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October 7th

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October 7th

Clear ownership commitment for Linz

Michael David 7 October 2020 18:19

In view of the massive impact of the global travel and air traffic crisis caused by the Corona pandemic on Linz Airport, its owners discussed possible scenarios in a future meeting with airport management. As a result of these discussions, the owners made a clear commitment to Linz Airport. "Linz Airport is of central importance for Upper Austria as a business location before, during and after the Corona crisis," explains State Councilor for Economic Affairs and Chairman of the Supervisory Board Markus Achleitner. For the state of Upper Austria, which is half-owner of the airport alongside the city of Linz, as a leading economic and industrial state with the highest export quota compared to other federal states, Linz Airport is of great importance as a logistics network, both in the passenger and freight sectors. Especially in the freight sector, Linz Airport has played to its strengths even in the current phase of the Corona pandemic, was able to present a new regular freight connection and was able to reach the level of the previous year as early as August. However, due to the countless travel warnings and restrictions on air traffic, passenger traffic has collapsed massively, causing Linz Airport to record a sharp drop in revenue. However, Linz Mayor Klaus Luger makes it clear: "The airport's self-financing capacity is still there even in these difficult times. Through active cost management, management can safely steer the airport operations through the crisis without the need for subsidies from the owners." Linz Airport has managed very well for more than the last 15 years and has always been able to close the business with a positive result. As soon as the Corona-related situation allows, scheduled and charter flight connections are to be restarted. There are ongoing discussions and negotiations with

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Leipzig is only connected to the AUA hub in Vienna

Amely Mizzi 7 October 2020 17:00

In the upcoming 2020/21 winter flight schedule, Leipzig/Halle Airport will no longer have any domestic German flight connections for the first time in many years. Both Lufthansa and its subsidiary Eurowings will no longer operate the corresponding routes. This is causing anger in politics, because it also means that hub connections will be lost. The two airlines of the Lufthansa Group confirmed the decisions to the German specialist portal Airliners.de. This means that the connection to the Munich hub will not be available, at least during the winter period. The crane justifies the move by saying that demand has "fallen well short of expectations". Nor is it expected that there will be any improvement in the short term. Incidentally, Lufthansa also gave exactly the same reason for the renewed discontinuation of the Friedrichshafen-Frankfurt route. Eurowings had only planned flights to Düsseldorf from Leipzig/Halle anyway, and six times a week. According to Airliners.de, the routes to Cologne/Bonn and Stuttgart were only served in the summer months and were abandoned again due to weak demand. According to the report, the Kranich subsidiary also justifies the temporary suspension of the Düsseldorf route with a lack of customer demand. However, it is hoped that it can be resumed as soon as possible. The only connection to a Star Alliance hub is now the Austrian Airlines connection to Vienna, which is offered several times a week. This is currently offered with a stopover in Nuremberg. AUA does not sell tickets within Germany, as it does not see a market for this, Aviation Direct reported a few days ago. Airliners.de writes that the hub connection to the Zurich hub is currently not bookable. The Leipzig-Frankfurt route served by Lufthansa is to be offered only by rail. In politics, the

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Düsseldorf: € 500 fine for using the wrong door

Jan Gruber 7 October 2020 16:43

On March 1, 2020, an unknown man, a 65-year-old Greek and a 24-year-old student from Hamburg caused quite a stir at Düsseldorf Airport. They entered the security area through an emergency door and thus illegally. This had consequences: the terminal was evacuated, around 6.500 travelers were checked again and 48 flights had to be canceled. The Düsseldorf District Court has now imposed fines of 500 euros each. However, the door was not opened by the pensioner or the young man from Hamburg, but by a person who has not yet been identified. The two simply ran after him and, in the opinion of the Düsseldorf District Court, had no intention of breaking the law. Originally, a fine of 2.500 euros was imposed for a negligent violation of the Aviation Security Act. The court reduced this to 500 euros each.

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Evelop and Orbest will also offer scheduled flights in the future

Granite Pireci 7 October 2020 13:26

The two airlines Evelop Airlines and Orbest were previously only known as charter airlines. Now both are going on scheduled flights. "We have started restructuring our airlines in Spain and Portugal so that we can offer scheduled services in addition to charter services in the near future," manager Vicente Fenollar is quoted as saying by the news magazine Preferente. The two carriers are clearly not doing things by halves: they recently expanded their fleets. While Orbest added an A330 Neo, Evelop Airlines strengthened its fleet with an A350. The plan is to start with regular flights to South America.

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IATA: Airlines lose 250 euros every minute

Granite Pireci 7 October 2020 13:09

With the travel restrictions imposed, uncertainty in the aviation industry is also growing. The umbrella organization of airlines (IATA) is now warning of the consequences and calling for more support. Red. Airlines will have to get used to this color. According to an IATA forecast, airlines are in the red and burning through 250 euros - every minute. Extrapolated over six months, that would be around 000 billion euros, as finanzen.at reports. "The crisis is deeper and lasts longer than we could have imagined," said IATA boss Alexandre de Juniac. "We must sound the alarm again today." Specifically, they are calling for further government support for the industry. The aid programs will soon expire, and at the same time there is no end to the crisis in sight. Quite the opposite: profits cannot be expected again until 65 at the earliest. The association also repeatedly reiterates the use of rapid corona tests at airports so that quarantine measures in destination countries become unnecessary.

