August 18, 2021

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August 18, 2021

Qantas announces mandatory vaccination for all employees

Following Cathay Pacific and United Airlines, Qantas is also introducing mandatory vaccination for all employees. The company was the first airline in the world to announce that in the future it will only transport passengers who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19. There is no specific date for the implementation of this for guests yet. The situation is very different for employees. The flying personnel and ground staff must prove to their employer by November 15, 2021 that they are fully vaccinated against Covid-19. There will be exceptions for people who cannot be immunized for medical reasons. Qantas writes in a media release that it is currently assumed that there will only be a few isolated cases. In all other areas of the company, for example in technology and administration, Qantas employees must prove that they have been fully vaccinated by March 31, 2022. How the carrier will deal with employees who do not comply with the order is still unclear. In Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific has made a clear statement: Anyone who does not get vaccinated against Corona risks losing their job. A cover letter clearly states that employees who do not want to be vaccinated will be dismissed. In the USA, United Airlines is also under pressure, but this is not expressed as openly as at Cathay Pacific. In Europe, Air Baltic was the first carrier to announce that it will only hire fully vaccinated people in the future. There are currently no plans to make vaccination compulsory for the existing workforce. The situation is similar in

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Vienna-Tel Aviv: Blue Bird Airways increases

The airline Blue Bird Airways is increasing its service between Vienna and Tel Aviv to up to five rotations per week at short notice. The carrier is one of three new providers of traffic between the Austrian capital and the Israeli metropolis on the Mediterranean. Blue Bird Airways is based in Heraklion, Greece, but has registered its entire fleet in the Maltese aviation register. It currently operates three Boeing 737-300s and two Boeing 737-800s. The average age of the fleet is 24,6 years. The carrier is not a newcomer, but was founded in 2008. The route network, which is operated on its own account, is currently heavily focused on traffic between Greece and Tel Aviv. It also offers destinations from the Israeli metropolis to Vienna, Prague and Budapest. For the time being, the Austria route is to be operated until September 18, 2021. An extension is possible depending on demand. More airlines than ever before are currently offering their services between Vienna and Tel Aviv. In addition to the “old acquaintances” El Al, Austrian Airlines, Wizz Air and Ryanair, Arkia, Israir and Blue Bird Airways are now also active. More details in this article.

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FlyOne: Subsidiary founded in Armenia

The Moldovan low-cost airline FlyOne has founded a subsidiary airline in Armenia with local investors. As ch-aviation reports based on a report by the local investigative website Hetq, FlyOne from Moldova is said to have entered into a joint venture with Armenian investors around the politician Khachatur Sukiasyan. The plan is that the airline will also fly from Yerevan under the name FlyOne. A corresponding company was registered on March 18, 2021 under the name FlyOne Armenia LLC. FlyOne holds 46% of the shares, while the remaining 54% are in Armenian hands, 24.5% each with Hakob Aleksanyan and Armen Sirunyan and 5% with Larisa Sahakova. ch-aviation further writes that Mircea Maleca is the general director of FlyOne Armenia. Together with his wife, Mircea Maleca holds 50% of the Moldovan FlyOne and serves as Chief Executive Officer there. FlyOne (Moldova) currently operates a fleet consisting of one Airbus A319-100 (ER-00002) and four Airbus A320-200 (ER-00004, ER-00005, ER-00006 and ER-00007). The average age is around 13 years, with all aircraft belonging to different leasing companies. An A320 has been leased to the Ukrainian SkyUp Airlines since mid-June 2021. FlyOne began flight operations as a charter operator on April 28, 2016 and began scheduled service on June 10, 2016. Today, the company serves various European destinations from Chişinău, as well as destinations in Russia, Israel and Turkey. With FlyOne, founded in Romania in 2018, the company wants to offer flights within the European Union. However, no corresponding AOC has yet been issued. In Armenia, various airlines have tried their luck in recent years.

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Austrian Airlines abolishes the “Fräulein” again

A spokeswoman assured Aviation Direct that the term "Fraulein" would soon disappear from booking confirmations at Austrian Airlines. A pensioner had previously complained that she had been referred to as a "waitress or maid" as before. But how did Austrian Airlines come to use this outdated form of address in the first place? A media officer commented: "Our provider for online bookings currently still translates the term "MS" as "Fraulein". "Fraulein" is therefore only displayed when a booking contains the form of address "MS" and this booking is accessed via the desktop version of austrian.com. However, the process has already been initiated to use the term "Frau" here. The new translation should be active with the next system update." For several weeks now, Austrian Airlines has been using so-called gender language in its official communications - internally and externally. On board, passengers are no longer referred to as "ladies and gentlemen", but rather as the gender-neutral "air passengers". The “Fräulein” did not fit in with these activities at all, which Austrian Airlines does not deny.

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Supplier FACC is back in the black

The Austrian aviation supplier FACC AG was able to increase EBIT by 2021 million euros to 37,3 million euros in the first half of 2,9. This brought the group back into profitability. Last year it was deep in the red. According to FACC AG, the half-year sales of 2021 million euros in 240,2 should show the market recovery. "Our goal was the turnaround and we achieved it. FACC reacted quickly to the sudden challenges with a stringent efficiency improvement program. In addition to the necessary adjustments in the core aviation business, we have expanded our strategy to include the areas of drones and space applications," reports Robert Machtlinger, CEO of FACC AG. "After the first six months, we are noticing a steady recovery in the aviation market, and the forecasts for 2022 also promise a further increase in demand." Strong growth forecast Group sales in the second quarter of 2021 were 20,8 percent higher than the quarterly sales of the previous year. The market situation is expected to continue to develop positively in the second half of the year. Management expects sales of around 500 million euros. EBIT is expected to be slightly positive. The company expects renewed growth in 2022: programs that are important for FACC will benefit from market developments. The Airbus A320 family, which is FACC's most important aircraft platform with a share of over 30 percent of group sales, is performing particularly well. Planned new projects will provide an additional upturn. "Based on current developments, we expect a return to the growth path from 2022," concluded Machtlinger.

