April 5, 2022

More articles from the category

April 5, 2022

Lübeck Air and Sundair are to boost Lübeck Airport

The holiday airline Sundair will fly from Lübeck to the destinations Antalya, Heraklion and Palma de Mallorca in summer 2022. According to managing director Marcos Rossello, these are not charter flights, but independently operated routes. Sundair wanted to start in Lübeck last year, but the plan was postponed to the 2022 summer flight schedule due to the corona pandemic. The destination Antalya is to be served on Mondays and Fridays from May 2nd to October 28th, 2022. Flights to Heraklion will begin on May 3rd, 2022. Sundair plans to fly from Lübeck on Tuesdays and Sundays. For the time being, the offer is limited to October 30th, 2022. Palma de Mallorca will be served on Wednesdays and Saturdays from May 4th, 2022. Lübeck Air with significantly more flight destinations Under its own brand Lübeck Air, the airport is offering a significantly expanded route network this year. The operational operation of the flights is carried out by Air Alsie and German Airways, with the latter airline formally flying under wet lease for the Danish carrier. The aircraft types used are ATR72 (Air Alsie) and Embraer 190 (German Airways). Charter orders were also secured in Salzburg and Bern. From Lübeck, the following destinations will be flown to in summer 2022: Bastia, Bergen, Bern, Ibiza, Jersey, Keflavik, Mahon, Munich, Olbia, Salzburg, Stuttgart, Visby and Zadar. From Salzburg, Lübeck Air serves the destination Preveza with Embraer 190 from German Airways. The client is Rhomberg Reisen. Scheduled flights to Heringsdorf and Lübeck are offered from Bern-Belp. Furthermore, the tour operator operates the destinations Jerez, among others.

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Entry: Slovakia abolishes quarantine for unvaccinated people

The Slovak Republic is simplifying its entry requirements with effect from April 6, 2022. Unvaccinated people will no longer have to go into quarantine. There will also be no need to fill out the electronic PLF form. Until now, people who were not vaccinated against Covid-19 were subject to a five-day quarantine. This became effective from the age of 12. You could only be released from isolation if you had a PCR test carried out in a Slovak laboratory immediately after entry - at your own expense. However, you had to go into quarantine until you received the result. This practice is now being dropped, because from April 6, 2022, according to a statement from the Slovak Ministry of Health, all people - including unvaccinated people - will again be allowed to enter the country without quarantine. The electronic PLF form that was previously required will also be abolished. Within Slovakia, the obligation to wear a mask will be relaxed. This only remains in place on public transport, inside publicly accessible buildings and at mass events such as concerts. In the latter case, this may also apply outdoors.

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Fraports Krux at St. Petersburg-Pulkovo Airport

The listed airport operator Fraport actually wants to withdraw from Russia. It currently holds around 25 percent of Saint Petersburg-Pulkovo Airport. However, it cannot sell the stake so easily because a contractual ban on sales until 2025 is stipulated in the contracts. This puts Fraport AG in a kind of dilemma because it actually no longer wants to be active in the Russian Federation due to the war in Ukraine and on the other hand it is threatened with the Russian government's withdrawal of the valuable stake. CEO Stefan Schulte estimates the value of the 25 percent share to be a "low three-digit million amount". In 2009, Fraport AG became part of a consortium at Pulkovo Airport. This consortium holds a 30-year operating concession. The contracts state that a sale must not take place before 2025. If this is ignored, Fraport AG runs the acute risk that the Russian government could nationalize the share without any compensation.

