Eurowings, the low-cost airline owned by Lufthansa , said it would cut a third of the jobs at its headquarters as part of wider efforts to return the German airline group to profitability after a major state bailout.

We have around 1,000 staff at head office and of those we will reduce 300, Eurowings Chief Executive Jens Bischof told a briefing in Duesseldorf.

Germany threw Lufthansa a 9 billion euro ($9.8 billion) lifeline on Monday, agreeing a bailout which gives Berlin a veto in the event of a hostile bid for the airline.

Bischof, in remarks did not give figures for job reductions in other operational areas at Eurowings, which employs a total of around 4,000 staff.

He said the outcome would depend on negotiations with staff representatives and how work is allocated in future between Lufthansa and Eurowings. It would likely take until 2023 before activity returns to last year's levels.

GERMAN airline Eurowings is reactivating its base in Spain holiday island Mallorca in another good sign for the recovery of the Balearic Island tourism sector.

The airline, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, will be taking off from Mallorca capital Palma next Saturday June 27 with a flight to German city Hannover following a break of some three months due to the Covid-19 crisis.

The company will be operating more than 50 flights a week from Palma, going up to nearly 170 by the end of July, with connections to 16 airports in Germany and Austria.

To begin with Eurowings will operate with two A-320 aircraft stationed at Palma’s Son San Joan airport, going up to three over the summer

We are very pleased that Eurowings Europe is able to take off again, commented Eurowings Europe Managing Director Robert Jahn.

He also thanked company employees, who he said had had to endure a lot of uncertainty and show staying power in the past weeks.

Eurowings will take off again at the end of June with its international flight operation Eurowings Europe. The first flight after a break of around three months will take place on 27 June at 07:45 from Palma to Hanover.

With the reopening of the Mallorca base, Eurowings is underlining its position as Germany’s largest holiday airline. With the additional aircraft stationed on the Balearic island, Eurowings is operating a flight schedule that supplements numerous Mallorca connections at major Eurowings locations such as Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Cologne/Bonn with additional destinations in Germany and Austria.

Eurowings primarily operates flights from Mallorca to Berlin, Bremen, Dresden, Hanover, Leipzig, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Munich, Munster-Osnabruck, Nuremberg and Saarbrucken. In Austria, Eurowings connects Salzburg and Innsbruck with Mallorca.

With the beginning of the summer holidays in some German federal states, Eurowings will again offer more than 50 Mallorca flights per week. During the peak holiday season from the end of July, the number of flights will then increase to 168 weekly Mallorca flights.

A total of 16 airports in Germany and Austria will then be connected to Mallorca with Eurowings again. The airline had opened its first location in non-German-speaking countries in 2017 on Mallorca.

Eurowings thus became the leading carrier for flights to Mallorca to Germany and Austria.

With the end of the worldwide travel warning and the lifting of travel restrictions for Spain, customer interest in sunny destinations is growing by leaps and bounds. Therefore the airline has decided to reactivate its crews based in Palma.

Eurowings Europe will initially start operations with two Airbus A320s and increase to three aircraft over the summer. The airline also operates additional international stations for Eurowings in Salzburg (Austria) and Pristina (Kosovo).

We are very pleased that Eurowings Europe is able to take off again, said Robert Jahn, Managing Director of Eurowings Europe. I would like to thank our guests for their patience and understanding during this difficult phase.

And I would especially like to thank our Eurowings Europe team, who had to endure a lot of uncertainty and show staying power in the past weeks.

We are all the more pleased that we can now start again and be there for our holiday guests.

Mallorca is booming with Eurowings, which uses A330 wide-body to Palma Airport.

Eurowings is offering more than 160 additional flights by Airbus A330 from Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart and Düsseldorf over the next three months.

Eurowings is strengthening its position as Germany’s largest holiday airline. The Lufthansa subsidiary is expanding its route portfolio in the direction of South-East Europe and will be flying to Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast on a large scale for the first time in summer 2020.

The two new up-and-coming holiday destinations being offered are Varna and Burgas.

Flights will be available from six German airports from 6 July. In addition to the major Eurowings stations in Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Stuttgart, the airports of Munich, Hanover and Leipzig will also be directly connected to the Bulgarian coast from July.

