August 9, 2022

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August 9, 2022

From October 3, 2022: Wizz Air wants to reactivate Russia flights

Just a few weeks ago, Wizz Air President Robert Carey said that the airline would not be flying to Russia in the long term. Now Michael Berlouis, Managing Director of the Abu Dhabi-based subsidiary, has announced that Moscow flights will be reactivated on October 3, 2022. Wizz Air Abu Dhabi launched a nonstop connection between the two capitals in December 2021. In Moscow, the airline flew to Vnukovo Airport. Immediately after the Russian Federation army invaded Ukraine, the Wizz Air Group suspended all flights to Russia. First, the resumption of flights to the two countries was postponed several times before sales were suspended for the entire 2022/23 summer flight schedule period. Just a few weeks ago, Wizz Air Group President Robert Carey announced during a media briefing in Vienna that the airline would not be flying to Russia in the long term. This decision has obviously been rejected, as the Abu Dhabi-based subsidiary plans to resume flying between the capital of the United Arab Emirates and Moscow-Vnukovo on October 3, 2022. The UAE has not imposed any sanctions against the Russian Federation. However, there is some "homework" that Wizz Air Abu Dhabi has to do before resuming flights to Russia. For example, the group has American investors and lessors. Due to the tough US legislation, these could still thwart the plan. The entire fleet of the Wizz Air Group is leased, as Stephen Jones confirmed to Aviation.Direct some time ago in his role as Managing Director of Wizz Air Hungary. The manager in question now works for Flair in Canada as CEO. Speaking to Gulf News, he explained

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Qatar Airways flies to Saudi Arabia more often

Qatar Airways will resume service to its fifth destination in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qassim, with three weekly flights from August 22, 2022. From September 2, 2022, the airline will increase the number of weekly flights to four. The Gulf airline will also introduce four additional weekly flights to Riyadh from August 18, 2022, bringing the total number of weekly flights to 20 to meet the growing demand for inbound and outbound travel. Qatar Airways currently offers 93 weekly flights to four major cities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. With the addition of Qassim and the four additional flights to Riyadh, Qatar Airways' number of weekly flights to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia increases to 101 non-stop flights. This is reported by the Swiss travel portal About Travel.

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Airbus delivers fewer planes in July

The European aircraft manufacturer delivered significantly fewer aircraft in July than in the previous month following bottlenecks at suppliers. Airbus delivered 46 commercial jets to its customers last month, up from 60 in June, the company announced. Because suppliers can barely keep up with their deliveries, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury cut his plans for 2022 at the end of July and is now expecting only 720 deliveries instead of 700. Meanwhile, the manufacturer received orders for 401 new aircraft in July, almost 300 of which are going to China. In return, Airbus recorded cancellations for four jets. The order book still includes a remaining order from the Arab airline Qatar Airways for 19 A350 wide-body aircraft. According to industry sources, however, the manufacturer has now terminated the contract with its major customer after months of public dispute over damage to the surface of several aircraft in the series, as the aviation portal Airliners reports. Qatar Airways sued the world's largest aircraft manufacturer in London in December for damages due to the defects and publicly described them as a safety problem. However, Airbus and the European Aviation Authority Easa viewed the matter differently. The manufacturer had offered to repair the damage at its own expense, but Qatar Airways had refused.

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Frankfurt Airport increases passenger forecast for 2022

