnight stays in Vienna

guest Author 20 January 2021 07:34

Due to the pandemic, Vienna recorded 2020 million overnight stays in 4,6, 73,9% fewer than in the previous record year of 2019. After strong increases in January and February, all other months of 2020 recorded declines in the high double-digit percentage range, with only 76.000 overnight stays recorded in the lockdown month of December (-95,6%). The hotel industry's net overnight stay revenues are currently fixed for January to November 2020: EUR 231,5 million, representing declines of 74,4%. Vienna's accommodation establishments recorded 2020 overnight stays (-4.590.000%) and 73,9 arrivals (-2.007.000%) in 74,7. With the exception of China, which dropped to 2020th place in the 18 overnight stay ranking, all of the top 10 markets from 2019 are also on the list in 2020, now supplemented by Poland. Half of all overnight stays came from two countries - Austria (1.278.000, -58%) and Germany (1.002.000, -70%), both countries contributing over a million overnight stays to the overall result. Italy (188.000, -78%), Great Britain (139.000, -81%), France (127.000, -75%), the USA (123.000, -88%), Spain (120.000, -82%), Switzerland (117.000, -75%), Poland (109.000, -58%) and Russia (104.000, -78%) complete Vienna's top 10 from last year at some distance. The turnover of the accommodation establishments is currently available for the months January to November 2020. At 231.459.000 euros (-74,4%), Vienna's accommodation establishments were able to generate around three quarters less in this period than in the same period last year. The average occupancy rate of hotel beds fell to 5,8% in December (12/2019: 70,6%), and that of rooms to around 8% (12/2019: around 91%). In total, around 35.000 hotel beds were available in Vienna in December, which was around 32.000 beds (-47,8%) fewer than in December due to the lockdown.

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ÖAMTC gives tips for planning your summer vacation

guest Author 14 January 2021 14:02

Some will already be making holiday plans for this summer. It is not yet possible to predict which trips will be possible and where. "Anyone who books for the summer now runs the risk that the trip may not take place after all due to the uncertain situation caused by corona," says ÖAMTC lawyer Verena Pronebner. "Basically, the safest option is to book a package holiday - this is the best legal protection if the trip cannot be started or if the organizer goes bankrupt." It may also happen that the trip has to be canceled by the organizer - but then you will get back any payments you have already made. However, there is still a residual risk when booking a package holiday: "If you ultimately decide against the trip yourself because, for example, there are corona-related restrictions in the country you are traveling to or you have health concerns, then a free cancellation may not be possible," explains the mobility club's lawyer. "A free cancellation of the trip could be refused by the organizer if a certain circumstance was already known at the time of booking the trip." The argument could therefore be: At the time of booking, one had to expect that the corona pandemic could continue to rage. A free cancellation could then only be granted due to new exceptional circumstances, e.g. after a natural disaster at the holiday destination. "Anyone who wants to book despite the still uncertain situation for summer should definitely get a written assurance from the organizer that a free cancellation is possible due to the pandemic," recommends ÖAMTC expert Pronebner. The deposit for package tours must not exceed 20 percent of the travel price when booking through Austrian tour operators (often 25 percent for German operators). Any payments in excess of this may not be

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“Drone license” now required

guest Author 5 January 2021 09:00

The previously nationally regulated and different requirements will be simplified, harmonized and made more cost-effective in Austria. Drones are divided into three categories. The relevant category for private users will in future be called "open". To do this, there must be uninterrupted visual contact with the drone without technical aids, it may be flown up to a maximum of 120 m above ground and the aircraft must not weigh more than 25 kg. Drones under 250 g that do not have a camera do not have to be registered. In addition to the "open" category, there are other categories for the operation of larger drones: "specific" and "certified". The "specific" category allows flights beyond visual range, flights with drones over 25 kg or flights with drones over four kg in populated areas. Applications for this category can be camera flights over cities or flights over infrastructure. In the future, the "certified" category will also include drone flights with passengers on board; air taxis fall into this category. The exact rules for this category are currently still being drawn up at the European level, and the regulations will be based on those for manned aviation. "One or two drones will have been under the Christmas tree this year too. In order to ensure responsible use of the new device and safe airspace, we are focusing on education and transparency with the new regulations," said Aviation State Secretary Magnus Brunner, adding: "This will make it easier and cheaper to fly a drone - the necessary steps can be completed quickly online and are much cheaper than the fees previously charged. Once you have completed your drone license and registered your drone, you can fly it throughout the EU." "With the online registration for drone operators and the