The airline’s programme will then include more than 20 weekly flights to Burgas and Varna. Among the European sunshine destinations, Bulgaria is becoming the new holiday favourite for inexpensive summer holidays, both for families and for the younger public.

Lufthansa has cancelled 1,300 flights after it lost a last-minute legal bid to halt a strike by cabin crew.

The two-day action by members of the UFO union centres on disagreements over pay and conditions.

About 180,000 passengers are set to face travel disruption.

The UFO union said it would hit all Lufthansa flights from German airports.

Other airlines in the group – including Eurowings, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, and Brussels Airlines - are not affected.

Lufthansa cancelled 700 flights on Thursday and 600 on Friday, amounting to about one-fifth of its planned flights over the 48-hour period.

A Frankfurt labour court rejected an application from the airline to prevent the strike on Wednesday, which is part of a long-running dispute.

The carrier achieved an Adjusted EBIT of €1.3 billion for the third quarter of 2019, only slightly below the €1.4 billion of the prior-year period.

Against the backdrop of higher fuel costs, which were €171 million above their 2018 level in the third quarter, the group delivered a sound business performance for the period.

Our airlines were able to translate their premium quality and market strength into solid third-quarter earnings, confirms Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa chief executive.

At Eurowings the turnaround measures are showing first results; and at Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Lufthansa Cargo we will be taking tangible corrective action to improve earnings.

Lufthansa passengers can breathe a sigh of relief after the airline and cabin crew trade union UFO announced there are no new strikes on the horizon.

The two sides agreed to enter arbitration to resolve wage disputes.

German airline Lufthansa agreed to enter arbitration with cabin crew labor union UFO to resolve ongoing wage disputes, the two sides announced on Tuesday.

In a joint statement, the UFO union and Lufthansa said that talks over the past few days had been constructive and showed that we can come to a solution together.

The two sides have been locked into a dispute over pay for some 21,000 staff members as well as the union's legal status.

According to UFO, Lufthansa agreed to withdraw several lawsuits against the union and to make improvements for entry-level workers.

In exchange, the union agreed to refrain from further strikes while negotiations are ongoing.

The move comes as a potential new wave of strikes threatened to impact hundreds of Lufthansa flights as well as its four German subsidiaries — Germanwings, Eurowings Germany, Lufthansa City Line and SunExpress Germany.

A two-day strike by Lufthansa cabin crew led to 1,500 flights being canceled last week, bringing the airline's operations to a standstill.

Lufthansa and UFO said they hope a neutral arbitrator will help find a solution that is acceptable to both sides.

German airline Lufthansa on Tuesday posted a decline in second-quarter earnings, hurt by price competition on short-haul routes in Germany and Austria as well as rising fuel costs.

Europe’s biggest airline group said adjusted earnings before interest and tax fell to €754 million, compared to €1 billion a year earlier.

Fuel costs were €255m higher than in the previous year, it said.

Lufthansa said it expected the European market to remain challenging until at least the end of this year.

The company maintained its guidance for 2019 for an adjusted ebit margin of 5.5 per cent to 6.5 per cent for the year, down from a previous target of between 6.5 per cent and 8 per cent.

Lufthansa in June cut its full-year profit forecast due to lower prices and higher fuel costs compounding losses at its budget subsidiary Eurowings.

Lufthansa is locked in a bruising fight for market share as a glut of seats hurts prices on short haul flights out of Germany and Austria.

As flagged in the June, yields at the low-cost Eurowings tumbled, with long-haul routes offering the only bright spot.

Headwinds from a German economic slowdown are also building amid simmering trade tensions. As well as hitting corporate demand for flights, the conflict is crimping earnings at Lufthansa’s cargo unit, with quarterly earnings dropping 88 per cent.

The company does not see the scenario improving this year, cautioning that discounting will continue to weigh on ticket prices. The airline said margin targets at its cargo unit are at risk if demand does not stabilise.


Tourism Observer

Lufthansa has followed the UK British Airways in temporarily flight suspension to the Egyptian capital as a precaution for security reasons, according to the company's statement, cited by local media.

Lufthansa has said in a statement that as safety is the number one priority of Lufthansa, the airline has temporarily suspended its flights to Cairo today as a precaution, while further assessment is being made.

Lufthansa canceled flights from Frankfurt and Munich to Cairo but is expected to resume service to the Egyptian capital on Sunday. The similar statement was issued earlier by British Airways.

