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February 14, 2022

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February 14, 2022

Sundair sister company Fly Air41 fleet ex-Iberia-A319

Jan Gruber February 14, 2022 12:04

The Croatian airline Fly Air41 Airways will soon add another medium-haul Airbus A319 jet to its fleet. This is the aircraft that previously flew for Iberia as EC-KOY, the carrier confirmed. The aircraft, built in 2008, was taken out of service by the Spanish airline at the end of 2020. This A319 is now finding a new home at Fly Air 41 Airways, which began flight operations last year. The Sundair sister company's fleet currently consists of one A319 and two Airbus A320s. These have the registrations 9A-BER, 9A-IRM and 9A-SHA. The average age of the fleet is 12,8 years. Fly Air41 is mainly in the air for Sundair on a wet lease basis.

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Ukraine: Austrian Airlines is monitoring and evaluating the security situation

Jan Gruber February 14, 2022 11:04

The airline Austrian Airlines is currently closely monitoring the security situation in the Eastern European country of Ukraine. For several weeks now, there have been no night stops so that the crews spend as little time as possible in the airspace and at airports of this country. Austrian Airlines cannot currently give a clear answer as to whether or not it will continue to fly to destinations in Ukraine. It is keeping a close eye on everything in order to be able to react at short notice if necessary. An AUA spokeswoman said: "Together with the authorities, we are continuously monitoring the situation in Ukraine and, if necessary, making further adjustments to our flight schedule. The safety of our crews and passengers is our top priority." Austrian Airlines currently flies from Vienna to the destinations Odessa, Lviv and Kyiv-Borispil. Other destinations, such as Zaporizhia, are taking a break due to weak demand caused by the corona virus. The flight schedules have since been redesigned so that aircraft and crews no longer stay overnight in Ukraine. This has disadvantages for passengers, as many travelers are transferring flights. However, Austrian Airlines is taking this measure for safety reasons. “We have already suspended layovers (night stops) in Ukraine for several weeks and are keeping the crews’ ground time as short as possible,” said the media officer.

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Ukraine: Insurance companies remove insurance cover for aircraft

Jan Gruber February 14, 2022 10:45

Ukraine is now becoming a complicated matter for airlines, as the first lessors are prohibiting their customers from entering the country's airspace. One of the reasons given for this is that insurance companies could refuse cover due to the "imminent threat of war". The state now wants to step in with 520 million euros to be able to maintain air traffic. The vast majority of commercial aircraft used by Ukrainian airlines are leased from lessors in the West. At the weekend, there was a stir when an Irish lessor prohibited the low-cost airline SkyUp from flying back to Kiev. Flight PO902 diverted to the Republic of Moldova. The problem behind this is that the largest aircraft insurers announced on Saturday that insurance cover for Ukrainian airspace would no longer be available. This means that the owners of the aircraft are now under pressure, as there is no longer any financial protection in the event of an accident. Some Lessors are now demanding that the planes leave Ukraine or prohibit them from entering the country's airspace on the return journey. The result is that it is gradually becoming more difficult to maintain air traffic with Ukraine. SkyUp was also asked by Lessors to fly the planes to the EU "as quickly as possible" and return them to their owners. This is a major problem for the carrier and other Ukrainian airlines that use aircraft leased from the West. Under aviation law, valid insurance is mandatory, so that flights without a valid policy are not allowed at all. The Ukrainian government is now trying to solve the problem with state liability amounting to

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Snake causes Air Asia A320 to make safe landing

