September 24, 2020

More articles from the category

September 24, 2020

From October 15: Germany sends into quarantine with a negative test

Anyone who has been in a risk area in Germany will have to quarantine for five days from October 15, 2020, regardless of whether they can show a negative PCR test or not. The aviation industry is up in arms against the planned regulation, as it fears another significant drop in demand. This is also consistent with the fact that the German Robert Koch Institute declares cities, federal states, regions and entire countries to be risk areas according to incomprehensible criteria, and is very happy to do so overnight, so that passengers are caught off guard and have no opportunity to prepare. Regardless of the fact that many cities in Germany massively exceed the RKI risk mark of 50 positive tests per 100.000 inhabitants, this rigid mark applies to foreign countries. Other criteria are not taken into account at all. For example, no one questions how many tests have actually been carried out. Although the German Foreign Ministry claims that the travel warnings are issued carefully, practice shows that the dictates of the Robert Koch Institute are adopted one-to-one. As a result, airlines that fly to Germany or have their home base there fear that very soon there will be no routes at all that travelers can use without hassle on their return. The current plan is for passengers entering Germany from risk areas to be quarantined for five days, even if they have a negative PCR result. Within these five days, there is also a mandatory test, and the costs will reportedly have to be borne by the passengers themselves in the future. Unless you have symptoms and are ordered to be tested by the authorities. Also from October 15, 2020 - provided

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Germany lifts the ban on Iran

The Federal Republic of Germany allows airlines to fly to Iran again. The ban imposed due to the corona pandemic has been lifted by the Federal Ministry of Health. However, a large "rush" from airlines is not to be expected. Since Iran is a so-called third country, particularly strict entry and quarantine regulations apply. Many travelers find it difficult or even impossible to comply with these. It is therefore not expected that the suspended flight connections between Iran and Germany will be resumed on a large scale. At most, a single-digit number of rotations per week seems realistic.

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Austria issues new travel warnings

Austria is lifting the travel warnings that have been in place for some time for Sweden and large parts of Portugal. As a result, returnees will no longer have to present a negative PCR test from Monday and will no longer have to undergo quarantine. While the lifting applies to the entire national territory in Sweden, the regions of Norte and Lisbon are exempt in Portugal. For the latter, the travel warning and thus also the entry requirements remain in place. New to the list of risk regions that have been given the highest level of travel warning are the Czech capital Prague and the French regions of Île de France and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. From Monday, a travel warning including quarantine or the requirement to present a negative PCR test will apply to these. Due to the already strict entry requirements on both sides, the highest level travel warnings now issued for Israel, Argentina, Bahrain, Kuwait, Costa Rica and the Maldives are more of a symbolic nature. According to the Foreign Ministry, this currently applies to 37 countries.

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AUA shortens Germany and Switzerland flight plan

Due to a lack of demand, which is also due to the numerous travel warnings, Austrian Airlines is cutting back on flights to Germany and Switzerland. In some cases, frequencies are being reduced, smaller aircraft are being used, or connections are being made with a stopover. According to the company, flights to Switzerland and Germany will be cut for the time being. There are currently no plans to cancel any routes entirely, but Austrian Airlines' commercial aircraft will fly them less frequently. The carrier is planning to use smaller aircraft, particularly to Switzerland. In future, the destinations Leipzig and Nuremberg will be served in the form of Vienna-Leipzig-Nuremberg-Vienna. The measures are initially to apply until the end of October 2020. It is still unclear whether there will also be cuts to the Netherlands and Belgium. According to Austrian Airlines, a decision has not yet been made; the situation is currently being monitored.

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From October: Austrian Airlines flies to Shanghai again

After AUA postponed the relaunch several times, the return to China is now fixed: Austrian Airlines will fly to Shanghai again from October 2nd. The Lufthansa subsidiary's long-haul portfolio is expanding to include another destination. A Boeing 767 will operate the Vienna-Shanghai flight every Friday. The return flight will take place the following Sunday. But that is only the starting signal. Because, as the flag carrier announced in a press release today, further connections to the Middle Kingdom are a conceivable option. "We are very happy that we can return to China with regular passenger flights. A second weekly flight to Shanghai is on our wish list," said Austrian Airlines board member Andreas Otto.