"We constantly review our security arrangements at all our airports around the world and have suspended flights to Cairo for seven days as a precaution to allow for further assessment. The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our priority, and we would never operate an aircraft unless it was safe to do so", the statement said.

A spokesperson for the UK-based company has said that the flights were suspended "for seven days as a precaution to allow for further assessment".

Earlier, the United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has advised passengers against air travel to and from Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh but has not issued a similar warning on Cairo.

"There’s a heightened risk of terrorism against aviation. Additional security measures are in place for flights departing from Egypt to the UK. You should co-operate fully with security officials at airports", the FCO said.

British staff had been checking security at Cairo airport on Wednesday and Thursday. They reportedly gave no further details.

Russia suspended civilian air traffic to Egypt in November 2015 after a bomb brought down a Russian plane, which took off from Sharm el-Sheikh en route to St. Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board.

Before regular flights between Moscow and Cairo were resumed in April 2018, Egypt had to seriously enhance security at airports. Charter flights between Russia and Egyptian resorts are yet reportedly to be resumed.

The suspension reportedly resulted in massive losses in Egypt's tourism industry, since this was one of the most popular destinations for Russian tourists. It is estimated that Egyptian authorities have spent millions of dollars to ensure the airports’ security.

British Airways said Saturday it had suspended flights to Cairo for seven days as a precautionary measure following a security review.

The British flag carrier said it would not operate its aircraft unless it felt it was safe to do so.

The British Foreign Office updated its travel advice on Saturday with the British Airways suspension. The Lufthansa website also included a link to the British warning page.

In its travel advice for British nationals heading to Egypt, the Foreign Office in London warns: “There’s a heightened risk of terrorism against aviation.”

“Additional security measures are in place for flights departing from Egypt to the UK. You should co-operate fully with security officials at airports.”

Britain advises against all but essential travel by air to or from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on the Sinai peninsula.

“Terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Egypt. Although most attacks occur in North Sinai, there is a risk of terrorist attacks across the country,” Britons are warned.

Britain canceled flights to Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh in 2015 after jihadists bombed a Russian airliner carrying holidaymakers from the Red Sea resort, killing more than 220 people on board.

An estimated 415,000 British nationals visited Egypt in 2018.


Tourism Observer

The founder and CEO of Responsible Travel has dismissed claims by Ryanair that it is the greenest airline in Europe.

Ryanair issued figures today claiming it delivers the lowest CO2 per passenger/km in the EU airline industry, thanks to it having the highest passenger load factor (96%) and one of the youngest fleets.

It said its CO2 per pax/km of 67g p.a is substantially lower than its EU competitors said it was committed to reducing this further to under 60g per pax/km by 2030.

It claimed competitors such as Lufthansa, British Airways and Air France KLM currently generate over 120g per pax/km.

But the claims have been dismissed by Justin Francis, founder of Responsible Travel, a travel company which is campaigning for a Green Flying Duty.

Ryanair claims to be the greenest airline are false, said Francis.

In fact it's now the 10th biggest carbon polluting business, of any kind, in Europe.

Ryanair is correct in saying that its CO2 emissions per passenger km is far lower than competitors, however its vast scale and growth outweigh these efficiencies.

It's very interesting to see them comment on anticipated aviation taxes, which is a very hot topic right now. One might applaud their desire to see a consistent and fair scheme or see it as another stalling tactic, and one that will probably fail now that President Macron has advocated an EU wide aviation fuel tax.
UR
We propose a Green Flying Duty, with revenues ring fenced for R&D into electric aviation - something Ryanair should welcome as it will both reduce emissions now reduction in demand and ultimately the cost of running an airline. Good for business, good for the environment.


Tourism Observer

AEROFLOT OR ANY RUSSIAN AIRLINE
Russian airlines lead the world in crashes and fatalities. The only air disasters in the past ten years that stole the headlines from missing Malaysian Air flights were catastrophic Russian crashes which wiped out the Polish government, a hockey team, and hundreds of vacationers to Egypt.

Aeroflot is Russia’s flag carrier, and it has an ominous record as the airline with the most crashes in the world.

Today Aeroflot is modern and safe and hasn’t had a major incident since 2008, but the list of other Russian airlines, including S7 and Siberian Air and Nordstar, with huge crashes, is too hard to ignore. If you’re flying in or out of Russia, take Finnair.

