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Jan Gruber

Helvetic Airways announces a new start

Jan Gruber July 3, 2020 12:39

On Sunday, July 5, 2020, the regional airline Helvetic Airways will gradually resume flight operations. This will depend on demand and the global corona situation. "Even after the partial reopening of the inner-European borders, the situation remains very uncertain. Activities are slowly being ramped up again and there remains a high degree of uncertainty regarding actual demand. The current situation requires flexibility and the ability to react quickly in order to ensure stable and profitable operations. Against this background, thanks to a range of destinations adapted to the current conditions, we expect to be able to gradually increase capacity in the coming months. In July, 20-30 percent of our capacity will be used regularly and we will increase this continuously in late summer. Destinations can also be added to the program at short notice," explains Tobias Pogorevc, CEO of the Swiss company. Helvetic Airways will operate the inaugural flight on Sunday from Bern-Belp to Palma de Mallorca. On behalf of FlyBair, the airline will be flying from Bern and Sion with an Embraer 190-E1 until the end of the summer flight plan period. Pristina and Ohrid will be flown from the Zurich base. The flight plans will be adjusted regularly due to dynamic travel restrictions. In August, the FlyBair offer will be expanded to include Crete and Rhodes. Jerez de la Frontera, Kos, Menorca and Preveza will follow in September. When departures from Bern begin, a temporary crew and maintenance hub will be set up there.

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Vienna: Eurowings Europe is looking for solutions

Jan Gruber July 3, 2020 11:58

Palma de Mallorca, Pristina and Salzburg will continue to operate. In Vienna, dialogue is being sought with the social partners. While the Eurowings Europe base in Palma de Mallorca is back in the air and Salzburg has also been reactivated, the future in Vienna is not yet entirely clear. The background to this is that the route network from Vienna has been abandoned and the remaining routes are being served by Eurowings Germany from Germany. Eurowings Europe was actually supposed to fly with up to six Airbus jets on behalf of its sister company Austrian Airlines, but the corona pandemic is likely to have put a stop to that. AUA definitely has no need for wet-lease aircraft at the moment, because due to the current situation, the Lufthansa subsidiary cannot use all of the aircraft in its own fleet. The staff at the Eurowings Europe base in Vienna are on short-time work. According to a spokesperson, the long-term future is currently being evaluated with the social partners. The Pristina base is to be reactivated in the course of the summer. Eurowings Europe will fly exclusively under the Eurowings brand in the future, which is in some ways an indication that the AUA wet lease cannot be reactivated. A media representative from Eurowings explained: "Eurowings Europe has now taken off again - for example, we have reactivated our crews in Mallorca against the backdrop of the increasing interest in sunny destinations. In addition, numerous connections from Vienna to Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Stuttgart are now in the flight program. The Salzburg and Pristina locations will also follow in July. Flights will be carried out under the Eurowings brand. In order to fundamentally position Eurowings Europe and secure its future, we are

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Peter Thier leaves the AUA

Jan Gruber July 3, 2020 11:46

After many years in aviation, the group spokesperson will return to Erste Bank Group. Tanja Gruber will succeed him at AUA. There will be a change in management in Austrian Airlines’ corporate communications, as long-standing head of communications Peter Thier will leave the group at the end of September 2020 for Erste Bank Group. Tanja Gruber, who is currently head of Communications Distribution & Media Relations, will succeed him at AUA. At Erste Bank Group, Thier will take over as head of corporate communications and will also serve as deputy head of Brand Strategy & Communications. At Austrian Airlines, Gruber will take over the role of corporate spokesperson and head the Corporate Communications department ad-interim. Barbara Greul will also take over some of Peter Thier’s previous responsibilities. She heads the Communications Strategy & Content Production department. The media team will continue to consist of Marleen Pirchner, Leonhard Steinmann and Vanessa Schmidt. “Peter’s departure is very painful for us. Especially in the recent crisis of this unprecedented pandemic, he has made a significant contribution to stabilizing Austrian Airlines with his level-headed and professional communication. I wish Peter every success in his future role at Erste Group," said AUA General Director Alexis von Hoensbroech.

