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Jan Gruber

Lauda lets 30 passengers sit despite a valid PCR

Jan Gruber February 8, 2021 07:45

Lauda Europe and Ryanair should actually be happy that passengers were booked on flight FR 104 from Vienna to Palma on Friday. But the low-cost airline left 30 travelers stranded in Vienna because of valid Austrian PCR results that were not recognized by the airline and then brazenly tried to collect a 300 euro rebooking fee, reports the Mallorca newspaper. If the 30 affected had not suffered financial damage, one could almost laugh about it: Ryanair and Lauda Europe interpret the Spanish entry regulations in their own way and have instructed ground handling to pay very close attention to the type of PCR test: Only those who can show negative RT-PCR results are allowed to fly to Palma. However, for those who have tested negative using RNA-PCR, the journey ends at the gate. However, Spain expressly accepts both test procedures for entry. This did not interest Ryanair and Lauda Europe. The ground staff referred to an instruction from the airline to check for RT-PCR results and refused to transport them. As already mentioned, 30 passengers were affected. Of course, Ryanair never communicated that RNA PCR results are no longer worth anything with this airline. The low-cost airline wanted to charge 300 euros per person. But now it is getting really brazen: Those affected unanimously described to the Mallorca newspaper and Aviation Direct that they were asked to take a "suitable" PCR test. They could then fly to Palma on Sunday, but they wanted a whopping 300 euros for the rebooking. The mood, which was already heated, is now likely to be - if you believe the descriptions -

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Mutation areas: Lufthansa is severely reducing the offer

Jan Gruber February 8, 2021 07:30

Lufthansa initially announced that it would continue to operate its flight schedule unchanged, regardless of the tightening of restrictions and entry bans. But now Lufthansa is cutting costs and significantly reducing connections to so-called "mutation areas". Demand is likely to be at rock bottom, because apart from a few exceptions, there is a ban on transport if the intention is to enter Germany. However, transfer passengers are not affected by this and can change planes in Munich or Frankfurt, for example. However, demand does not seem to be right, reports the news magazine "Der Spiegel". The Cape Town destination from Frankfurt and Munich has been temporarily cancelled. However, Johannesburg will remain active with three rotations per week for the time being. The service to Portugal and Ireland, which are also on the government's list of "undesirable countries of origin", will also be significantly reduced.

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Danzig: Again a ground vehicle crashes a Wizz Air Airbus

Jan Gruber February 8, 2021 07:05

For the second time in a matter of weeks, a plane belonging to the Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air made an involuntary acquaintance with a ground vehicle at Gdansk Airport. This time, on Saturday, a service vehicle crashed into the A320neo with the registration HA-LJC. Not long ago, a vehicle responsible for the on-board water was stuck under a Wizz Air Airbus. This incident also occurred at the Polish Gdansk Airport. The jet was damaged and had to be repaired. This time, the carrier actually wanted to fly the HA-LJC to Dortmund. But a ground service vehicle crashed into the nose of the Airbus A320neo. This damaged the medium-haul jet, which was only delivered in April 2020. At the time of the collision, the aircraft was stationary and was in the process of preparing for the flight. How the accident happened is still unclear. However, photos show snow and ice on the apron. This may have played a role. Wizz Air operated the flight to Dortmund with a replacement aircraft. It is not yet known how badly the HA-LJC is damaged. Given two incidents at the same airport with the same airline, we can only hope that Gdansk Airport is well insured...

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Austria: Free tests are available in these 415 pharmacies

Jan Gruber February 7, 2021 16:54

Exactly 415 pharmacies across Austria will be offering free rapid antigen tests. Almost 400 of them will be available starting tomorrow, Monday. A few will start a few days later. On Sunday, the professional association published the list that many citizens have been eagerly awaiting. The interactive map below is based on the list of locations that offer free rapid tests provided by the Chamber of Pharmacists. By clicking on this link, it can be opened and saved on your smartphone with the Google Maps app, so that the nearest "free pharmacy" can be found at any time if necessary. If you prefer a PDF list, you can find it at this link on the Chamber's page. Important: The free tests can be used not only to "test yourself free" for a visit to the hairdresser, but also to "test yourself free" from quarantine after a trip. Some countries, including Germany, accept antigen results for entry. Note: You do not need to re-import the Google Maps map into your Maps app or MyMaps on your computer if Aviation Direct updates it for you. You will automatically always have the latest map with the pharmacy locations with free tests. Saving it once in your app is sufficient. The map shows the data as of February 8, 2021 with 506 pharmacies. This is how the free test works according to the chamber: The professional association of Austrian pharmacists expressly points out that advance registration by telephone is required. The number of the respective pharmacy can be found on the above map or in the PDF file. Be sure to register by telephone for an appointment at the pharmacy of your choice. Take the e-card with you to your test appointment