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Saving is the order of the day at Düsseldorf Airport

Granite Pireci 7 October 2020 12:44

The second corona wave is looming and travel restrictions are increasing. Among those suffering are the airports. Düsseldorf Airport has also been hit hard. The airport is now pulling out all the stops and has to do one thing above all: save money. After a slight increase in passenger numbers in the summer months, there was another setback. In mid-September, airport boss Thomas Schnalke informed about the collapse in bookings in the autumn. Even during the school holidays, the number of passengers "never exceeded 30 percent of the usual volume". Reason enough to develop a restructuring strategy. To do this, a new consulting firm was joined. With the help of this firm, the airport wants to find new sources of income and reduce the currently excessive cost structure. And as is so often the case in this crisis, it is the airport's own workforce that has to suffer first. Because, as the news magazine RP-Online reports, at least 600 of the 2400 employees will have to pack their bags and leave the company. The union is opposed to this plan and is calling for a more employee-friendly solution. However, there is agreement on the so-called "volunteer program," based on the motto: anyone who wants to can leave. Those employees will then also be offered a reasonable severance package. In addition, airport boss Schnalke also wants to focus on early retirement. More details will be made public at a later date. The airport can still look forward to income: the NRW Bank recently approved a loan of 250 million euros, as the news paper WDR reports.

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Flughafen Zürich AG invests in India

Granite Pireci 7 October 2020 11:53

The ink is dry: Zurich Airport has signed the contract for the construction and operation of the capital's Delhi airport. An agreement was reached with the Indian government before Corona, and now everything is in the bag. The new airport is to be built 80 kilometers south of the city center. The first construction work will begin next year - and is expected to last until 2024. In a first step, the company says it will invest 650 million francs. In addition, it has committed to operating the airport for at least 40 years. In addition to the project in India, Zurich Airport AG is currently involved in eight airports in South America.

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Lauda: O'Brien agrees workforce on substantial flight schedule reduction

Jan Gruber 7 October 2020 11:47

The Maltese airline Lauda Europe can no longer rule out that there will be further cuts in the 2020/21 winter flight schedule at its Vienna-Schwechat location. Managing Director David O'Brien explains in a circular available to Aviation Direct that it is currently completely unclear how many aircraft can be used for Ryanair in winter. Ten Airbus A320s and three Boeing 737-800s operated by Ryanair itself are currently stationed at the former Laudamotion home base. The company is currently working with the parent company to develop an "optimal winter flight schedule", but cuts are "very likely". According to O'Brien, the focus is on "surviving this winter". For the summer of 2021, the airline boss is holding out the prospect of a possible expansion of services from Vienna-Schwechat. However, David O'Brien also hints at certain conditions: For example, he demands that "more competitive costs" can be agreed with Vienna Airport and that the government offers "fair and non-discriminatory support for jobs in aviation". If both are the case, “hopefully the cuts this winter” could be minimized. Shortly after the start of the Corona pandemic, the sister company Laudamotion caused a stir with a real PR battle surrounding short-time work. This was then simply ended because the desired collective agreement was not signed in time. Since then, numerous employees, especially in administration, have been laid off at Laudamotion, which has no legal connection with the new Lauda Europe. Laudamotion will finally cease flight operations at the end of October 2020 and return AOC and OL. Lauda Europe will only maintain a very small administration team in Vienna. There is talk of around ten people, but the carrier wanted to

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Germany: Business trips increasingly by car instead of plane

Jan Gruber 7 October 2020 11:25

Demand for domestic German air travel could collapse even further due to the current Corona situation. A survey by the German Travel Management Association found that 76 percent of respondents are increasingly using their cars for business trips instead of flights or trains. This is apparently seen as safer in the "car-driving nation of Germany". But larger companies in particular are apparently giving a lot of thought to how the possible loss of top employees can be prevented. This also has an impact on demand for domestic German travel, because according to the VDR survey, only 18 percent of companies now allow unrestricted business trips within Germany. The vast majority of companies surveyed stated that there are restrictions or even bans, especially if the destination is a risk area defined by the Robert Koch Institute. But it is also interesting to look at another question that the VDR asked: The participating travel managers of the companies stated that they are only partially satisfied with the Corona measures. They also noticed massive differences between the individual airlines. Deutsche Bahn received particularly poor ratings in terms of approval for the good implementation of safety and hygiene measures, with 59 percent rejection.

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New Zealanders are allowed to return to Australia, but not the other way around

Jan Gruber 7 October 2020 11:13

Since mid-March, Austria's borders have been largely closed. In addition to its own citizens, only a few groups of people who fall under exceptions are allowed to enter. Tourist stays are taboo. Now there is the first easing of restrictions: from October 16, 2020, New Zealanders are allowed to enter the country again. But there is a catch: Australians, on the other hand, are not allowed to enter New Zealand. The prerequisite for New Zealand residents to be allowed to return to Australia is that they have not been in any "corona hotspot" in the last 14 days. Crossing the border is also not permitted everywhere. Sydney, Darwin and Adelaide are to be opened to residents of the neighboring country at first. However, Australians do not benefit much from the unilateral easing, because New Zealand still does not allow entry.

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