AIR NEW ZEALAND

Air New Zealand was rated as the safest airline in the world by Skytrax for 2017, the third year in a row they won this prestigious, and important, award.

This is New Zealand’s flag carrier and they have flights to destinations mostly in Asia, but also to the UK, US, Australia, and Canada. The only incident they’ve had is when a flight carrying pilots, technicians, and a safety inspector crashed into the ocean in 2008.

Otherwise, Air New Zealand has never lost a civilian passenger, joining the ranks of Air Canada for the safest airline. With fewer accidents, crashes, and deaths than any other airline, rest easy when you’re traveling on Air New Zealand!

PAKISTAN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES

Pakistan's flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines, is one of the most messed-up airlines in the world. The airline has a near-zero rating fromairlinereviews.com and is in the top 10 least safe airlines in the Skytrax annual review.

The airline has suffered many crashes resulting in fatalities every single year since they were founded in 1947, and when they’re not crashing or blowing up mid-air, they have a long list of minor accidents caused by pilot negligence and lack of ground maintenance.

FINNAIR

Finland’s largest airline and flag carrier has an impeccable safety record.They haven’t had a fatality since 1963, and have had few mishaps and accidents than any other airline in the world since then.

There were a couple of hijackings and attempts at bombing a Finnair airline, but these were all dealt with efficiently by authorities and passengers and crew were unharmed.

Finnair keeps a fleet of modern, well-maintained aircraft crewed by excellent pilots and professional flight attendants. If you’re flying anywhere in Europe, you can’t go wrong with Finnair.

MALAYSIAN AIRLINES

Malaysian Airlines has had a bad decade. Several large airline disasters have captured the world’s media attention, including the disappearance of Flight 370 in 2014.

What seems like such a shock to the world was no surprise to airline safety agencies and industry watchdogs, such as airlinereviews.com. Malaysian Airlines has a history of minor crashes, unsafe maintenance, corporate corruption and half-trained pilots and aircrew.

When several planes went down more recently, it was a culmination of a bad corporate culture that resulted in one of the most unsafe airlines in the world.

BRITISH AIRWAYS

British Airways was founded in 1974 by a government commission and has since grown to become the largest carrier in the UK. British Airways is one of the safest airlines in the world and hasn’t lost a passenger since 1976 when Flight 476 collided with another aircraft on takeoff, hurting 63 people on board.

This is the only time British Airways has had fatalities. Their pilots and crew are top-notch, and thanks to their fantastic skills several notable disasters have been avoided, like when Flight 900 flew through a volcanic ash cloud and the pilots glided the aircraft to a safe landing.

Qr the time a windshield blew out and the pilot was sucked out of the aircraft, but hung on while the co-pilot landed the plane safely. Nobody was hurt.

AIR INDIA

Air India is an Indian government owned airline founded in 1932. It has a dubious safety record, with a habit of exploding in mid-air.

Thankfully modern security screening has drastically reduced airline bombings around the world, but that doesn’t stop things like Air India flights randomly catching fire, or skidding off the runway, or simply driving into parked airplanes at the terminal loading docks.

Skytrax rates Air India as one of the least safe airlines due to a lot of negligence-caused accidents on the part of pilots, aircrew, and ground maintenance.

AIR CANADA

Air Canada has a proud and long history as one of the safest airlines in the world. Canada’s flag carrier was founded in 1937 and has never had a single fatality in all that time. They have flights to 207 cities around the world, making them one of the top 10 largest airlines and one of the top five oldest.

They’ve had the odd mishap, like in 2017 when the pilot accidentally turned off his radio while coming into San Francisco International Airport and landed on a runway full of taxiing airplanes.

This was the most serious incident in the airlines, history, and nobody was hurt. The pilot was suspended and the airline launched a full investigation. Air Canada flights are modern, well-maintained, and professional.

THAI AIRWAYS

Thailand’s national carrier has had a tough run as a world-class airline. They try really, really hard to be safe, but bad things just keep happening. In 2001 an entire wing blew up thanks to a fuel leak, resulting in one death on board.

In 2009 a flight crash-landed on a runway, while another plane dove into a rice paddy in 1998, killing everyone on board. For the most part, Thai Airways is safe, as they’ve had very few fatalities.

