January 26, 2023

More articles from the category

January 26, 2023

Sky Alps expands fleet: Fifth Dash 8 machine to be deployed shortly

The South Tyrolean regional airline currently serves 8 destinations with four De Havilland Canada Dash 15s. But it won't stop there. A fifth aircraft will soon be added to the fleet, Sky Alps' managing director Alex Spinato revealed to the Italia Vola portal. With this additional aircraft, the airline wants to start the long-announced Frankfurt route from Bolzano, among other things, and thus gain access to the Lufthansa network. The airline is already working on codeshare or interlining partnerships, which are made possible by its own air operator certificate (AOC), which the airline has received from the Italian aviation authority Enac.

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BER: Flight operations are returning to normal

Flight operations at the capital's BER airport have resumed after a warning strike on Wednesday. The first planes took off and landed again, and around 400 flights are scheduled for today. The airport is expecting around 40.000 to 45.000 passengers, which is several thousand more than usual. In addition, 27 more flight movements - i.e. takeoffs or landings - are planned. A total of around 400 flights are planned. The warning strike led to the cancellation of 300 takeoffs and landings on Wednesday and affected 35.000 passengers. On Thursday morning, a few flights were still cancelled, particularly to Amsterdam and London, as the German online portal Aero reports. Passengers are advised to arrive at the airport in good time and to use digital services such as self-service check-in and booking time slots for security checks.

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Number of overnight stays in Vienna increased significantly

The year 2022 was significantly more successful for Viennese hotels and guesthouses than the previous years, which were marked by lockdowns and travel restrictions. 13,2 million guest overnight stays were counted in Vienna last year. That is three quarters of the level in the pre-crisis year of 2019. Hotel sales in October and November were even higher than in 2019, although inflation also played a role here. Tourists from the United States in particular are making a comeback; they are now the third strongest source market after Austria and Germany. Travelers from Great Britain and Northern Ireland have also increased sharply, despite Brexit. In the future, travel from nearby markets is to be increasingly made by train. By 2025, the ratio of people traveling by car or train is to be reversed. This should also be made possible by the increasing number of night trains operated by ÖBB. Guests from Germany, Italy and Switzerland in particular are to be encouraged to switch to rail.

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Airbus has to upgrade 39 A330s

A total of 36 Airbus A330-200s and three A330-800s are affected by an airworthiness directive issued by EASA. The aircraft must be reworked because safety-related defects have been identified. Specifically, this concerns fuselage section 58, where the plastic forming was carried out poorly. According to the supervisory authority, this can affect the structural integrity of the entire aircraft and possibly lead to a catastrophic accident. The operators of the affected Airbus A330-200s and A330-800s have been instructed to carry out the necessary rework immediately and have it approved by the authorities.

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With a stop in Vienna: Ethiopian takes on Addis Ababa-Copenhagen

Ethiopian Airlines will start direct flights between Addis Ababa and Copenhagen on May 22, 2023. These will be operated five times a week. Since this is not a non-stop connection, there will be a stopover in Vienna-Schwechat. There will only be no flights on this route on Tuesdays and Sundays. Boeing 787s will generally be used. Direct flights - unlike non-stop flights - can have any number of stopovers, as long as the flight number remains the same. Unfortunately, the two terms, which are actually clearly defined, are often confused in marketing language, sometimes intentionally.

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Charter: Smartwings also flies to Rhodes from České Budějovice

The 2023 summer flight schedule of the České Budějovice regional airport has now grown to three destinations, as the tour operator Čedok has also commissioned charter flights to Crete. An official statement states that the decision was made to take this step because demand is currently high. Other routes that are to be offered by charter from České Budějovice are Rhodes and Antalya. The operation is to be carried out by the Czech airline Smartwings. According to the current state of affairs, the first flight to Antalya is to take place on August 4, 2023. This route is to be served on Fridays by order of the tour operator. From České Budějovice, flights to Rhodes are to be made every Monday from August 7, 2023. On Sundays, the destination Heraklion is to be flown from August 14, 2023.