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OTA customers have to wait longer for Ryanair reimbursement

Jan Gruber July 3, 2020 11:09

The Irish low-cost airline now wants to process the refund claims against customers quickly, but also uses the opportunity to verbally attack OTAs again. Airlines across Europe continue to be in the crossfire of criticism, as passengers and travel agents are still waiting for the money they are entitled to due to canceled flights. Ryanair now claims in a press release that it would speed up the payment of COVID-19-related refunds. The legal situation, which unfortunately the vast majority of European airlines do not take into account, is clear. The money must be paid back to the passenger within a week. But at a certain point, Ryanair was no longer particularly strict about this and tried to hand out "compulsory vouchers". Ryanair now claims that it wants to process the refund claims quickly by the end of July. At the moment, it has processed all applications from March and has already paid out about half of the claims from April 2020. However, the company also takes into account rebookings made by passengers themselves and compulsory vouchers. “We are pleased to have made such significant progress during the month of June in clearing the backlog of refunds caused by flight cancellations due to Covid-19. Over 90% of passengers who booked directly with Ryanair and requested a refund for travel between March and June will receive their refunds before the end of July. However, it is worrying that a significant proportion of our customers who made their bookings through unauthorised third-party screenscrapers/online travel agents have not yet received their refunds because the OTAs provided Ryanair with fake email addresses or virtual

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Eurowings abolishes “counter requirement” again

Jan Gruber July 3, 2020 10:56

When it comes to the best seat, distances are particularly important to some passengers. But as soon as it comes to disembarking, those who had previously complained ignore all the crew's instructions and don't care about distances. In mid-June, the German airline Eurowings surprised everyone by saying that although check-in should be done online, the boarding pass must be picked up in person at the counter. The company argued that there are some questions that can only be asked in person. In practice, however, the process turned out to be a complete farce, which ended in a "test flight" with the check-in agent asking why you are actually at the counter if you have checked in online. Of course, this was accompanied by the advice that you should please print out your boarding pass yourself next time. But this was not possible due to Eurowings' regulations. Eurowings now also recognized that this "system" was not the last word in wisdom and was a unique solo effort within the Lufthansa Group. At least between Austria and Germany, the “collection requirement” at the counter has been abolished. Passengers can now check in contactlessly online via a PC or smartphone and receive their boarding pass to print out or alternatively on the display. A spokesperson for Eurowings explained in detail the background to why the “counter requirement” was introduced and has now been abolished: “We can understand that collecting the boarding pass in person means additional time for the traveler - especially if you have become accustomed to the undisputed advantages of online check-in. Unfortunately, the two countries Germany and Austria are still lagging behind.

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David O'Brien: "We cannot give job guarantees"

Jan Gruber July 2, 2020 15:55

Lauda managing directors David O'Brien and Andreas Gruber were informative but firm in their approach to German employees in virtual staff meetings on Thursday. The pressure is high and the closure of the bases on October 31, 2020 is on the table. Tonight is likely to be decisive for the Lauda bases in Stuttgart and Düsseldorf, as a final negotiation date has been set with the Verdi union. Managing Director David O'Brien explained in a virtual staff meeting that an agreement must be reached. The German Lauda employees will then be sent the collective agreement and will give their consent by Tuesday. In Vienna, all flight personnel who refused to consent were dismissed. In Düsseldorf and Stuttgart, the management's announcement is even harsher, because either everyone in the respective base agrees or it will be closed on October 31, 2020. Until then, flights from Stuttgart and Düsseldorf will only take place on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Managing Director Andreas Gruber told employees that this was due to the current low demand in the market. However, according to co-CEO David O'Brien, the aim is to fly seven days a week again. The manager estimated that the layoffs at the head office in Schwechat amounted to around 30 percent of the previous ground staff. Due to the new orientation as a wet lease operator, many positions are no longer required. The company primarily wants to fly for the Ryanair Group, but also for other carriers, added Andreas Gruber. David O'Brien repeatedly stressed that even if the new collective agreement is approved in Germany, there is no job guarantee. The situation around

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Spanish union reports Ryanair and Lauda

Jan Gruber July 2, 2020 12:45

The Spanish union USO is making serious allegations against Ryanair and Lauda, ​​because according to the employee representatives, they are violating Spanish law when it comes to COVID-19 protection measures. USO has now filed a complaint with the labor inspectorate. "We are seriously concerned about the reckless and ill-considered attitude of Ryanair and Lauda in protecting passengers and employees in relation to the recommendations of the EASA and the most basic laws for the prevention of occupational risks in Spain. This endangers the lives of workers and passengers as well as the economic recovery from possible infections. We have already lodged complaints with the labor inspectorate in Spain and hope that the authority will act quickly to avoid the risk resulting from the reckless attitude of the Ryanair Group, which focuses primarily on economic benefit rather than health," said USO union member Ernesto Iglesias. The Spanish employee representatives accuse the two airlines of not providing the flying staff with the masks required by law. According to the USO, Spain would stipulate that airline employees on board must wear so-called FFP masks, which also serve as their own protection. The union is also very critical of the number of MNS masks provided. Ryanair and Lauda are only supposed to provide one mouth and nose protection per employee per day. However, the EASA regulations stipulate that this must be replaced after a maximum of four hours. According to the USO, Ryanair and Lauda will use the same MNS mask for up to 12 hours of service. In the area of