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Summer vacation: Paderborn had 35.000 passengers

In the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the summer holidays are already over. Paderborn Airport counted around 35.000 passengers in the six weeks. According to its own information, around 300 rotations were carried out and there were no long waiting times during check-in. The destinations Palma de Mallorca, Antalya and Crete were particularly in demand this year. Compared to the volume recorded during the summer holidays last year, there was a significant increase. In the same period in 2020, Paderborn counted around 13.000 passengers. "We are very satisfied with the result of the summer holidays, especially since we have seen an overall upward trend since June," says Managing Director Roland Hüser with satisfaction. The airport's press release does not say a word about the canceled holiday flights of the ticket seller Green Airlines. The company announced flights to Rhodes, Palma de Mallorca and Heraklion with aircraft from German Airways. However, the German airline did not operate these flights and the Bulgarian Alk Air withdrew its almost 30-year-old Boeing 737-300 after only a few legs. The Romanian Just Us Air, which was introduced as an "additional airline partner", denied this and pointed out that it had never signed a contract with the ticket seller Green Airlines. The latter then cancelled the holiday flights from Paderborn and Rostock. Stranded passengers were not rebooked on other connections and, in the case of compensation payments due under EU Regulation 261/2004, a law firm was brought in to fob off the claims. For Paderborn Airport, the holiday flights from Green Airlines were therefore more of a flop. Capacity on the Sylt route is also low and was reported by Hüser

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Croatia: Fly Air41 Airways has been granted AOC

The Croatian airline start-up Fly Air41 Airways received the AOC from the Civil Aviation Authority on Wednesday. The Sundair sister company will fly commercially for the first time on August 20, 2021. On Tuesday at lunchtime, a so-called demonstration flight was carried out with representatives of the Croatian Aviation Authority on board. The Airbus A319 with the registration 9A-BER was used. The officials were obviously satisfied and so the certificates required for commercial flight operations were issued on Wednesday afternoon. Fly Air41 Airways will initially start with an Airbus A319. According to owner Marcos Rossello, two A2021s will be added in September 320. Next week, the first aircraft of this type will be transferred to the Croatian capital Zagreb for the corresponding preparations.The new company will fly on the Leipzig-Corfu route for the first time on August 20, 2021 on behalf of its sister company Sundair. There are no plans to operate scheduled flights of our own – at least not this year. Initially, the company will concentrate on ACMI services for Sundair, but will also operate charter flights for tour operators.

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Miles and More extends the status again

Participants in the Lufthansa Group's frequent flyer program, Miles and More, will receive another extension of their status this year. Last year, no reclassifications were made. Frequent flyers who may have been affected were contacted by Miles and More and informed that their status would be retained if they were unable to collect enough segments or miles in 2020 or 2021. Without the goodwill arrangement, many regular customers would probably be downgraded. According to Miles and More, participants do not need to do anything extra. The level will remain until February 2023. At the same time, the customer loyalty program is currently running various campaigns. These are intended to make it easier to collect status miles for upgrades. However, this can be difficult at the moment, as many long-haul destinations are difficult to access due to strict entry and quarantine regulations.

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Alaska Airlines orders 12 more B737-Max-9s

The US airline Alaska Airlines wants to add more Boeing 737 Max aircraft to its fleet and is exercising 12 options for the B737-Max 9. This increases the volume to 93 firmly ordered aircraft. The "reorders" are to be delivered to the carrier between 2023 and 2024. In a press release, Alaska Airlines writes, among other things, that it needs the additional aircraft for expansion. A total of 93 aircraft are expected, although it still has further options that could be exercised if necessary.

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New A319 operator from Russia: IrAero

The Russian regional airline has taken delivery of its first Airbus A319-100 - not an unknown aircraft for Russia. IrAero Airlines was relatively early to use Western-made aircraft on regional routes. The four Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 supplemented the then fleet of Antonov An-24 and An-26. But in the meantime, all but one of the Canadian aircraft have been taken out of service and replaced by seven Sukhoi SSJs. However, the Antonovs are still an important part of the fleet. In addition to nine An-24s, IrAero also operates two An-26s on passenger flights. In addition, eight more An-26s fly in freight service. With the introduction of three Boeing 777-200ERs in 2018, IrAero overextended itself financially - just like the then VIM Airlines had done a year earlier. But thanks to a 51% stake by the administration of the Irkutsk region and the decommissioning of the Boeing aircraft, the journey for IrAero continued. IrAero was now able to add its first Airbus A319-100 to its fleet. The 16-year-old aircraft flew to its new and old home in Russia on August 12, 2021. The A319, registered as VP-BKD, is no stranger. The former easyJet aircraft has had four different Russian operators since 2012: RusLine (2012-2013), Tatarstan Air (2013-2014), VIM Airlines (2014-2017) and most recently iFly Airlines (2018-2021). In addition to this aircraft, IrAero is set to take over two more A319s in the future. But how long will the A319s stay in the fleet? Are they only intended as an interim solution? There is no answer to that yet. IrAero signed an order for ten Irkut MS-2013-21s for the

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