August 13, 2021

More articles from the category

August 13, 2021

Spain: Many hoteliers want to get rid of their houses

The corona pandemic caused a sharp decline in the number of overnight stays in Spain. Not surprisingly, many hoteliers want to throw in the towel and are looking for buyers for their properties. According to Idealista, there are currently 639 accommodation establishments available. Hoteliers are putting their properties on the market in coastal regions in particular, where increases of 44 percent have been recorded. This has a negative impact on prices, as there is obviously significantly more supply than demand at the moment. The local portal Hosteltur writes that 135 hotels are waiting for new owners in Andalusia alone. In Catalonia, there are said to be 113. On the Balearic Islands, 67 accommodation establishments are waiting for new owners. Almost two thirds of the establishments on offer are in classic holiday areas. City hotels are less on offer.

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Leap engines: Honeywell and Lufthansa Technik cooperate

Lufthansa Technik and Honeywell have signed a cooperation agreement in the area of ​​engine component maintenance. This applies to the Leap series of CFM engines. These are used in the A320neo, B737Max and Comac C919 series, among others. As part of this agreement, Lufthansa Technik will develop maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) capacities for the aforementioned Honeywell components. This will enable the company to offer improved and manufacturer-certified aftermarket services that increase component reliability and reduce operators' lifecycle costs. "We are pleased to further expand our cooperation with Honeywell," said Georg Fanta, Head of Aircraft Component Services at Lufthansa Technik. "Our customers will benefit greatly from this new agreement as we combine Lufthansa Technik's maintenance, repair, overhaul and engineering capacities with Honeywell's design know-how. Just as with the CFM56 engines, Lufthansa Technik will be able to repair replaceable Honeywell LEAP components in-house and offer best-in-class, flight hour-based component services, including tailored asset management solutions.”

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Austria: Amira Air is now RP Aircraft Management

Ronny Pecik founded two airlines under the name Amira Air. He sold the first to Niki Lauda, ​​from which the former airline Lauda and Laudamotion Executive emerged. Now the “second Amira Air” has been given a new company name. The company is now operating under the name RP Aircraft Management GmbH. In future, the RP Air brand will be used. However, the company does not yet have a website. The on-demand airline has an AOC and operating license from the Austrian authorities. Laudamotion Executive has been operating as a savings company for some time. The name, which is reminiscent of the previous owner, has been dropped. The budget airline Lauda, ​​formerly known as Amira Air, returned its license to the Austrian authorities at the end of last year. As a replacement, Ryanair founded Lauda Europe Ltd. in Malta.

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Utair: Are you planning any major changes?

A few days ago, the ICAO issued a new three-letter code to Utair Limited. The previous code "UTA" of PJSC Utair Aviation will be supplemented with the code "UTR". Utair has been struggling with various problems for some time - including financial ones. The fact that the ICAO is now issuing a new three-letter code therefore raises a number of questions. Is Utair planning to transfer aircraft to a new AOC, like the Norwegian Group, for example? An inquiry from Aviation.direct to Utair has so far remained unanswered. However, it is a fact that Utair already has three AOCs: AOC #06: PJSC Utair Aviation (with 15 ATR72-500, 6 Boeing B737-400, 18 B737-500, 15 B737-800 and 3 B767-200ER) AOC #34: JSC Utair-Helicopter Services (with a total of 196 different helicopters, but mainly Mil Mi-8) AOC #53: JSC Utair (with 1 Bombardier Challenger 300, 3 Antonov An-2, 11 An-24, 2 An-26 and 5 An-74) It is not clear whether the company referred to by the ICAO as Utair Limited is a new company. Due to different interpretations of legal entities from state to state, the Canadian-based ICAO may have mistakenly used the "Limited" instead of the legal forms commonly used in Russia, OOO, JSC, OJSC or PJSC. Nevertheless, Utair shareholders approved a debt restructuring project at the general meeting on July 22, 2021. This meant that 4,194 billion additional shares (at 3,25 rubles, about 4 euro cents) were issued to bring in about 160 million euros. At the same time, Utair was able to reduce debt by about 2021% to 50 billion rubles (about 1,1

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Eurowings replaces “counter requirement” with upload function

Eurowings is relatively late in introducing the option of digitally storing Corona documents in its app. The solution is called "MyHealth Docs" and was previously tested with around 1.500 volunteers. Numerous competitors have been allowing storage in their mobile apps for some time. The aim is to offer travelers an additional service so that the necessary documents such as proof of vaccination, recovery or test as well as entry forms can be presented more quickly during checks. The real advantage, however, is hidden between the lines of the press release, because after the upload, travelers should be able to obtain their boarding pass. This is a significant improvement, because although web check-in could be used on almost all routes outside Germany, the boarding pass was only issued at the counter. With the help of the digital upload, this is now set to change in general. Previously, passengers could use "myHealth Docs" to use a detailed questionnaire to check whether all the documents required for entry were present. What is new is that after completing the questionnaire, passengers are given the opportunity to upload the relevant documents or upload a photo. It should be noted that on selected routes, for example between Germany and Spain, it was already possible to obtain the boarding pass via the app or the Internet. A questionnaire had to be filled out and, depending on the answers, the system then decided whether the boarding pass could be downloaded or whether the passenger was asked to go to the counter. However, this was not possible on all routes.