Amely Mizzi February 14, 2022 10:04

On February 10, 2022, Air Asia flight AK5748 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau had to make an emergency landing in Kuching for an unusual reason: a snake was spotted in the passenger compartment behind a lighting device. It is not entirely clear how the reptile got on board. It is possible that it crawled unnoticed into the Airbus A320 9M-RAN at an airport, but it cannot be ruled out that a passenger had the animal in his hand luggage and it escaped. Regardless, the snake began to explore the plane and was then visible behind the cover of the passenger lighting. The captain decided to abort the flight to Tawau and land in Kuching for safety reasons. The passengers were able to leave the plane without any problems. Experts were then called in to remove the possibly still young snake from the plane alive. "This is a very rare incident that can occur on any aircraft from time to time. The captain has taken the appropriate measures and the flight will depart for Tawau as soon as possible. The safety and well-being of our guests and crew is always our top priority. At no time was the safety of guests or crew at risk,” said Liong Tien Ling, captain and chief safety officer of Air Asia. The small snake was successfully freed from the aircraft and is said to be in excellent health. The 9M-RAN was put back into service after a thorough check by technicians.

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Ukraine: AOC suspended by Air Ocean Airlines

Jan Gruber February 14, 2022 09:33

It was not until autumn 2021 that the Ukrainian airline Air Ocean Airlines started operating domestic flights with Antonov An-148s, but had to cease operations indefinitely a few weeks later. According to the Ukrainian Civil Aviation Authority, the AOC and operating license were suspended for unspecified reasons. Air Ocean Airlines' entry into the market brought intense competition on some routes, as there were three domestic providers from Kyiv-Zhuliany, Motor Sich Airlines and Bees Airlines. In addition, there is indirect competition with carriers that use the remote Borispil Airport. On one route, Motor Sich Airlines flew Antonov An-24s as part of a wet lease agreement for Air Ocean Airlines. This pattern has obviously proven successful in domestic traffic, as on those routes where it was in competition with Motor Sich Airlines, the latter performed significantly better in terms of capacity utilization. The bottom line, however, is that domestic flights with An-148 were not profitable for the newcomer, which is why flight operations had to be temporarily suspended at the beginning of January 2022. Although a restart is planned for mid/late March 2022, this could be quite complicated because the Civil Aviation Authority of Ukraine has suspended Air Ocean Airlines' AOC and operating license. In concrete terms, this means that the airline is currently not authorized to operate commercial flights. The authority did not give any specific reasons for the decision, but Air Ocean Airlines can get its licenses again if all requirements are met.

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Smartwings owners want to take over CSA and equip it with A220

Amely Mizzi February 14, 2022 09:01

The insolvent airline CSA is facing major changes, as the company could be separated from the Smartwings group. At the same time, the fleet is to be modernized using leased Airbus A220s. Prague City Air is the investor. The company is linked to Smartwings in that the founders are the same. However, the plan is hanging by a thread, as not all CSA creditors are happy that the quota is to be quite low. Suppliers such as Lufthansa Technik are to receive around 50 percent, but others only 4,6 percent. Accordingly, the majority approval of the creditors is currently not guaranteed. It is currently being considered that Prague City Air, which is owned by Smartwings founders and owners Jiří Šimáně and the Vik family, should take over the ailing carrier. This would lead to a separation from the Smartwings group. At the same time, 125 million Czech crowns would be made available in the short term. Smartwings is currently the largest single shareholder in CSA with 98 percent. Furthermore, it is planned that only the Airbus A319 with the registration OK-REQ will be reactivated. The background is that it is owned by CSA and could be used as collateral for loans. All other aircraft are leased and are to be returned to the lessors if they have not already been returned. Other aircraft are to be organized as replacements. At the same time, four brand new Airbus A220-300s are to be added to the fleet by next year at the latest. This is the order that was canceled for financial reasons and Airbus was not entirely happy with it. The aircraft are now to be purchased through a lessor. This indicates

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Linate: ITA postpones Stuttgart – Easyjet is expanding Berlin significantly