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Twin City Liner offers discounted family tickets

The catamaran ship Twin City Liner will be operating on the main route between Vienna and Bratislava again from April 8, 2022. Up to three daily rotations are planned for the time being. There will also be excursions to Budapest and Esztergom/Visegrád. There will be discounted tickets for families from April 8 to 30, 2022, July 11 to 17, 2022 and October 22 to November 1, 2022. Up to two children or young people up to the age of 17 can travel free of charge when accompanied by an adult. According to Twin City Liner, the cheapest ticket costs 22 euros. This is called the "Red Ticket" in reference to the former Austrian Airlines product. The new Twin City Liner from Central Danube offers 250 seats and commutes from the City ship station at Schwedenplatz on its main route between Vienna and Bratislava. On board the new fast catamaran, the Captain's Lounge on the upper deck, which has comfortable seating and permanently installed tables, can be easily reached via an internal connection. The main deck impresses with premium seats. There are modern charging stations for electronic devices and WiFi on both decks.

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ALC orders 32 more Boeing 737 Max

The leasing company Air Lease Corporation has ordered 32 additional medium-haul jets of the Boeing 737 Max 8 and 737 Max 9 types from the US aircraft manufacturer. This increases the order volume to 130 units. In February 2022, ALC and Boeing signed a letter of intent. This has now been converted into a binding purchase agreement. The Air Lease Corporation is one of the world's largest lessors of commercial aircraft. Company CEO John Plueger said, among other things, that they are pleased to be able to announce the conclusion of this purchase agreement.

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Austrian Hotel Association expects 2022 to be difficult

The Austrian Hotel Association assumes that domestic tourism will also be characterized by many uncertainties in 2022. This is also related to the current cost explosion, according to the professional association. Reference is made to a recent study by Wifo, which predicts another difficult year for Austrian tourism. "Demand is just picking up again and companies are looking positively towards the next few months. Summer holidays in Austria will also be in 2022. But security and stability are needed, otherwise we will nip the development in the bud again," says ÖHV General Secretary Markus Gratzer. The industry is currently in a recovery phase after two years of continuous crisis. However, there are some circumstances that lead to uncertainty. These include, among other things, the fact that it is completely unclear how things will go in autumn and winter 2022/23. The sharp rise in costs due to the Ukraine war is also not exactly euphoric. Politics is challenged at all levels. The cost explosion, driven by energy prices, as well as the loss of guests from long-distance markets due to the Ukraine crisis are the two biggest uncertainty factors in the short term: "We need concepts to counteract the current price development. Austria's economy cannot afford to do without tourism as an economic locomotive, especially against the backdrop of an impending recession in other sectors," Gratzer emphasises. A rapid return to normality is also needed: Compared to other European cities, businesses in Vienna in particular are suffering massively from the long-term restrictions of the last two years. With regard to the coming winter season, Gratzer points out that it is important to

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Easter: Weeze expects 70.000 passengers

Weeze Regional Airport, which is mainly used by Ryanair, is expecting around 70.000 passengers during the Easter holidays. The service is expected to be back to the 90 level with 32 weekly departures to 2019 destinations. The school holidays in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia begin on April 8, 2022 and last around two weeks. According to Weeze Airport, around 400 take-offs and landings are planned during this period. This should correspond to the level of the Easter holidays in 2019. Managing Director Sebastian Papst said: "After two years of pandemic, the desire to travel among families and individual travelers is unbroken. This has already been shown in recent weeks. The jets to the holiday areas were increasingly well utilized. Anyone who wants to fly south from Weeze during the Easter holidays should hurry." It is noteworthy, however, that Niederrhein Airport does not mention the ticket seller Green Airlines at all in its most recent media release. The persistent pop-up advertising for the offers of the Karlsruhe-based mailbox company has also been removed from the homepage of Weeze Airport. The airline Corendon Airlines flies package holiday customers of the major tour operators to the holiday region of Antalya twice a week. During the Easter holidays, the airline also flies to Gran Canaria (Spain) and Hurghada (Egypt). However, the Irish airline Ryanair continues to provide the lion's share of the 32 flight destinations. The focus is on sunny destinations around the Mediterranean and in North Africa, including Cagliari (Italy), Zagreb (Croatia), Malaga (Spain) and Thessaloniki (Greece). There are daily flights to Mallorca in the morning and evening. "In economically challenging times, low-cost airlines are booming. With a wide range of flights and cheap tickets, we are

