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March 31, 2021

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March 31, 2021

Malta wants to ramp up tourism from June 2021

Jan Gruber March 31, 2021 18:36

Last summer, Malta had rather lax entry regulations, but the tourist season was more of a total failure. Only a few foreigners "got lost" on the three Mediterranean islands. This year, everything should be better, announced Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo. People who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 should be allowed to enter without restrictions. This should be possible from around the beginning of June 2021. Alternatively, a negative test can be presented. Entry without vaccination or test will no longer be possible, says Bartolo. The government member expects high demand and refers to the high vaccination progress in the United Kingdom as well as in his own country. Malta has already vaccinated the majority of the population at least once. At present, entry to Malta is largely unproblematic, as only a negative test result has to be presented. However, the number of flight connections is at an all-time low.

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Austria: Network ticket accepted by the Federal Council

Jan Gruber March 31, 2021 18:01

The network ticket for public transport planned by the Austrian federal government received the necessary approval in the Federal Council. Only the FPÖ voted against it. The tickets will be sold through One Mobility GmbH, which was founded specifically for this purpose. Under the title “Climate Ticket”, the Ministry of Transport led by Leonore Gewessler (Greens) is pushing for the introduction of network tickets. These will be available for purchase in three variants (one federal state, two federal states and the whole of Austria). The state subsidizes the tickets in order to be able to keep the end customer price low. It is planned that the costs of implementing the climate ticket will be financed from the collected fare revenues and through grants from the federal budget. In detail, the legal requirements for compensation to the transport companies and the framework conditions for the transport association organization companies will be defined. The law stipulates that the Minister of Transport can issue regulations and conclude the necessary contractual agreements. Sales company founded A supporting measure to this is another federal law, which authorizes the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology to create One Mobility GmbH as a joint sales platform for several transport companies and transport association organizations. This company is intended to ensure non-discriminatory sales of the climate ticket. As a national sales platform, it is intended to ensure transparent tariffs and standardization of ticketing in public transport. Today, a "decisive course" has been set for public transport, said State Secretary Magnus Brunner with delight. The climate ticket is one building block among many and an important signal for the future. Now the legal basis must be "brought to life" through further negotiations with the federal states. However, the climate ticket must not

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Swiss: Romain Vetter is the new head of Western Switzerland

Amely Mizzi March 31, 2021 17:35

As of April 1, 2021, Swiss has a new head, Romain Vetter, responsible for the Western Switzerland region. He has commercial responsibility for activities at Geneva Airport. Vetter previously worked for the Lufthansa Group as Head of Purchase Management Leisure. The manager succeeds Lorenzo Stoll, who will take up his new role as Head of Swiss Worldcargo on April 1, 2021. Vetter will report directly to Swiss's Head of Commercial Affairs, Tamur Goudarzi Pour. The new Head of Western Switzerland has worked for the Lufthansa subsidiary since 2015. “I am delighted that we have been able to recruit Romain Vetter, a French-speaking Swiss citizen, from our own ranks. Together with his teams, he has made a significant contribution to the commercial and technical success of the Lufthansa Group's sales management in various key positions over the past five years, successfully helping to shape the Distribution division. He therefore has the right prerequisites to continue to successfully develop Geneva, a strategically important location for Swiss and the Lufthansa Group, in the future. I would like to thank him for his great commitment to date and wish him much satisfaction and success in his new role,” said Swiss CCO Tamur Goudarzi Pour.

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Austria: Green Pass is stuck in the Federal Council