Amely Mizzi February 14, 2022 08:37

The airline ITA Airways will not resume the flights from Milan-Linate to Stuttgart and Barcelona planned for the start of the 2022 summer flight schedule period for the time being. At the same time, competitor Easyjet is significantly increasing the frequencies from Berlin to the Italian metropolis. ITA Airways had planned until recently that the destinations Barcelona and Stuttgart would be served from Milan-Linate at the start of the 2022 summer flight schedule. This is not being implemented. The airline did not provide any further details when asked, but confirmed the fact. There is currently no fixed new date. It is therefore currently not foreseeable whether and when ITA will fly to the two cities from Linate. Competitor Easyjet seems to be quite satisfied with the booking figures on the Berlin-Milan Linate route. In several steps, the frequencies are being increased from the current seven weekly flights to 26 rotations per week. The expansion will take place at the start of the 2022 summer flight schedule period. The company is also keeping the option of further increasing the number if there is sufficient demand.

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Irish lessor bans SkyUp from entering Ukraine

Jan Gruber February 14, 2022 08:02

On Saturday, a Boeing 737 operated by SkyUp was not allowed to enter Ukrainian airspace because the owner of the leased aircraft had requested otherwise. The lessor has since prevented the UR-SQO from using Ukrainian airspace. As a result, the medium-haul jet is "stranded" in Chișinău. It is definitely not an everyday occurrence for a leasing company to prohibit its customer from flying to their home airport. On Saturday, SkyUp was on its way from Funchal to Kyiv-Borispil with the UR-SQO. The Irish owner of this Boeing 737 then demanded that the aircraft land outside of Ukraine and prohibited the use of that state's airspace. The flight route would have led over areas that the lessor classified as problematic. In order to protect the property, it was decided to make use of contractually agreed reservations. SkyUp Airlines complied and diverted to Chișinău in the Republic of Moldova. "On February 12, 2022, the Ireland-based lessor informed the airline of an immediate ban on UR-SQO entering Ukrainian airspace. Despite all the airline's efforts and the willingness of the Ukrainian government authorities to contact the lessor, the owner of the aircraft flatly refused, just at a time when the aircraft was already flying to Kyiv," SkyUp said in a statement. The aircraft in question is the Boeing 737 with the registration UR-SQO and the serial number MSN 40880. The jet, which is around ten years old, was originally delivered to Pegasus Airlines and has been flying for the Ukrainian low-cost airline SkyUp since August 2021. The owner and lessor is Deucalion Aviation.

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Lübeck Air announces Visby flights

Jan Gruber February 14, 2022 07:32

In August 2022, Lübeck Air will initially offer four rotations between Lübeck and Visby in Sweden. These will be operated with an ATR72-500 operated by Air Alsie. Ticket prices start at 120 euros one way. "The special thing about the new connection is that our partnership with the Gotland ferries from Rostock offers travelers a lot of flexibility," explains Jürgen Friedel, Lübeck Air Managing Director. Adam Jacobsson from Destination Gotland adds: "Starting the trip to Sweden with the 18-hour ferry ride and then landing back in northern Germany in just 2 hours after the vacation is just one of the options available." For the next few years, the aim is to expand the flight connection, which will initially be operated on four Tuesdays in August 2022. The aircraft used will be an ATR72-500 operated by Air Alsie.

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Weeze: Ticket seller Green Airlines wants to offer Hamburg and Heringsdorf

Amely Mizzi February 14, 2022 07:03

The German ticket seller Green Airlines intends to market charter flights from Weeze to Heringsdorf and Hamburg. The latter destination is to be served by an unnamed airline on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Heringsdorf will be served on Saturdays from May 7, 2022. The published flight schedule data does not reveal the operating carrier that will operate the charter flights. The IATA two-letter code GN is currently not assigned, the International Air Transport Association confirmed upon request. Nevertheless, it is used by ticket seller Green Airlines. The charter flights between Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden announced by this company can no longer be found in the recently published "summer flight schedule". This now seems to focus on Weeze. Charter flights to Westerland have been announced again from Paderborn. With regard to Heringsdorf, the local airport did not comment on the fact that tickets between Weeze and Heringsdorf are on sale, but the airport does not list them on its own homepage.

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