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Michael O'Leary: “Lauda brand is too weak”

Jan Gruber July 2, 2020 12:16

The manager describes the Austrian government's announcement to introduce minimum prices for tickets as stupid and even announces that he will take legal action against the AUA state aid. Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary intends to take legal action against the rescue package that the Republic of Austria negotiated with Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines. In a conversation with the Kurier, the manager describes the approach as "distorting competition" and wants to take the direct subsidy of 150 million euros to the European Court of Justice in particular. The rescue package for the AUA has not yet been finalized, explained State Secretary Magnus Brunner on Tuesday in the Transport Committee of the National Council. In recent weeks, the Lauda management has repeatedly used wording that suggests to staff that they no longer have any money for the wages of German staff, for example. Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary told the Kurier that neither Lauda nor Ryanair need state aid. They are "able to survive without taxpayers' money". However, wages are to be reduced by up to 20 percent across the group. In Austria, a new collective agreement was implemented under considerable pressure. Numerous Lauda employees have also already been laid off. Ryanair had actually planned to have ten million Lauda passengers from Vienna. Due to the corona pandemic, the CEO is now significantly reducing expectations. O'Leary told the Kurier that he expects around five million passengers between April 2020 and March 2021. These will now be under the Ryanair brand, as the Lauda brand has not been used in marketing since flight operations resumed. The Ryanair Group CEO also admitted that the Lauda brand "is actually no longer needed".

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Munich: Tuifly takes off again

Jan Gruber July 2, 2020 11:43

After a "corona break" of several months, Tuifly resumed flight operations in Munich. The offer is to be gradually increased to 27 weekly rotations. The German holiday airline Tuifly celebrated its comeback at Munich's Franz Josef Strauss Airport on Thursday. The premiere connection was operated under flight number X3 2196 in the direction of Fuerteventura. However, the carrier did not provide any further details on capacity utilization. Tuifly announced that in the next few days and weeks the offer from Munich will be increased to up to 27 flights per week. This year, the holiday airline is focusing mainly on Greece and offers Araxos, Crete, Rhodes, Kos and Kurfu, among others. Other destinations are: Djerba, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Hurghada, Lanzarote, Madeira, Marsa Alam, Menorca, Tenerife and the Cape Verde Islands. “With our new flight schedule, we connect the Bavarian capital with a total of 15 sunny destinations in the south. Initially, we will fly to Spain, Greece and Portugal and will be the first holiday airline to once again offer flights to the most popular southern European seaside resorts from Munich. As soon as the travel warnings for Egypt, Tunisia and the Cape Verde Islands are lifted, we will also fly to these destinations again. For the remainder of the summer season until the end of October, we will therefore be offering our passengers around 140.000 seats to the sun and back from Munich,” says Oliver Lackmann, Tuifly Managing Director. Jost Lammers, Chairman of Munich Airport GmbH, welcomes the resumption of flights: “We are delighted that Tuifly is now once again regularly flying to numerous tourist destinations from Munich. This closes another gap in the flight offer at our airport and at the same time opens up the possibility for thousands of Bavarian holidaymakers to quickly

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El Al ceases flight operations

Jan Gruber July 2, 2020 11:21

The airline El Al completely stopped flight operations on Wednesday. Not only passenger flights are affected, but also cargo connections. Company boss Gonen Usishkin ordered this. Planes that were already in the air had to turn around and land at an airport in Israel. In March, the government was one of the first countries to issue strict entry regulations, which also include a 14-day quarantine. Non-citizens are currently only allowed to enter Israel with special permission. This subsequently led to the collapse of commercial flight connections and thus El Al was also affected. The resumption of regular flights has been repeatedly postponed. This is also due to the fact that the Israeli government has repeatedly extended the lifting of the entry ban for foreigners. The majority of the El Al fleet has been grounded since March 2020. In the passenger sector, only a few planes are in use sporadically. The cargo business has so far been considered reasonably stable, but the planes used for this purpose have also been ordered by Gonen Usishkin to turn around. The financial situation is considered to be extremely tense. According to local sources, 5.800 of the 6.300 employees have been sent on unpaid leave and have therefore not received any pay for several months. In recent days, however, the situation at El Al has probably escalated again, as the publication of the latest quarterly figures revealed that the carrier posted a loss of 1 million dollars in Q2020/140. But what is far more serious is that the carrier has a mountain of debt amounting to around two billion US dollars and at the same time the management is making the latest

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