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Malta flew 579 language students home for around 300.000 euros

In July 2021, language schools in Malta were closed by government order. A total of 579 mostly minors were flown home on five special flights. The Mediterranean state spent around 300.000 euros on this. The daily newspaper Times of Malta reports that the charter flights on 19 and 20 July 2021 to Spain via Germany and France cost 112.658 euros. The operating carrier was the state-owned Malta MedAir. The French ASL Airlines flew students who tested positive for Covid-19 back to Spain and France at a cost of 80.000 euros. Neos operated a repatriation flight to Italy at a cost of 100.000 euros. The amounts mentioned were confirmed by the Maltese Ministry of Tourism, which organised and ordered the special flights. The costs were paid with taxpayers' money, so that the mostly minors or their parents did not incur any additional expenses. The government justified the closure of language schools with increasing corona infections and this is quite controversial on the Maltese islands.

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Miami: US Customs finds 6,5 kilograms of cocaine in Caribbean-B737

On the morning of August 10, 2021, a Boeing 737-800 of Caribbean Airlines landed in Miami. So far, nothing unusual. However, customs found something and, according to local media reports, seized an impressive 6,5 kilograms of cocaine. The medium-haul jet took off from Piarco (Trinidad) and arrived in Miami at around 11:30 a.m. local time. US customs carried out a routine inspection of the cargo hold and were amazed. 6,5 kilograms of cocaine were hidden in the cargo hold of the passenger jet. An amount that surprised even experienced customs officers. For investigative reasons, the US authorities did not disclose whether these were stowed in passengers' luggage or elsewhere. Caribbean Airlines confirmed the incident to Trinidad Express, but did not provide any further information. They point out that responsibility lies with the US law enforcement authorities and that they are cooperating with them. The Boeing 737-800 with the registration 9Y-KIN was used. In the USA, the arrest is also considered a great success against drug smugglers, because the black market value of this large quantity of cocaine is considerable.

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Gelix Airlines wants to grow in the cargo business with Il-76

The helicopter company Gelix Airlines has been around for 30 years. Now three Ilyushin Il76 freighters are to be purchased. Just a few days ago, Gelix Airlines received its own ICAO code. The reason for this is that it plans to start operating three Ilyushin Il-76TD cargo aircraft shortly. So far, Gelix has only operated five Mil Mi-8T helicopters from its home airport in Perm. The expansion with the four-engine aircraft is therefore a huge step for Gelix. However, the Il-76s will not be stationed in Perm, but in Ulyanovsk, the "aviation capital of Russia". Gelix recently agreed a contract with the government of the Ulyanovsk region to operate the three aircraft. All three aircraft have the same previous owner, Alrosa Aviakompania, and were actually supposed to go to Deek Aviation from Sharjah. The first aircraft has already been given Gelix Airlines titles, a second is due to join Gelix in August, while the third aircraft is not expected until the end of the year. Deek Aviation is said to be owned by the Russians Oleg Vladimirovich Sergeev and Valery Sevelyev. Deek is in turn the parent company of Fly Sky Airlines, which has or had an AOC in Ukraine, Romania and Kyrgyzstan. It seems as if Gelix is ​​now also part of this group of companies. According to its own statement, Deek Aviation has eleven Ilyushin 76s.

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With A321LR: Jetblue added New York-London

Now the time has come: The US low-cost airline Jetblue has operated its first flight between New York JFK and London Heathrow. This marks the carrier's entry into the long-haul business. The Airbus A321LR with the registration N4022J flew from the US metropolis to the capital of the United Kingdom on the night of August 11-12, 2021. The flight number B67 was used. The first return flight was carried out on August 12, 2021 as B620. Jetblue has been preparing for its entry into the transatlantic business for a long time. There were also delays due to the corona pandemic, but now it is in the air between the USA and the UK. Initially, the company plans to fly daily, but there are also plans to add Gatwick Airport to its service shortly. The low-cost airline also intends to connect other European cities with the United States of America. For the time being, however, the focus is on establishing the service from London. On board, Jetblue offers a cabin product that was developed specifically for the carrier.

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