Jan Gruber March 31, 2021 17:03

Actually, Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) and Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) wanted to introduce the forced "Green Pass" at the national level, i.e. for use in Germany, as early as April 2021. This will not happen for the time being, because the Federal Council rejected the amendments to the laws by 29 votes to 27. The planned access tests for trade are also affected. The circumstances that led to the rejection in the state chamber are quite remarkable, because the SPÖ is strictly against the government's plans. Burgenland's Governor Hans-Peter Doskozil (SPÖ) asked "his" Federal Councilors to leave the room so as not to vote against the party line on the one hand and to be able to give the government's plan a majority on the other. The Burgenlanders did so, but it was not enough for approval in the Federal Council, because two ÖVP representatives and one from the Greens were ill and therefore generally not present that day. The governing parties therefore did not have a majority in the Federal Council. The opposition Federal Councillors present were therefore in the majority and voted unanimously against the planned changes to the Epidemic and Covid-19 Measures Acts. This means that the plans will now remain on hold for eight weeks and can only be announced then. However, this setback could have far-reaching consequences for the population, because according to reports, the Anschober Ministry wants to enforce the next nationwide lockdown after Easter at the latest. This time, the situation in the intensive care units is being used as justification. Since there are major disagreements between the federal and state governments on this issue, further developments remain to be seen.

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USA flights: Lufthansa launches CommonPass

Amely Mizzi March 31, 2021 16:31

Lufthansa will in future use the CommonPass on flights from Frankfurt to the United States and will also offer Mallorca passengers the opportunity to have their corona test results checked in advance on a voluntary basis. For the time being, only passengers who have been tested at Centogene can use the service for flights to the USA. This applies to all Lufthansa flights from Frankfurt to the United States as well as the corresponding feeder flights via Frankfurt from Hamburg, Cologne, Berlin and Düsseldorf. The airline recommends that its guests continue to carry the printed original certificates with them on their journey in addition to the new digital proof until further notice. Customers can conveniently download the app from the Android or IOS App Store and then upload their test result to the app - after they have received an access code by email from Lufthansa 72 hours before their departure. The app then automatically compares the test certificates with the relevant current entry restrictions of the destination country and creates a travel certificate on this basis, provided it is a valid test document for the relevant travel destination. The certificate only shows the really relevant information, such as the test result, the test method, validity period and an hour counter since the test, and therefore does not reveal any other personal health information. In addition, Lufthansa passengers who use the CommonPass app before their flights to the USA receive free access to the Senator Lounge at Frankfurt Airport between 8 a.m. and 12.45:XNUMX p.m. CommonPass can not only be used for boarding, but also pursues a cross-industry approach. The added value for passengers is further increased by the fact that other facilities, such as concert halls or cinemas, will also be able to incorporate the test results in the future.

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London: JetBlue relies on Heathrow

Amely Mizzi March 31, 2021 16:04

The US low-cost airline JetBlue plans to fly to London Heathrow Airport for transatlantic flights. So far, the only thing that has been confirmed is that the British capital will be included in the route network, but in addition to Heathrow, Gatwick is also said to have raised its hopes. According to the UK slot coordinator, JetBlue registered at the country's largest airport. 2 pairs per week were allocated, effective August 2021, 14. According to FlightGlobal, four more will be added from September 20, 2021, so that JetBlue will then have 28 slot pairs per week available. The company plans to use the Airbus A321LR on the New York JFK-London Heathrow route. 13 of the XLR variant have also been ordered. This will be used to reach destinations that are outside the range of the LR. An exact date for the delivery of the XLR has not yet been set.

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Germany: Corona leaves deep marks on airports

Jan Gruber March 31, 2021 15:27

The corona pandemic has left deep marks on Germany's airports. Flight availability has collapsed due to a lack of demand and, as a result, airport revenues have also fallen rapidly. The current increased demand for Mallorca and Mexico is only a small straw, because otherwise the forecasts for April and May 2021 do not look particularly rosy. The hopes of tour operators, airports, hoteliers and airlines lie in the Whitsun holidays, but especially in the traditionally busy summer season. Some states have already announced that there will be hardly any restrictions for vaccinated people, but many people will not be fully vaccinated by then. This means that there will most likely be mutual testing requirements, which could have a negative impact on demand. "The airports and all partners in the aviation industry have fallen into a serious, unprecedented crisis due to the corona pandemic. Despite the current increase in bookings due to Easter travel, the battered aviation industry is fighting for survival. Further tightened entry restrictions, an unmanageable, constantly changing patchwork of country-specific Corona regulations and blanket quarantine regulations are slowing down any recovery in air traffic. Passenger volumes are far from normal,” writes the Association of German Commercial Airports in a press release. The ADV summarizes the effects of the Corona pandemic on Germany's airports so far below: Minus 85,5 percent passengers in the period March 2020 - February 2021 62,9 million passengers in 2020 compared to 248,6 million in 2019; this corresponds to the traffic level of the late 80s EUR 1,8 billion expected loss for all airports in Germany in 2020; after a pre-tax profit of almost EUR 800 million in 2019 EUR 2,6 billion expected loss of revenue in