Frankfurt Airport is still unable to match the figures from before the pandemic. However, the recovery is more dynamic than ever. Airport operator Fraport is therefore expecting more profit over the course of the financial year. Despite the handling chaos of the past few weeks, significantly more passengers are using Frankfurt Airport again. The listed operator Fraport therefore significantly increased its annual forecast to 45 to 50 million guests on Tuesday. Previously, 39 to 46 million passengers had been expected for Germany's largest hub. The record was set in 2019, the pre-Corona year, with more than 70 million passengers. In June, the 5 million monthly mark was exceeded for the first time, reaching more than 75 percent of the pre-crisis level. Almost 21 million passengers used Frankfurt Airport in the first half of the year. While the figure was still 38 percent below 2019, this corresponded to growth of more than 220 percent compared to the previous year. In June, for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, the number of passengers reached almost 5 million – more than 75 percent of the number of passengers in the record year of 2019. "This very dynamic recovery is placing an extremely high demand on us operationally and repeatedly leads to unsatisfactory delays," said Stefan Schulte, CEO of Fraport AG, on the current situation. "The fact that operations were, by and large, stable and orderly at the start of the summer holidays shows that the measures introduced in Frankfurt together with our partners are taking effect, even if we are still far from meeting our own quality requirements." Cargo volume falls by 11,5 percent Frankfurt reached around 1,0 million tons in terms of cargo volume – a decrease of XNUMX percent.

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Air Baltic doubles passenger numbers in July

Last month, the Latvian airline carried 414.500 passengers on 3.670 flights, 98 percent more than in the same period last year. "So far in 2022, Air Baltic has carried more than 1,7 million passengers. This summer, we are also seeing continuous growth in travel demand. Driven by leisure traffic, our passenger and flight numbers continue to rise every month. Unfortunately, the war in Ukraine is still having a negative impact on overall passenger volume, which is particularly affecting transfer traffic in Riga," said airline CEO Martin Gauss.

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Leipzig: SunExpress increases Antalya

The Turkish holiday airline SunExpress is reacting to the fact that its competitor Corendon Airlines is significantly reducing its services from many German airports. This also affects traffic between Germany and Turkey - actually Corendon's traditional core business. SunExpress is initially building up its flight offering to/from Antalya from Leipzig/Halle Airport. The joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines currently offers up to 13 weekly rotations between the two cities. The offer will be increased to 18 rotations per week in two steps. First, the weekly flights will be increased by two rotations to 13 rotations, effective September 2022, 15. The second increase has been announced for September 25, 2022 and will bring three more rotations. The carrier justifies the increased service with particularly high demand. For the time being, it is planned that up to 21 weekly rotations will be carried out between Leipzig/Halle and Antalya up to and including October 2022, 18. An extension is conceivable if booking numbers remain high. Direct competitor Corendon Airlines and its Maltese subsidiary Corendon Europe recently made cuts to their flight schedule for Germany. Massive cuts have been made at almost all airports served in Germany. Many routes, particularly those between Germany and Turkey, are being cancelled early. Flights are also being combined on some holiday routes. A current trip report about Corendon can be found at this link.

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Air freight: Gewessler Ministry considers Linz Airport to be “not system-critical”

Austria's Transport Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) has never made a secret of the fact that she is not a big fan of aviation. She is now in an unusual dispute with Linz-Hörsching Airport. The airport is said not to be classified as "critical infrastructure". The Upper Austrian airport is playing an increasingly important role in the freight sector. For example, the logistics group DHL has a transshipment point here. Numerous other cargo airlines also fly to Linz-Hörsching as scheduled. However, when it comes to natural gas required for heating purposes, the airport is not considered to be systemically relevant, according to the "Climate Protection Ministry". Airport director Norbert Draskovits is taking a strong stand against this and has written a comprehensive letter to Leonore Gewessler. Among other things, the manager writes: "With regard to the current gas crisis, we would like to inform you that Flughafen Linz GesmbH requires gas for heating purposes in an emergency. The freight and hangar areas can only be heated with gas. (…) We ask you to supply our airport as a critical infrastructure with gas even in an emergency in order to maintain supply chains and to supply the people of Austria, so that we can guarantee basic services alongside Vienna.” Especially during the Corona pandemic, many protective items such as masks, gloves, but also vaccines from the manufacturer Biontech/Pfizer were flown in via Linz-Hörsching Airport. Draskovits also emphasizes that the Upper Austrian airport can be flown to around the clock and that this is precisely why it is considered critical infrastructure in the cargo sector. Transport Minister Leonore Gewessler rarely misses an opportunity to artificially badmouth Austrian aviation. So far, however, she has only shone with announcements that have not yet been implemented because they raised serious concerns about EU law when it comes to

