February 21, 2022

More articles from the category

February 21, 2022

Alltours lifts the 2G rule for its own hotel chain Allsun

With immediate effect, the tour operator is lifting the 2G rule for guests of Allsun Hotels that was established just over a year ago. Proof of vaccination or recovery is no longer required when checking in at Allsun Hotels in Mallorca, the Canary Islands and Greece. However, the hygiene and safety measures continue to apply in accordance with the legal regulations of the individual countries. "We assume that the Omicron variant will turn the corona pandemic into an endemic at least next summer," says Alltours Managing Director Georg Welbers. The development of the disease courses in Germany and neighboring European countries currently confirms this.

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German Airways flies under wet lease for Italian ITA

The new Italian state-owned airline ITA Airways and German Airways are cooperating: The airline, which was only founded in October last year, will in future use two Embraer E190s from the second oldest German airline on a wet lease basis on its European route network. From March 28, 2022, ITA Airways customers will be able to fly directly from Milan Linate to destinations such as London City, Luxembourg and Geneva. "We are delighted that ITA is working with us. We can benefit from the excellent reputation that we have worked hard to build: We are known as a very reliable service provider with great know-how in the industry. With ITA, another major European airline is joining our customer base, which already includes renowned European airlines," says Maren Wolters, Managing Director of German Airways. German Airways operates a fleet of five Embraer E190s, which the company wet-leases to other airlines, including crews.

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Austrian Army carries out emergency medical evacuation with C-130 “Hercules”

At 18:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 19, a C-130 "Hercules" of the Austrian Federal Army took off from Linz-Hörsching, bound for Pristina Airport in Kosovo. An intensive care emergency team was on board. The reason: a soldier seriously ill with Covid-19 had to be flown out to Austria urgently for further treatment. The installation of a special container in the "Hercules" enables transport so that the patient can also be given intensive medical care in the air. The "Hercules" landed back in Linz Hörsching just before midnight. The patient was handed over to the rescue service and is in a Linz hospital for further treatment. "It is a good feeling to know that we are able to bring people who cannot receive adequate medical care while deployed abroad home to Austria immediately. I would like to expressly thank everyone involved in the evacuation operation for their efforts. I wish the sick soldier a speedy recovery," said Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner. The Austrian Armed Forces also have so-called “mobile quarantine bags” for transporting infectious patients. These are transport containers under negative pressure that allow patients to be transported in isolation by plane while maintaining intensive medical care.

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Air Baltic flies to Malta, Yerevan and Baku

The Latvian airline will offer passenger flights from Riga to Malta, Yerevan (Armenia) and Baku (Azerbaijan) in the coming summer season. "As the travel industry recovers, we can offer our passengers more travel options again. We haven't flown to Malta or Baku since 2019 and are looking forward to returning. Even before the pandemic, we had planned to start flights to the Armenian capital, but Corona put a stop to our plans. Now there are no more obstacles in our way," said airline boss Martin Gauss.

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Union Vida: “Eurowings is now following Laudamotion’s example”

The union Vida is warning of further social dumping and is calling on the government to finally take action on measures to secure locations and jobs. Eurowings Europe, which is part of the Lufthansa Group and is based at Vienna Airport, is now following the example of low-cost airline Ryanair/Laudamotion and is establishing another subsidiary in Malta. "I cannot and will not believe the airline's vague announcements that there will be no deterioration for employees. What has happened at Laudamotion in the recent past in terms of social dumping and violations of employee rights, including in Austria, is well known," says Daniel Liebhart, head of the union's aviation department, calling on the company to immediately begin talks with Vida. "Eurowings and the Lufthansa Group received financial support from Austria during the crisis. In return for this, they are now resorting to tax evasion at the first opportunity. It is not for nothing that we have repeatedly called on the federal government to at least demand job guarantees from the aviation companies in return for crisis support," criticizes Liebhart. The union has been warning the federal government and the Chamber of Commerce for years that measures against wage and social dumping and for fair competition are needed at both the national level - for example with a framework collective agreement for the industry - and at the European level in order to secure the location and jobs. "The initiatives announced by the government and the EU Commission seem to have fallen asleep. No one wants to imagine what it would mean for the location and the employees if AUA, which is increasingly coming under competitive pressure at Vienna Airport, were to head for Malta," warns Liebhart. So far, there have been no

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MUC: Tours will resume at the weekend