It’s just that things keep blowing up or falling off their airplanes, which shows a lack of maintenance and, as is usually the case with airlines from the developing world, corporate corruption which stops new parts and aircraft from reaching the fleet.

CATHAY PACIFIC

Cathay Pacific was one of the most luxurious airlines in the world at one point, winning the coveted “best airline” year after year. It has since fallen from the top spot, replaced by newcomers such as Qatar Airlines and Emirates.

Cathay Pacific still holds on to its stellar safety record, however. Hong Kong’s flag carrier reaches destinations around the world, and its last disaster was in 1972 when a bomb took down a flight, which can’t really be held against the company.

Their airplanes are known to be well-maintained and crewed by professionals, and their customer service is the best in all of Asia!

JETSTAR PACIFIC

Jetstar Pacific is a budget-airline out of Vietnam. Officially called Jetstar Pacific Airlies Joint Stock Aviation Company, this airline is near the bottom of Skytrax’s annual airline safety list.

According to aeroinside.com, which tracks airline incidents, Jetstar Pacific has had numerous safety incidents including tail strikes on takeoff, when the plane rotates the nose up to takeoff, the pilot is supposed to lift the plane off the ground or the tail will smash into the runway, known as a tail strike.

Other reports include landing gear malfunctions, noxious fumes in the cabin, and failure to pass a safety inspection at an Australian airport.

LUFTHANSA

Lufthansa was founded in the 1920s and then regrown after World War II and is one of the largest airlines in the world today. You can catch a Lufthansa flight to pretty much anywhere in Europe, and rest confident that you’ll actually get there alive. The airline isn’t without incidents, however.

Between 1959 and 1993, Lufthansa had several major accidents resulting in fatalities. The past 25 years have been very safe, with no fatalities and very few accidents. Although they are expensive, you’re getting what you pay for when you choose to fly with Lufthansa.

EGYPTAIR

Egyptair is Egypt’s national airline, with flights to nearly a hundred countries around the world. It’s also rated by Skytrax as one of the ten least safe airlines.

Even if you discount the company’s disasters, such as Flight 804 flying into the Mediterranean in 2016, or Flight 990 flying head-first into the Atlantic in the 90s, you still have an airline with a long history of mishaps.

In 2016 a plan caught fire while sitting on the runway. Another’s engine fell off during takeoff. There have been multiple hijackings of Egyptair flights in recent years, which makes for an uncomfortable vacation.

EMIRATES

Emirates has a decent safety record. They’ve never had a fatality on any of their flights, although they have had several mishaps on takeoff and landing.In 2004, and again in 2009, Emirates flights ran out of runway and plowed through landing lights and fences.

Nobody was hurt, but come on, really?In both cases, the investigators blamed the pilots for not lifting off and blamed Emirates for not giving the pilots enough rest between flights.

The odds of such an exciting start to your travels are rare, so instead sit back and enjoy Emirates world-famous comfort and service.

PHILIPPINE AIRLINES

Philippine Airlines is the flag carrier of The Philippines and is also one of the safest Filipino-operated airlines.Unfortunately, they aren’t the safest in the world, with a string of accidents, most of them minor.

Philippine Airlines flights have also been targeted by terrorists in the past, with al-Qaeda blowing up an airliner in 2007, and local extremists knocking down local propeller-driven craft now and again.

For the most part, you’ll survive your flight with these guys, but they still remain accident prone. Engines seize up mid-flight, landing gear doesn’t retract, planes fall off the runway, minor stuff.

SINGAPORE AIRLINES

Asian-based airlines seem to have a fantastic safety record. Eva, Cathay Pacific, and Singapore Airlines are all represented in the top 10 safest airlines in the world.Singapore Airlines isn’t without incidents, however.

In 1991 Pakistani militants hijacked Flight 117, until Singapore Special Forces stormed the aircraft and freed all the passengers while dispatching all the terrorists.

In 2000, Flight 006 took off from the wrong runway in Taiwan and crashed into some construction equipment, and 86 people lost their lives. There haven’t been any other fatalities in the airline's history and they’ve had an accident-free 18 years!

CHINA AIR

China Airlines is the largest air carrier in China and is partially government owned. If you’re heading to China, chances are you’ll end up booked on a China Air flight.