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Vienna: Ryanair will cancel 12 routes in September

At the end of the month, the Ryanair Group, of which Lauda is also a member, is discontinuing numerous routes from Vienna-Schwechat. The reason for this is probably the extremely subdued demand due to the corona pandemic. Various travel restrictions, which can mean that people residing in Vienna or Austria cannot enter the country at all, are obviously having an additional negative impact on sales. Now destinations such as Paris-BVA, Bordeaux and Gdansk are being abandoned. In total, Ryanair is cancelling 12 destinations from Vienna-Schwechat by the end of September. These are not only summer destinations that are being discontinued early, but city shuttle destinations are also affected. According to current information, nine more routes will be cancelled at the end of October 2020. At the same time, however, the Canary Islands are being added back to the program. In general, the winter flight schedule from Vienna is significantly reduced and classics such as Marrakesh and Agadir are completely missing. For other destinations, the inclusion seems extremely questionable due to strict entry and quarantine regulations and the associated virtually zero demand. Ryanair itself has not commented on the changes to the Vienna flight schedule, but these are not only visible on the company's homepage, but affected passengers have already been informed on a large scale by email about the cancellation of their bookings. The Lauda parent company is not an isolated case, however, as competitors Wizzair and Austrian Airlines have also repeatedly adapted their flight schedules in recent days and weeks and adjusted them to current demand. While AUA makes no secret of the fact that the situation is currently challenging, questions about route cancellations do not seem to be welcome at Wizzair. Possible effects of the cancellations on the staff of the subsidiary Laudamotion or the Maltese successor Lauda Europe

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Russia: Wizz Air postpones opening of the base

Wizz Air has to postpone the opening of its first Russian base due to the newly imposed travel restrictions. The new date is December 3rd. The low-cost airline had originally planned to station a single Airbus A18 aircraft at St. Petersburg Airport from September 320th, as the news magazine CH-Aviation reports. The low-cost carrier realized that this plan would not work after Russia's adapted entry rules. As a result, the Russian Federation generally does not grant entry permits to foreign nationals. However, some countries, such as the United Kingdom, are exempt from this if they can present a negative Covid-19 test result. This measure affects various of the airline's flight routes to and from Russia, which will remain suspended for the time being. 

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Ryanair with 1 + 1 free promotion

The Ryanair Group is now selling two tickets for the price of one. The offer is limited to the travel period from September 25th to December 14th, 2020 and can be booked on Thursday, September 24th, 2020 until 23:59 p.m. The carrier writes that it is applicable to the Value fare. "For the first time in Ryanair's history, we are launching a 'Buy One Get One Free' offer. You'd be crazy to miss it! Book today for travel from September 25th to December 14th, 2020 on 1.600 routes and get a second ticket for the same flight for free," says Dara Brady, Director of Marketing & Digital at Ryanair.

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Easyjet: Verdi calls for protest

Easyjet has announced that it will halve its Berlin base due to the Corona difficulties. This would mean the end for almost 50 percent of the workforce. Now the Verdi union is calling for a protest. This public protest march is to be directed against the planned staff cuts and will take place today between 9 and 11 a.m. According to the responsible union secretary Holger Rößler, 300 people are expected to attend in front of the Intercity Hotel at Berlin-Schönefeld Airport. While the Easyjet employees are campaigning to keep their jobs, negotiations are also to take place at the same time. Representatives of the British low-cost airline and the staff representatives will meet for this purpose, as airliners.de reports. "The protest action is intended to give support to the staff representatives and the union collective bargaining committees," Rößler continued. Although there have already been talks in the past, these have so far ended without results, according to the union secretary. Instead, the low-cost carrier wants to issue the first dismissals at the beginning of November. According to Verdi, dismissals should only be considered in unavoidable cases in times of Corona - at Easyjet there is a way out. In fact, there are several. For example, the short-time working arrangement could be extended until December 31st of next year. Furthermore, expanded part-time offers and a move to the airline's European network could be considered. From Verdi's point of view, severance payments or early retirement arrangements are also possible. When asked, Easyjet referred to the ongoing negotiations. At the same time, they regret "that proposals to reduce aircraft and crew are necessary for our Berlin flight operations".

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September 25: All-day strike at Italy's airports

The Italians are on strike: According to the crisis warning service A25M, there will be a nationwide, all-day strike at Italian airports and at the airlines Alitalia and Alitalia Cityliner on September 3. Various employee representatives have called for this. It is not known at this point whether ground staff or cabin crews will stop working. Nevertheless, anyone who has planned to fly on this particular day may have to accept complications. 

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