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ÖAMTC air ambulance flew 17.281 missions in 2020

guest Author 5 January 2021 08:00

The crews of the ÖAMTC air rescue service completed 17.281 missions in 2020. This is a decrease of 2019 percent compared to 8,7. "The fact that we flew less is - how could it be otherwise - due to the corona pandemic. Of course, our emergency medical helicopters were still in constant use and took off on average 47 times a day," explains Reinhard Kraxner, Managing Director of the ÖAMTC air rescue service. "But it is also a fact: measures such as lockdowns, contact and exit restrictions, lack of summer and winter tourism or home office have led to an operational picture that has partly differed from previous years." It was clearly evident in the operational statistics, for example, that the measures were relaxed in the summer: In contrast to lockdown times, the ÖAMTC air rescue service recorded almost ten percent more missions between the beginning of July and mid-September than in the same period in 2019. "However, it must also be noted that at the end of May 2020 we put an additional base into operation with Christophorus 17 in Upper Styria," Kraxner clarifies. In 2020, the ÖAMTC emergency medical helicopters were also most frequently called out for internal and neurological emergencies (e.g. heart attacks or strokes) - around 45 percent of all missions can be attributed to this. Accidents that occurred during leisure time, at work, at school or at home accounted for 17 percent of the operations, while traffic accidents accounted for only 7 percent. 666 people had to be rescued from impassable terrain using rope rescue, sometimes under the most difficult conditions. The Christophorus emergency medical helicopters took off on 2020 missions at night in 582. Looking at the individual federal states, it can be seen that most missions were in Lower Austria (3.676).

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Private travel should be the trend in 2021

guest Author 21 December 2020 08:33

Traveling was not easy in 2020 - there was a lot of uncertainty about entry formalities and due to constantly new corona protection measures in the holiday area. Many did not dare to go on holiday at all - or if they did, then only in their own country or in well-known neighboring countries. Many travel fans actually long for adventure and exploration. The safest option for holiday planning in 2021 seems to be a private trip: A private trip is a vacation under the professional guidance of a tour operator or local professional. The trip can be undertaken completely alone or with several people who join together to form a private group, as well as a tour leader or guide. More and more people are planning to go on tour in such a safe "bubble" - this is shown by the current booking figures from TourRadar, the world's leading online marketplace for tours. "After the difficult year of 2020, people are longing to travel far away - the desire to travel is unbroken despite the current lockdown. We can see this in the latest booking figures - especially on Black Friday, many people decided to plan a trip that can be flexibly rebooked for 2021 or even 2022. We are therefore seeing the first signs of recovery in the industry," explains Travis Pittman, CEO and founder of TourRadar. One thing is striking: "With the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for personalized trips has increased noticeably. We have also felt this pressure at TourRadar and were able to almost quadruple our range of private trips in 2020. We now offer over 23,000 individual trips worldwide. A large proportion of these trips can be

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ÖAMTC orders more helicopters

guest Author 18 December 2020 12:40

In mid-December, ÖAMTC Air Rescue signed a contract to purchase five Airbus Helicopters H135 emergency medical helicopters, including an option for a sixth. "With this decision, we are setting the course for the next ten years," says a satisfied Reinhard Kraxner, Managing Director of ÖAMTC Air Rescue. "The significantly more powerful helicopter, which is approved for instrument flight, brings us a decisive step closer to our vision of being able to help anywhere, any time and in any weather." ÖAMTC Air Rescue has been flying exclusively with EC 20s for over 135 years now. The five to six new helicopters are to gradually replace older models by mid-2024. "These helicopters are optimally tailored to our needs and prove themselves day after day and night after night in missions throughout Austria," says Kraxner. "It is therefore the logical consequence to gradually renew the fleet with the more powerful successor model, the H135." This single-fleet strategy reduces maintenance costs enormously and at the same time increases the availability of the fleet. "The ÖAMTC air rescue service is investing up to 30 million euros - including medical equipment - in the new machines," adds commercial director Marco Trefanitz. "But we know that this is an important step in the interests of our patients." With the digital avionics suite Helionix and a 4-axis autopilot, the new helicopters will have the latest electronics on board. The innovative system summarizes all data relevant to flight management on a few electronic displays, thus increasing the overview for the crew and thus safety. It is also of course compatible with the night vision goggles that are now used as standard. "Especially

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