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Comment: News from the ticket seller with a hedge in Weeze

"Let's play airline" is how you could describe the ticket seller Green Airlines, because not a single one of the announced flights from Weeze to Berlin and/or Munich has been carried out so far. There are no slots at the two major airports, but only an AOC holder could get them anyway - and Green "Airlines" is not that. In the meantime, even Weeze Airport, which just a few weeks ago had clearly acknowledged the ticket seller, who resides at a mailbox address in Karlsruhe, seems to be distancing itself. For example, in the most recent media release regarding Easter 2022, Green "Airlines" was not mentioned at all. The intrusive pop-up advertising has also been removed from the Lower Rhine Airport's homepage. Running an airline involves more than renting a sales system from Worldticket and offering trolleys and T-shirts for sale. The most important points would probably be security and trust. In Germany, it is the task of the Federal Aviation Office to ensure this, because holders of AOC and operating licenses are subject to strict conditions and controls. A real airline must have numerous people who have professional training and/or corresponding experience and who have been checked by the LBA. However, this is not the case for a pure ticket seller, because they are not subject to supervision by the Federal Aviation Office. Travel agencies and tour operators must have customer money protection For laypeople, it may be difficult to understand that it is possible to set up a mailbox company and "play airline" with it - without any annoying supervision by the Federal Aviation Office or another EU civil aviation authority. Licensed travel agencies and tour operators certainly offer charter flights on their own.

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Easter holidays: BER expects one million passengers

Berlin Brandenburg Airport expects that around one million travelers will use the capital's airport during the Easter holidays. A total of 126 destinations will be offered. During the Berlin and Brandenburg Easter holidays, which last from April 8 to 24, 2022, 55 airlines will offer 126 destinations in 49 countries. According to BER, the most popular destinations include the Mediterranean region, the Canary Islands, Scandinavia and European metropolises such as Istanbul, London, Madrid, Paris and Rome. In addition, there are long-haul connections: FTI/Smartlynx flies directly to Dubai, Qatar Airways to Doha, Scoot connects BER with Singapore and United Airlines flies from BER to New York. In total, more than one million passengers are expected at BER over the Easter holidays. The busiest days will be the last day of school before the holidays, April 8, 2022, and the Sunday before school starts on April 24, 2022, on which more than 70.000 passengers are expected each day. During the Easter holidays, 50.000 to 65.000 passengers will use BER every day. "When I walk through the terminals these days, I sense that our passengers are looking forward to vacation and air travel much more. We are expecting around a million passengers over the Easter holidays. This shows that the desire to travel is returning. For everyone at the airport, this development is encouraging, but also challenging. The airport company, the police authorities, the airlines and all service providers at BER will have to work hard to ensure smooth operations. If there are also staff shortages in the already tense personnel situation, there may be delays," explains Managing Director Aletta von Massenbach. Easter travel at BER will take place

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Air Baltic is now allowed to carry 149 passengers in the A220-300

Until now, some seats on board Air Baltic's Airbus A220-300 aircraft were permanently blocked. This is now changing, as the carrier has now received certification to carry a maximum of 149 passengers. Those seats that previously had an embroidered blocking notice can now be used to transport passengers. Company boss Martin Gauss said: "At the end of February, we received our first Airbus A220-300 aircraft, which is approved for operation with up to 149 seats. So far, we have been able to use 145 seats on the aircraft, but in the future the existing fleet will also be adapted to use the additional capacity, which will further increase the efficiency of our operations." In April 2022, the company changed the cabin configuration for the first five of the 33 Airbus A220-300s. Air Baltic plans to release the additional seats across its entire fleet by summer 2023. Due to different seating configurations, the first 20 aircraft will have 148 seats available, while the next 12 aircraft will have 149 seats. All aircraft delivered between 2022 and early 2024 are expected to have 148 seats.

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