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FACC and Airbus develop wings of the future

Jan Gruber March 31, 2021 15:02

The Austrian aviation supplier FACC was able to successfully complete the development of new wing technologies in cooperation with Airbus. Now a sub-project has been successfully completed with the development of an innovative landing flap. "An important part of our innovation activity lies in joint research work with leading international aircraft manufacturers," reports Robert Machtlinger, CEO of FACC AG. "Our development engineers are researching new technologies and products for new generations of aircraft. One lighthouse initiative is the 'Wing of Tomorrow' program, which Airbus launched in 2018 in cooperation with FACC and other industrial partners." As part of the "Wing of Tomorrow" project, FACC is working on the development of innovative manufacturing processes that are used in the manufacture of three essential wing components: the wing box lower cover, the landing flap and the spoiler & droop panel. The aim is to produce complex components faster, easier and more cost-effectively. FACC was able to successfully complete the first sub-project - the wing box cover - last year. The prototype of a landing flap was recently completed in the second sub-project. FACC used the resin transfer molding process, which has been used in projects before - but never on this scale and complexity. Integral construction saves time and money When developing the five-meter-long "Multicell Flap", the focus was on exploring the technical possibilities. "Airbus is aiming for a high degree of integration in the new generation of wings in order to reduce subsequent work steps as much as possible and thus become more cost-effective," says Patrick Petz, FACC Lead Program Engineer for Aerostructures Airbus. "For us, the integral construction means that we can save the high assembly effort afterwards.

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Italy: Albastar announces expansion in Cuneo

Jan Gruber March 31, 2021 14:35

The Spanish airline Albastar will start additional Italian routes at the end of July 2021. From Cuneo, flights to Palma de Mallorca, Mahón and Lampedusa will be offered. The Spanish destinations will be added on July 27, 2021. The domestic Italian route will be served every Tuesday from July 29, 2021. "Palma de Mallorca, Menorca and Lampedusa complement the existing connection to Trapani, making four destinations directly from Cuneo airport. Albastar will therefore become an important reference point for leisure tourism departing from Cuneo, with particular attention also to Piedmont coming from Sicily and the two Spanish islands," said Giancarlo Celani, Chief Commercial Officer of Albastar. "The new connections are the result of a joint effort between the airline and the airport aimed at creating a quality product that will be consolidated over time." The new flights at a glance: Day of operation: Tuesday AP431 Palma de Mallorca – Cuneo 07:10 08:45 AP436 Cuneo – Menorca 09:45 11:10 AP435 Menorca – Cuneo 12:10 13:30 AP432 Cuneo – Palma de Mallorca 14:20 16:00 Day of operation: Thursday: AP438 Lampedusa – Cuneo 14:50 16:45 AP437 Cuneo – Lampedusa 17:40 19:30

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Zurich: Edelweiss announces four new holiday destinations

Jan Gruber March 31, 2021 13:31

The holiday airline Edelweiss Air has announced four additional destinations from Zurich-Kloten for summer 2021: Preveza/Lefkada, Skiathos, Tivat and Newquay. These are to be added from July 1, 2021. From July 1, 2021, flights to Preveza/Lefkada and Tivat will be available once a week. Newquay will follow on July 4, 2021. The Greek Skiathos will be served from July 7, 2021. Edelweiss will serve a total of 2021 destinations in Greece in summer 12. According to the airline, tickets can already be purchased online and through travel agencies. Edelweiss' long-haul fleet will initially be concentrated on the four-engine Airbus A340-300. The two A330s will in future be operated by Eurowings Discover from Germany. In the medium term, however, the Swiss sister company is not ruling out the possibility of a second type of aircraft being used on the long haul. The focus on four-engine aircraft is currently a rather untypical approach in the industry.

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