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Air India will rely on regional hubs in the future

The airline Air India is undergoing a transformation following its sale to Tata Sons. The route network is to be overhauled. At the same time, commercial director Purnima Nerurkar announced that the company plans to expand both internationally and domestically. Air India was sold to Tata Sons at the beginning of this year. Before that, the government had been unable to sell the loss-making company for several years. The new owner wants to create synergies with other airlines it owns. It is currently completely unclear which brands will be given up, but it will not be Air India. In the future, the company plans to position itself more regionally and open hubs at various smaller airports in India. These will have different focuses. Some will concentrate on domestic traffic, while others will also offer international flights and long-haul connections. The main hub will remain Delhi and the manager also promised that there will be further growth here. The airlines Air India, Air India Express, Air Asia India and Vistara are currently under the control of Tata Sons. The plan is to bring the carriers mentioned closer together. The owners also want to reduce the number of brands. It was also suggested that there could be an increase in flights with stopovers or transfers in the future. The regional hubs that are currently being set up will play an important role in this. North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia are considered important target or source markets abroad. The aim is to triple traffic to North America in the next three years.

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Motor boats may not be driven in Croatia without a license

Many people enjoy taking a short trip on a motorboat during their summer vacation. However, in Croatia this can end before you even set off if you don't have the appropriate license. In contrast to other countries, the Mediterranean state requires a valid boating license from the first horsepower engine. In the European Union there is no uniform regulation as to how powerful a watercraft can be in order to be able to drive it without a license. In principle, you are on the safe side if you can show a valid sports boating license. This gives you an official document that proves that you are able to drive a watercraft. Driving without a license is regulated enormously differently. For example, in Greece you can drive up to 70 HP without a license. In Italy it is 40 HP and in Germany and Spain 15 HP each. In Germany there is the special rule that the watercraft can be up to 15 meters long. Croatia, on the other hand, requires a valid license from the first horsepower. The organization AC Nautic criticizes the inconsistent practice, because in their opinion many EU states have de facto placed the patent system in private hands. The theory exams for boating licenses are often done using multiple choice. Learning is now also very often done using apps. Compulsory theory training is not legally required in most EU countries. An oral exam is often not planned either! Therefore, learning ready-made answers and questions for the exam is often enough. The fact that in many EU countries at least smaller boats can be driven without a license

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Ita Airways sale: government calls for improved offers

The Italian caretaker government wants to complete the sale of ITA Airways before the new elections. The previous bidders have now been asked to improve their offers, as the previous bids have been deemed inadequate. So far, the MSC/Lufthansa consortium has been considered the one with the best chances. However, Certares/Air France-KLM/Delta do not want to let the Italian carrier be snatched away. They recently approached the responsible ministry with an improved offer. This has apparently resulted in the government asking all bidders to quickly submit improved offers. The winner will be announced within ten days of the deadline, said Finance Minister Daniele Franco during a press conference. "Neither of the two proposals received for ITA fully meets the requirements of the Prime Minister's Office. For this reason, they will be asked as soon as possible, within a few days, to formulate further proposals and to respond as quickly as possible," said the government member. "The objectives of the operation are to maximize the value that will be owned by the state, but also a number of other objectives, from governance to the industrial structure, to the use and size of the hubs. It is about making an overall assessment." The acting head of government, Mario Draghi, has repeatedly made it clear that he wants to complete the sale of Ita Airways and not leave it to the successor government. This is why the issue has now gained momentum again. Shortly before, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said that the patience of the group he leads is "not infinite." If the MSC/Lufthansa consortium

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