November 4, 2020

VC: “Lufthansa is not interested in a quick conclusion”

Jan Gruber 4 November 2020 15:52

The Cockpit Association is reacting somewhat sniffily to the recent statements by Lufthansa's major shareholder Heinz-Hermann Thiele. The union stresses that it is open to a short-term agreement on a crisis contribution. Thiele said earlier this week that if the collective bargaining partners do not come to a rapprochement quickly, Lufthansa should then "immediately issue large-scale dismissals". The VC claims that the Group's Executive Board is currently giving the impression that a quick conclusion is not desired. "As already discussed at the collective bargaining table, dismissals of cockpit employees without a reliable forecast are contrary to a social partnership approach to the crisis," says Dr. Marcel Gröls, Chairman of Collective Bargaining Policy. "We are all currently driving by sight, which is why we expect Lufthansa to accompany the negotiation process with a sense of proportion and not try to profit from the crisis at the expense of the employees."

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Kurier: AUA could use state aid for “luxury pensions”

Jan Gruber 4 November 2020 14:02

The performance of Austrian Airlines' pension fund has been abysmal for several years, meaning that the carrier has to top up the money every year. Now part of the state aid is to be used to pay the pensions of former top managers and pilots, reports the daily newspaper Kurier. The circle of recipients of these pension payments is now extremely small, but Austrian Airlines cannot simply get out of the old contracts. The fact that the former top managers and pilots do not want to voluntarily give up their high pension payments was already the subject of public criticism in the summer. In this context, the Neos party submitted a request to Finance Minister Gernot Blümel (ÖVP) and Mobility Minister Leonore Gewessler in the National Council: The opposition party wanted to know whether it had been determined in the course of the negotiations for state aid for Austrian Airlines that it could not be used for "luxury pensioners". The two government members declared that they were not responsible and therefore did not answer the Neos' request. In the summer, the Neos had already demanded that state aid should not be used for pensioners. National Council member Gerald Loacker told the Kurier that the answers were completely inadequate and that his party wanted to know again "how to prevent a significant portion of Austrian taxpayers' money from being used to plug the holes in the balance sheet of AUA pensioners." As mentioned at the beginning, the performance of the Austrian Airlines pension fund, from which only a very small group of people benefit, has been abysmal for several years. The company has to contribute millions every year because the fund can no longer afford the pensions on its own. Former top managers and

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Fraport makes a million dollar loss

Granite Pireci 4 November 2020 12:47

It is clear that the airports are making losses in the Corona year. The question that still remains: How red are the numbers at the end of the day? The Frankfurt airport operator Fraport posted a loss of 304 million euros in the third quarter. The collapse in passenger traffic during the CoV crisis and the planned job cuts pushed the airport even deeper into the red than feared in the summer. The expenses for the planned cuts of thousands of jobs alone cost the company 280 million euros. In the same year, the MDax-listed company still posted a profit of 222 million euros, as announced on Wednesday. "The situation in the industry remains very tense. With the renewed increase in the number of infections across Europe in recent weeks, travel restrictions have also increased significantly again. The airlines are further reducing their already limited offerings. We do not expect a recovery until the coming summer flight schedule at the earliest," said Stefan Schulte, CEO of Fraport AG.

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Eurowings will take off from BER for the first time

Granite Pireci 4 November 2020 12:35

Eurowings has taken off from the new capital airport Berlin Brandenburg for the first time - and three times in total: This morning, flights EW6 to Cologne and EW20 to Stuttgart took off at 8058:8000 a.m. This was immediately followed by flight EW6 to Düsseldorf at 30:8040 a.m. This makes Eurowings the first airline in the Lufthansa Group to fly scheduled services from the new capital airport. In domestic traffic, the airline connects the destinations Cologne, Düsseldorf and Stuttgart with the capital at least three times a day - on many days even more frequently. The carrier also flies weekly to the Canary Islands and the Greek islands. "In terms of culture and history, there is hardly a more exciting city in Europe than Berlin. The new BER will further increase Berlin's attractiveness, making it the entry and exit gate to a cool, modern metropolis. And no airline in Germany flies more tourists to Berlin than Eurowings. That's why we will be expanding here in the future," says Jens Bischof, Eurowings CEO.

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Delayed ticket refunds: 21 airlines have already had to pay

Granite Pireci 4 November 2020 12:28

The ticket refund dilemma apparently did not remain without consequences: The German Federal Aviation Office (LBA) has imposed fines in 21 cases on airlines that did not refund ticket costs for flights canceled due to Corona on time. Last year, the refunds worked, because no airline had to pay a penalty. However, details on the amount of the fines for the airlines affected cannot be given. "We cannot provide any further information on the amount of the fine, as the rights of those affected in the administrative offense proceedings do not allow this," a spokesperson for the authority told Handelsblatt. The decision on the amount of the fine will be made "in each individual case, taking into account the severity and frequency of the violation identified."

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Air Baltic boss is now an A220 pilot

Granite Pireci 4 November 2020 12:15

In times of Corona, the airlines' management cannot complain about not having enough work. For Martin Gauss, it can apparently be even more stressful: the Air Baltic CEO is now officially allowed to fly the Airbus A220. This makes him the first airline boss in the world to receive this authorization. Gauss, who has also been able to call himself a Boeing 1992 pilot since 737, completed the type rating between December 2019 and October 2020, the company announced on Wednesday. Will he be greeting passengers from the cockpit of an Air Baltic flight in the future?

