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Stephen Lorenz

In the sub-charter of the sub-charter: With Carpatair's “new” A319 for Air Baltic from Zurich to Riga

Stephen Lorenz July 6, 2023 04:32

When I boarded an Air Baltic A220 on my Swiss flight to Zurich the day before this trip report, I had to smile a little. After all, I had received an email from Air Baltic just under 3 weeks earlier. "There is a change to your flight," it said. However, this email did not refer to the Swiss flight operated by Air Baltic, but to my Air Baltic flight from Zurich to Riga, which I had booked the following day. I had booked the flight with Air Baltic on their A220, including seat reservations, and only noticed at second glance that the "highlight" of the email was not the minimal change in departure time of 5 minutes, but the change in the operating carrier - to the Romanian Carpatair. A shock. I saw myself in their Fokker 10 again in my mind's eye after almost exactly 100 years. A quick look at the booking tool on the "BT homepage" at least reassured me that the aircraft type was an Airbus A319. As the "aviation geek" in me comes through in these moments, the next thing that followed was a prompt look in a well-known aircraft database to find out where the Carpatair A319 comes from. - (ex easyJet) (The second A319 in the fleet - which is also used by Air Baltic - had a somewhat eventful history with delivery to Hamburg International (HHI), as well as many years of use by Germania Switzerland (HolidayJet) and its successor company Chair.) So now the time had come, I found myself at the gate in Zurich. Time to give Carpatair a second chance on this almost two-hour flight to

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Air Baltic launches special flights to the Ice Hockey World Championship

Stephen Lorenz 26 May 2023 16:12

The Latvian national ice hockey team's first ever semi-final appearance has led to special flights between Riga and Tampere. They have been running in two locations simultaneously since May 12, 2023. The 86th IIHF World Championship will take place this year in both the Latvian capital Riga and Tampere, Finland. Two cities in which the airline Air Baltic also has locations. After the Latvian national team made it to the semi-finals for the first time ever yesterday evening with a completely surprising 3-1 win against Sweden, Air Baltic announced today that there will be spontaneous special flights between the two locations. In addition to the regular aircraft BT357, flight BT4 will take off tomorrow morning at 00:3357 local time from Riga to Tampere, Finland. Flight BT6 will follow at 00:1357 local time and will reach Tampere at 7:00. Both flights will be operated with Air Baltic's own A220 aircraft. As the special flights were quickly booked out, the carrier announced that more would be offered. The German national ice hockey team coached by Harold Kreis also moved into the semi-finals yesterday after a confident 3:1 victory against Switzerland, which advanced to the quarter-finals as leaders of Group B after the group phase. However, there they will face the USA, a team with clear title ambitions, home of the best ice hockey league in the world, the NHL. The Latvian team also faces a particularly tough opponent in Canada. The North Americans reached the round of the last four with a 4:1 victory against the current world champions Finland, thus ending the Finnish team's title defence early. Both the Air Baltic

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Easyjet has aircraft based in Alicante and Birmingham

Stephen Lorenz 26 May 2023 13:11

After Nice Air's insolvency, flights to Akureyri for the first time. Birmingham will be the ninth base in the UK, Alicante will be the fourth seasonal base. After HiFly Malta and the "Nice Air" management had already fallen out a few weeks ago, the virtual Icelandic airline was already without an aircraft, and now the logical consequence of insolvency followed a few days ago. While the aircraft continues to fly in Nice Air colors, currently in service for Air Baltic from Riga, the British LCC easyJet is now venturing its first connection to Akureyri in Iceland. From October 31, 2023, the airline is planning two weekly flights from the company's largest station - London Gatwick, which would currently be the only non-stop connection with the British Kingdom. The company is also continuing to invest in its home market and is opening a station in the second largest British city, Birmingham, in spring 2024. A total of 3 Airbus A320s with 186 seats will be stationed at the airport there. The biggest local competitor, however, is the British and rapidly expanding Jet2 with 13 aircraft stationed locally. This is extremely successful with its product "Jet2 Holidays" and so easyJet is now putting an ever stronger focus on its own tour operator "easyJet Holidays", which is expecting strong growth in the double-digit percentage range this year and will also offer trips from BHX to the most popular city and beach destinations. New routes were not yet made official in the course of the announcement, but yesterday it was announced that from the coming winter flight schedule there will already be new connections from Paris - CDG (daily) and Lyon

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Ita Airways: Lufthansa takes a stake of 41 percent