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Night flight ban: FC Bayern team had to spend the night in an Airbus A350-1000 at BER

Jan Gruber February 6, 2021 17:11

There was no exception to the night flight ban at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport for the Bundesliga footballers from FC Bayern Munich. This meant that after the match against Hertha BSC, the team had to spend the night on the apron at BER in the Airbus A350-1000 with the registration A7-ANB. FC Bayern announced that take-off permission had been refused at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport. The long-haul jet, which was supposed to fly to Doha under the flight number QR7402, still had to be de-iced. Just one minute before midnight, the A7-ANB was ready for take-off, but the night flight ban starts at midnight. Permission was refused and despite several attempts, the responsible authority in the state of Brandenburg remained firm and the footballers had to stay on the ground. Unplanned stopover in Munich The team, support staff and crew then spent the night on the apron at BER in the Airbus A350-1000 from Qatar Airways. It was not until Saturday morning at 6:52 a.m. that the green light was given and the long-haul jet with the FC Bayern footballers on board was allowed to take off. But then the next problem arose: Due to the flight duty regulations, Qatar Airways had to replace the crew of the A7-ANB. The result: The Airbus A350-1000 had to make a stopover in Munich, where another crew took over. The onward flight to the actual destination, Doha, took off from the Bavarian capital at 9:16 a.m. FC Bayern boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told the Bild newspaper that he felt "totally screwed over by the responsible authorities in Brandenburg politics." They had no idea what they had "done to the football team." The Champions League winner meets

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Photo gallery: Airbus A320 OE-LXB during the C-Check

Jan Gruber February 6, 2021 16:40

In no other industry is good and regular maintenance as important as in aviation. Work is carried out on the machines almost every day to keep them airworthy and, above all, safe. Europe is considered the world leader in maintenance standards. Austrian Airlines is currently carrying out a so-called C-check, also known as a base check, on the Airbus A320 with the registration OE-LXB in the hangar in Vienna. This can take up to 5.000 working hours. The maintenance measure takes approximately three weeks. The C-check is not a matter of a few simple steps; the structure and outer shell are extensively checked and, if necessary, improved. The aircraft must be partially dismantled for this. This also includes removing pretty much the entire cabin. The Airbus A320 with the registration OE-LXB is currently in the middle of the C-check. The photo gallery below shows what the aircraft looks like.

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Austria: Anchober threatens lockdown from an incidence of 200

Jan Gruber February 6, 2021 16:15

The Austrian Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens), who just a few weeks ago explicitly ruled out that there would be another lockdown but announced one shortly afterwards, wants to send Austria into its fourth lockdown if the seven-day incidence rate reaches 200. He told ATV that there would then be an emergency meeting and an overall assessment would be made at this. The measures could then range from regional lockdowns to an Austria-wide "hard lockdown". The threshold of 200 new infections per 100.000 inhabitants per seven days would apply to both individual federal states and the whole of Austria. Anschober therefore leaves it open whether he then wants to "lock down" only regions or the entire federal territory. Threat of lockdown order to the state governors When asked about the statement by Tyrol's governor Günther Platter (ÖVP) that he was ruling out a lockdown in Tyrol, Anschober said that there could only be a misunderstanding on the part of the governor. "He will have meant, from today's perspective. We have agreed together that we will collect the information by Sunday evening and then make decisions. The governor of Tyrol, as I know him, will certainly stick to that." Rudolf Anschober also immediately lets loose an unequivocal lockdown threat to the governors, because he cannot rule out an "order" for a lockdown in one or more federal states: "The control center in this republic as far as limiting the pandemic is concerned is the Ministry of Health."