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Hifly Malta ends A380 experiment

Jan Gruber 4 November 2020 11:00

Two years ago, Hifly Malta became the world's first charter and ACMI provider to add an Airbus A380 to its fleet. The carrier saw great potential at the time and even intended to lease more units. At the beginning, things went quite well and the aircraft was even used on short-haul routes, for example to fly holidaymakers home from Rhodes. The Corona pandemic, however, changed everything. Hifly has now decided to end the A380 project. As a result, the Maltese subsidiary will retire its only superjumbo, the 9H-MIP. The leasing contract will not be extended, the company confirmed. In the meantime, the company tried to fly freight with the ex-Singapore Airlines A380. It was actually the world's only "cargo aircraft" of this type. Like many airlines during the crisis, Hifly also tried to use passenger aircraft as freighters, but with the Airbus A380, success was very limited. Hifly Malta was the only Maltese A380 operator and will return this model to the lessor before the end of the year. What fate the aircraft will face is uncertain, because ironically the 9H-MIP is the only A380 to date that has been allowed to start a "second life" as a used aircraft. Hifly wants to replace the capacity with more A330s.

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United Airlines starts quick test run on long-haul routes

Jan Gruber 4 November 2020 10:00

United Airlines is offering free rapid corona tests on a trial basis on the New York (Newark)-London (Heathrow) route. The company hopes that this will boost demand. However, not all travelers will benefit from this, as citizens of various countries are not allowed to enter the United Kingdom or the USA. Furthermore, the UK does not yet accept a negative rapid test result as a substitute for a PCR result. Depending on the country of origin of the trip - in the event of a transfer in Newark - a quarantine could also be imposed on the island. The same applies conversely to the United States of America. Nevertheless, United Airlines' approach, which starts on November 16, 2020, shows that the industry is gradually becoming desperate, as demand is currently very close to absolute zero. An inscrutable patchwork of entry and quarantine regulations as well as a new wave of lockdowns in Europe are naturally having a negative impact on the business of the airline and tourism industry. The industry is demanding that rapid tests be carried out before departure and that negative results should exempt passengers from possible quarantine or further harassment.

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Germany: Scheuer announces “airport billion”

Jan Gruber 4 November 2020 09:00

The corona pandemic has brought some German commercial airports into financial difficulties. This affects not only "castles in the air" that were already billions in subsidies before the crisis, but also locations that made high profits last year. Now CSU Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer is promising short-term aid. Local media are reporting that the politician has said that his department will provide one billion euros in the short term to support airports in need. Some federal states, such as North Rhine-Westphalia, have already provided loan guarantees and/or subsidies in some cases. The federal government has so far been cautious. The airport association ADV has repeatedly pointed out that many German airports are now only concerned with survival. The situation is so dire that some have even had to file for bankruptcy without any aid. Paderborn has already had to go to the bankruptcy judge. According to industry representatives, the "German mandatory quarantine" that will come into force on November 8, 2020, even if you can present a negative PCR test, will further aggravate the situation. The federal government is demanding that it cover at least the holding costs that arose during the lockdown period in March and April 2020. Scheuer commented on this by saying that one billion euros could be made available in the short term. Of course, he did not want to say anything binding, but referred to a second "aviation summit" that is to be held in virtual form on Friday. The ADV warns that many German airports could run out of money by mid-2021 at the latest.

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Tuifly and VC break off negotiations

Jan Gruber 4 November 2020 08:20

The German holiday airline Tuifly and the pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit broke off negotiations on possible job cuts without any results. The management team around company boss Oliver Lackmann is said to have left the table. The company is planning to halve its fleet due to the crisis. Accordingly, fewer staff will be needed in the future and the Tui Group wants to cut them. According to a report by Airliners.de, which refers to a circular from the Tuifly management and the VC collective bargaining committee, the negotiations failed because the employee representatives wanted to rely purely on natural fluctuation. However, this was not enough for the company, which obviously also wants to cut staff for operational reasons. The Tui Group in particular has repeatedly been in the crossfire of criticism from unions in recent months, as the group was bailed out by the Federal Republic of Germany with a sum running into billions. The employee representatives are snubbed that, in their opinion, taxpayers' money is not being used to maintain jobs, but to cut them. Demand in tourism is currently extremely poor, which could be due, among other things, to unclear entry and quarantine regulations, a new “lockdown wave”, but also the stoking of fears or the deliberate “badmouthing” of stays abroad.

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More articles from the category

VC: “Lufthansa is not interested in a quick conclusion”

Kurier: AUA could use state aid for “luxury pensions”

Fraport makes a million dollar loss

Eurowings will take off from BER for the first time

Delayed ticket refunds: 21 airlines have already had to pay

Air Baltic boss is now an A220 pilot

Hifly Malta ends A380 experiment

United Airlines starts quick test run on long-haul routes

Germany: Scheuer announces “airport billion”

Tuifly and VC break off negotiations

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