Stephen Lorenz 26 May 2023 13:07

It's done. After what felt like an endless sales process with lots of back and forth, yesterday evening the announcement was finally made that the deal between the Italian state and "Carsten Spohrs - Lufthansa" had been finalized. After the LH Group had already brought the state-owned airlines Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Brussels Airlines in Belgium, Switzerland and Austria under the DLH umbrella, the fifth network carrier is now following suit with ITA Airways in Italy. By acquiring the Italians, the company hopes to gain expanded access to the Latin American and African markets, and on the other hand, it is hoping to achieve significant synergy effects in Frankfurt and Rome, as well as further strengthen the Italian market and its own hubs, which now include Rome-Fiumicino. ITA will remain an independent brand with its own identity. While Lufthansa is investing a total of 325 million euros in fresh capital directly into the company as part of a capital increase, the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance has also committed to investing a further 250 million euros in ITA through a capital increase. Of course, the entire deal is currently subject to approval by the relevant authorities. What does ITA Airways bring to the Lufthansa Group? The successor to the previous Alitalia, whose livery is still on some of the 66 aircraft in the fleet, currently employs around 4000 people. Around 64 million passengers have been transported to 10 destinations. These are divided into 21 domestic connections, 33 European and 10 intercontinental routes. The pure

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Nor(se)-wegian 2.0: Full plane, overpriced food on board and almost 1,5 hours earlier in New York

Stephen Lorenz 16 May 2023 04:32

New York, if you can make it there, you make it anywhere. This wisdom, which the great Frank Sinatra once sang in his hymn to one of the most exciting metropolises in the world, can also be fantastically applied to this new Norwegian company called "Norse". If you can make it to Berlin - New York, you can make it anywhere. As a look ahead to the upcoming winter flight schedule shows, Norse does not seem to have made it, at least from Berlin. Launched in the midst of the Corona pandemic with a low-cost concept on long-haul routes, the only intersection point is currently Berlin's capital airport BER. The airline started with daily 787-9 Dreamliner flights from Berlin to New York JFK, but currently only 4 weekly flights remain. The much-heralded LA (LAX) connection, on whose first flight I was also invited in August, became superfluous within a few weeks. The third Berlin route to Florida, which was initially advertised as "Miami" on Norse's social media channels on the day of publication and then turned out to be Fort Lauderdale, is likely to be history again after a short 2022/23 winter season, according to current knowledge. As the grapevine reports, the occupancy figures are not bad at all and the prices have also increased since the announcement a year ago, from €149 one-way to New York to around €250, but Norse urgently needs to make money and the market from Berlin is clearly not sufficient for that. After I initially planned a flight from Berlin to Fort Lauderdale

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Air Serbia about to expand its fleet again

Stephen Lorenz 11 April 2023 05:36

Former Wizz Air A320 is ready for delivery in Erfurt. It is currently an eye-catcher at Erfurt-Weimar Airport. An Airbus A320 in full Air Serbia colors has been standing there relatively alone for a few days. The 12-year-old aircraft with the serial number 4716 arrived in Erfurt on March 25th under the flight number and Hungarian registration of the previous user "Wizz Air" and was given the new registration YU-APS on site after the Eastern European LCC returned the aircraft to the lessor in January of this year. After the final modifications by the locally based "Hangar 901 Maintenance", the aircraft will soon leave Erfurt for Belgrade. This means that the fleet of the Serbian national carrier, which consists of aircraft of the types A319, A320, A330 and ATR72, will be expanded by a 23rd aircraft, the fourth - Airbus A320.

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Comeback: ITB 2023 in Berlin ended

Stephen Lorenz March 10, 2023 11:42

More than 90000 trade visitors ensure that the exhibition halls are well-filled. After a break of several years due to the pandemic, the world's largest industry get-together took place in Berlin over the past three days. In addition to a large number of positive voices, the returning desire to travel instead of travel frustration, or the "comeback of the package tour", as is the case almost everywhere, the shortage of skilled workers is causing some concern among tourism professionals. This was particularly evident at many airports across Europe last summer and is likely to continue to concern us in the future. Focus on the Middle East As usual, the Middle East presented itself impressively with imposing exhibition stands. From Oman, via Dubai and Abu Dhabi to Qatar and Saudi Arabia, exhibition stands, some of which were magnificently decorated, advertised to attract wealthy tourists. Of course, the airlines in the Middle East did not miss this opportunity. While Etihad presented the Business Class of the Airbus A3-350, Oman Air showed both the fleet's Business Class and the First Class installed exclusively in the 1000 Dreamliner. Qatar Airways chose a completely different approach. At the exhibition stand there, you had the opportunity to "put the Qatar Airways cabin through its paces" using VR glasses. Condor represented again for the first time After several years of absence, Condor proudly presented itself in the USA / Canada hall at this year's ITB. In the cabin replica of the new flagship A787neo, trade visitors had the opportunity to try out both Economy and Business Class. Aviation.Direct had the opportunity to test the aircraft a few weeks ago during the A330neo's first flight from New York JFK to Frankfurt. A trip report can be found here