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Piloten: Swiss terminates collective labor agreement

Jan Gruber February 6, 2021 15:49

The airline Swiss is taking the next escalation step in the struggle for a crisis agreement with the pilots and terminating the collective agreement. Negotiations with the Aeropers union ended without result. There are different views on the course of the talks. Swiss accuses the employee representatives of not being prepared to make "sufficient concessions during the crisis years", while the union sees it exactly the other way around. In any case, the airline terminated the collective agreement - comparable to a collective agreement. Due to the notice periods, this ends on March 31, 2022. The corona pandemic also hit Swiss hard. The carrier posted an operating loss of 2020 million Swiss francs in 400. The Lufthansa subsidiary was rescued with an emergency loan of 1,5 billion Swiss francs. The Swiss Confederation is liable for the majority of the loan. The airline wants to achieve cost savings in personnel. Multi-year crisis agreements were concluded with the social partners of the ground and cabin staff. Different negotiation goals No agreement has yet been reached with the pilots. The carrier assumes that there will be a surplus of pilots in the next few years. Swiss wants to negotiate a new collective agreement. However, the union initially wants to conclude temporary crisis agreements, but let the original agreement continue. The fronts are therefore hardened. "Without substantial contributions and expanded options for action during the Corona crisis, it is not, in our view, commercially responsible to maintain the current collective agreement," explains Thomas Frick, Chief Operating Officer of Swiss. "We are committed to social partnership and are convinced that, together with Aeropers, we can reach a new crisis-proof and future-proof collective agreement for female pilots.

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Eurowings Discover: SunExpress employees are suing for a transfer of operations

Jan Gruber February 6, 2021 12:06

The holiday airline SunExpress Germany is a victim of the corona pandemic, because the Lufthansa subsidiary, which once operated long-haul Airbus A330 jets for Eurowings, was closed down. The staff were given notice. 120 affected people do not want to put up with this and are taking the matter to court. According to a report by Airliners.de, they are suing to establish a transfer of operations to the new Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings Discover. The plaintiffs are of the opinion that SunExpress Germany was not closed, but merely merged into Eurowings Discover. Essential parts of the former holiday airline would now be found in the new company. The staff, however, were given notice. Attorney Martin Leufgen, who represents the plaintiffs, assumes that the first hearings will take place in June and July 2021 in Frankfurt. If the court legally follows the view of the former SunExpress Germany employees, this would have significant consequences for Eurowings Discover. Unclear which A330 Eurowings Discover will use The holiday airline was a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa. It flew with Boeing 737-800s under its own brand, but also had seven Airbus A330-200s that were in the air on behalf of Eurowings. The 737-800s were largely transferred to the Turkish SunExpress, which is not affected by the closure. The future of the long-haul aircraft is currently still unclear. According to Lufthansa, Eurowings Discover is to start with three Airbus A2021s in the 330 summer flight schedule. Where these aircraft come from is unclear. Although it is considered likely that the aircraft that were previously operated by SunExpress Germany will be used, the crane has not yet commented on this topic. According to

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Condor before EU complaint in dispute with Lufthansa

Jan Gruber February 6, 2021 11:03

There has been a bad atmosphere between the holiday airline Condor and its former parent company Lufthansa for some time. The background to this is that Condor has terminated the cooperation agreement on feeder flights. Condor is now also examining a complaint in Brussels. The holiday airline recently turned to the Federal Cartel Office because it suspects that Lufthansa is abusing its market power. The authority has already announced that formal proceedings have been opened and that a decision should be made as quickly as possible. The clock is ticking for Condor, because due to the notice period, the contract ends in June 2021, immediately before the summer business. The holiday airline does not have its own feeder flights. Instead, it has been using Lufthansa's flights, which used to be the owner of Condor, for decades as part of a special pro-rate contract. But it is precisely this agreement that Condor has terminated. The former subsidiary not only sees its existence threatened, but also accuses Lufthansa of trying to squeeze out of the market. "Coincidentally", most of Condor's long-haul routes are duplicated under the Eurowings Discover brand. The crane also makes no secret of the fact that it is ending its cooperation with its former subsidiary in order to be able to make better use of its own services. A complaint in Brussels could follow The news magazine "Der Spiegel" reports that Condor is now examining a complaint with the EU Commission. The approval of state aid for Lufthansa is the most important starting point, because the conditions stipulate that the aid may not be used to displace or take over smaller providers. The holiday airline, which was itself rescued by the German state, feels, however, forced into a predatory competition. Condor wanted to avoid the possible complaint in Brussels.

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