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Engine fatality: Embraer 175 APU was defective

The US Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (NTSB) has published an initial interim report on the death of the Envoy Air employee who was "sucked" into an engine of the N31NN on December 2022, 264. On that day, this Embraer 175 was scheduled to fly from Montgomery Regional Airport to Dallas/Fort Worth under flight number AA3408. There were 59 passengers and four crew members on board. A ramp worker was sucked into an engine of the regional jet and died as a result. Colleagues who immediately rushed to the man's aid were unfortunately able to confirm his death. Preparations for takeoff were immediately canceled due to the tragic accident. No passengers or crew members were injured in the accident, which occurred on the apron. However, the ramp agent lost his life. Responsibility for the Embraer 175 lay with Piedmont Airlines, a subsidiary of the American Airlines Group. However, the operational implementation was carried out by the sister company Envoy Air. According to the NTSB, the E175 had a non-functional auxiliary power unit (APU), which meant that it had to be operated with ground power after the required two-minute engine cool-down phase when it arrived at the gate. When the aircraft arrived at the gate, three ramp agents were present and all three were outside the security area. When the captain switched off the second (right) engine, the Engine and Crew Alert System (EICAS) indicated that the forward cargo door had been opened, although the first engine was still running. The first officer opened his cockpit window to inform the ramp agent who opened the cargo door that the left engine was still running.

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Lufthansa increases Frankfurt-Shanghai

Effective February 16, 2023, Lufthansa is increasing the nonstop connection between Frankfurt am Main and Shanghai. From then on, Germany's largest airline will fly between the two cities four times a week. The carrier currently offers two rotations per week. According to flight schedule data published by Lufthansa, Boeing 747-8s will be used on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. B747-400s will be used on Wednesdays. The increase has initially only been published until the end of the current 2022/23 winter flight schedule period.

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Swiss: First Airbus A340-300 with premium economy in scheduled service

The airline Swiss is now also equipping its long-haul Airbus A340-300 aircraft with Premium Economy Class. The HB-JMB made its first flight in the new configuration on Tuesday. The destination was Johannesburg. Swiss announced that the four Airbus A340-300s will be converted by around April 2023. This means that Premium Economy will then also be available on other routes on which this type of aircraft is used. Examples of this are Chicago and Hong Kong. Since the end of February 2022, Swiss has equipped its entire Boeing 777-300ER fleet with Premium Economy Class. It was the first airline in the Lufthansa Group to introduce the best-in-class Premium Economy seat. Swiss International Air Lines began installing Premium Economy Class on its Airbus A2022-340 fleet in December 300. The first converted aircraft, registered HB-JMB, took off from Zurich Airport to Johannesburg (South Africa) on Tuesday evening. By April 2023, all four aircraft of this type will be equipped with the popular travel class. "Premium Economy Class has established itself as an extremely popular travel class after just a short time. The very positive feedback from our customers on the increased seat comfort, the improved service, the larger selection of menus and the quality of the food encourages us to offer this high-quality product on other routes as well," says Swiss CCO Tamur Goudarzi Pour.

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Ryanair wants to expand services from Warsaw-Chopin

Apart from Air Moldova, the Polish airport Warsaw-Modlin is currently used only by the Ryanair Group. The contract with the airport expires this year and negotiations currently appear to be complicated. In an interview with the local portal Tyristika, the head of the Polish subsidiary Buzz, Michał Kaczmarzyk, explained that the worst-case scenario is that the Ryanair Group will withdraw completely from Modlin. Growth has already been scaled back in favor of other airports. It would also be necessary to expand the terminal. "Ryanair is even prepared to lend the airport money for this. We are talking about a sum of around 20 million euros," said the Buzz managing director. However, the state holding company PPL is opposed to this. "Parliamentary elections are taking place this year and I am sure that the future of Modlin will be a topic of public debate. If Europe's largest airline proposes an investment that guarantees the development of the region, it is worth considering such a solution instead of blocking it." When asked about the fact that the Ryanair Group had applied for 23 pairs of slots at Chopin Airport, Michał Kaczmarzyk replied: "You rightly reminded us that Ryanair already offers scheduled flights from Chopin Airport and I would like to add that Buzz still offers charter connections with travel agencies. So we are there, albeit with little activity, but we are there. Some of the slots that have been allocated to us are attractive and we will want to use them. Everything will become clear when we announce the connection network for the summer season, so at the end of January or the beginning of

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