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Lübeck Airport creates a new focus for itself and Lübeck Air

Stephen Lorenz March 9, 2023 09:02

ATR72 leaves the fleet and is replaced by an Embraer 175. Stuttgart route is discontinued - increased focus on tourist destinations in the future. After more than 2 years, it was clearly time for an interim assessment in the management of Lübeck Airport and thus also at Lübeck Air. What was initially sent out as a message to local travel agencies has now been confirmed by Aviation.Direct during the ITB in Berlin. Lübeck Air is making a huge change shortly before the start of the 2023 summer flight schedule. The connection to Stuttgart will be discontinued at short notice at the end of this week. According to the company, the connection had developed well over the last 2 years, but not sufficiently enough to continue to be flown in the future. This means that the discontinuation of the route is not a short-term or temporary cancellation, but a permanent one. The only remaining domestic German connection to Munich on the double edge of the day is running much better, according to Lübeck Air, and will be retained in the future. The most dramatic news, however, is that the only ATR72 D-ALBC will leave the fleet this summer and therefore in the coming weeks. The aircraft, which has so far been operated in cooperation with the Danish Air Alsie, will be replaced by a larger Embraer 175 jet with 88 seats. Even though the agreement with the future partner, who will also operate the aircraft on a wet lease basis, is already at an advanced stage, an official announcement will only be made by Lübeck Air in the coming weeks. This also means that the plans

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Egypt Air is again a guest at BER with a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

Stephen Lorenz March 7, 2023 16:14

ITB in Berlin ensures higher demand. The world's largest industry meeting, the ITB in Berlin, which started today, Tuesday, is ensuring full planes. The use of A321neo aircraft from Berlin can be observed more and more these days, for example with Aegean, Iberia Express, Lufthansa and Pegasus Airlines. Depending on the configuration chosen by the airline, the A321neo offers space for up to 240 passengers and is ideal for short and medium-haul flights to cover higher demand. After the exclusively digital format of recent years, the International Tourism Exchange (ITB) in Berlin is now taking place in person for the first time again, but this year the trade fair is reserved exclusively for trade visitors. Egypt Air uses larger aircraft Today, Tuesday, the Egyptian flag carrier “Egypt Air” once again used long-haul aircraft on the Berlin route from Cairo, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with space for up to 309 guests. The aircraft is divided into a business class with 30 seats in a 1-2-1 configuration and 279 seats in economy in a 3-3-3 configuration and is normally used on Egypt Air's long-haul routes from Cairo to Johannesburg or Beijing, for example. When demand is high, Egypt Air also uses the aircraft flexibly across its entire route network, and the aircraft is also occasionally a guest at London Heathrow Airport.

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In the TAP-A321LR to New York: chaotic transfer, bad food, but plenty of space

Stephen Lorenz March 6, 2023 04:35

"Boa Sorte" - which in German means something like "good luck" - calls the flight attendant after me as I climb the rear stairs of the A320Neo at Lisbon airport. In the end, our A44Neo, which had come from Berlin, reached the parking position at Lisbon airport 320 minutes late. Before this test and trip report, I had read a lot about TAP over the last few years, especially that the airline - a member of the Star Alliance, after all - is actually quite OK as long as no irregularities (such as delays or cancellations) occur. But this meant that my transfer time should be reduced from 1h20 to just under 35 minutes. Actually, a fact that I would generally take in good spirits, were it not for the fact that I had been booked on a connecting flight to the US with additional passport and security checks. Boarding After I was encouraged to run through the terminal to catch my flight to JFK, I followed this obviously well-intentioned advice. As soon as I reached the terminal, I could see Gate 47 and "Last Call" on the first monitor, which made me mentally see my cases slipping away. When I reached the gate after a sporty 5-minute sprint, gasping for air, the agent was already waiting with a "hurry hurry". Funny. When I was finally able to scan my boarding pass, the gate was closed right behind me - 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time - really at the last minute. Anyone planning to change planes in Lisbon with TAP should be very skeptical if it's less than 1,5 hours.

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