After a pandemic-related interruption of several months, visitor tours at Munich Airport will start again next weekend. Tour operations begin on Saturday, February 26. From this point on, two daily bus tours will be offered again from Wednesday to Sunday at 11:00 a.m. and 15:00 p.m. The tours give participants a glimpse behind the scenes of an international airport. "Experienced tour guides provide visitors with a lot of interesting information about current air traffic," the airport said in a press release. The 60G rule and FFP3 masks are mandatory for the 2-minute "Airport Live Tour". In addition, the buses will only be half full to ensure sufficient distance between participants on the tours. Airport tours have a long tradition in Munich. 70 years ago, the fascination of air traffic attracted numerous visitors to Munich-Riem. In 1952, over 50 tours with around 2.200 participants took place at the former airport. With the opening of the new airport in May 1992, visitor interest increased significantly again. Before the pandemic in 2019, there were already over 66.000 guests who took part in one of the approximately 2.500 visitor tours.

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Ryanair continues to fly to Odessa and Borispil

The Ryanair Group says it is maintaining its flight connections to Odessa, Kiev-Borispil and Lviv. Its competitor, the Lufthansa Group, is temporarily no longer flying to the first two cities mentioned. When asked, a spokesperson for the budget airline said: "We will continue to fly to Ukraine for the time being and are constantly evaluating our flights, including during the night." Ryanair will no longer fly to two destinations in Ukraine for an indefinite period. Sales have also been completely suspended - more details can be found in this article. KLM was the first carrier to announce that it will no longer fly to Ukraine due to security concerns. The Lufthansa Group partially followed suit immediately after Austria and Germany issued travel warnings. The crane airlines, however, continue to fly to Lviv.

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Bermuda: Coral Jet wants to start with A320

A new airline is being established on the Bermuda Islands under the name Coral Jet. It plans to launch with the Airbus A320 aircraft. The startup is still keeping quiet about the planned routes and the launch date. In any case, the company wants to fly mainly between Hamilton and destinations on the North American continent, mainly the USA. The search for staff has already begun. Coral Jet is currently looking for captains and first officers for Airbus A320s. They will be based in Hamilton, the capital of the Bermuda Islands.

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From February 22, 2022: Entry into Austria much easier again

From February 22, 2022, new rules will apply for entry into Austria. These are much more relaxed than the current regulation. The core of this is that the 3G proof will be introduced and rapid antigen test results will also be accepted again. Austria is currently practicing the so-called 2G Plus rule. This means that only people who can prove that they have had three vaccinations against Covid-19 are exempt from quarantine or an additional PCR test. Everyone else - apart from groups of people who fall under general exceptions - require a negative PCR test, which can also be done subsequently in Austria. From February 22, 2022, the situation described in the previous paragraph will no longer apply. From this day, quarantine-free entry into Austria from all countries (except virus variant areas, which do not currently exist) is possible with the 3G proof. Accepted are PCR results that must be no more than 72 hours old, rapid antigen test results from official bodies that must be no more than 24 hours old, and proof of recovery and vaccination. It should be noted that antigen self-tests are not accepted. The result or certificate must be issued by an official testing center. Any costs abroad must be borne by the person themselves. Vaccinated and recovered people must note that the validity of their documents is reduced from 270 days to 180 days. This does not apply to people who have been vaccinated three times; for them, 270 days still applies. Minors under 3 years of age are generally exempt from the 12G requirement. They do not need any proof. Over 12 years of age, 3G proof must be provided. The same regulations apply as for adults.

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Embraer puts E175-E2 development on three-year hiatus

The Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer is pausing development of the Embraer 175-E2 model for around three years. The board announced this on Friday after extensive consultations. One of the reasons for this is that the E1 model continues to sell well in the USA. While the larger E190-E2 and E195-E2 models are real bestsellers for Embraer, the E170-E2 and E175-E2 have proven to be real slow-sellers. However, the E175-E1 continues to sell well in the USA. This is due, among other things, to various scope clauses that unions have concluded with the major players. These allow regional jets from subcontractors with up to 76 seats. The Embraer 175-E1 falls into exactly this segment, which explains the ongoing market interest in the United States. However, the Brazilian manufacturer does not want to let the successor model disappear into the drawer, but wants to get it into the air between 2027 and 2028. The board's decision therefore leads to a delay of around three years.

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