They fly to more than a hundred cities around the world, and is considered the 10th largest airline in the world! China Air also has one of the worst safety records of all the major airlines, with more than 30 catastrophic crashes and hundreds of minor accidents.

Most of their pilots are well-trained and come from a military background, but it seems that the aircraft themselves are not well maintained, and the company tends to skimp on spending the money necessary to keep their fleet safe.

EVA AIR

Eva Air is a Taiwanese airline launched in 1989. They have one of the best safety records of all the Asian airlines, and to date has not had a single aircraft incident or passenger fatality.If you’re flying Eva Air you can rest assured that you’re in good hands.

I’ve never flown Eva, but passenger reviews online tell a story of friendly, professional treatment, comfortable flights and average food.If you’re heading anywhere in Asia, try Eva Air. At the very least you’ll get there alive.

CUBANA

Cubana Airlines is considered one of the most accident-prone airlines in the world, with an accident rating 60 times higher than British Airways! Cubana is Cuba’s national airline, wholly owned by the Communist government.

It was founded in 1930 as a subsidiary of Pan-Am Airlines, but after Castro’s takeover, it was nationalized. Today it is known as Crashbana by Cubans and Mexicans.

In 2018 it had a catastrophic crash with 107 fatalities, which came only a year after another crash, which was eight months after another crash. If you must go to Cuba, fly on Air Canada.

JAPAN AIRLINES

Japan Airlines is one of the safest airlines in the world, having only one catastrophic accident in its history. That was when Flight 123 flew face-first into a mountain back in 1985, taking 520 passengers with it.

The company has since fired all of its kamikaze pilots and passengers can expect a relatively comfortable flight. I’ve flown JAL several times and was once even upgraded to first class, the only time in my traveling career, so I have a soft spot for them.

According to airlinerratings.com, JAL has a 7.2 out of 10 rating, making them one of the top 10 safest in the world!


Tourism Observer

Airlines were facing low profitability even before returning sanctions took a toll on the country's currency.

Iranians reacted with anger and frustration to the news that British Airways will suspend its service to Iran from September 23. Soon after, news came that Air France would axe its service on September 18.

Some Iranians expressed a feeling of being imprisoned in the country as they learned that international airlines were leaving Iran.

Hamid Baeidinejad, Iran’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, responded to British Airway’s withdrawal more pragmatically, noting his hope that Iran Air, with its three weekly direct flights to London, can seize the opportunity and fill the gap.

The news appears to reflect further instances of multinational companies withdrawing from Iran in the face of returning US sanctions while bowing to the political pressure exerted by the Trump administration.

Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu took this view, stating about the withdrawals, That’s good. More should follow, more will follow, because Iran should not be rewarded for its aggression in the region.

But the airlines have communicated that commercial and not political factors were paramount in the decision to withdraw. The British Airways statement described their London to Tehran route as currently not commercially viable.

Air France echoed poor commercial viability. KLM has pointed to negative results and financial outlook.” Some Iranians, observing regularly full flights, have questioned the honesty of these statements.

The executive’s account provides a more precise picture of why numerous airlines have determined that flying to Tehran is no longer commercially viable.

These claims are not a fig leaf for politically motivated decisions, nor attempts to downplay legal barriers posed by returning sanctions which are minimal.

Instead, over the last few months, larger economic forces arose that made routes operating at high passenger loads unattractive, at least relative to the option of redeploying aircraft other routes worldwide.

The influx of international carriers into Iran led to increased competition. Such competition depressed airfares in the short term. Airlines knew that it would be difficult to become profitable quickly and had expected to wait at least two years in order to break even, the executive explains. But by early 2018, the break-even point remained out of reach.

International carriers had expected that the growth in business and tourist travel to and from Iran would boost demand and help drive airfares upward over time.

But the stalling post-sanctions economic recovery, slowed in part by President Trump’s decision to decertify the Iran nuclear deal in October as well as domestic factors, meant that the projected growth in passenger numbers was failing to materialize.

In response, as the first quarter of this year came to a close, most international carriers active in Iran began to plan reductions in their service in order to better match supply with demand.

Austrian Airlines pursued a realignment of the airline’s portfolio by suspending flights to Esfahan and Shiraz. KLM planned to suspend its flights and Air France opted to run a reduced service after switching the operation of the Paris-Tehran route to Joon, a subsidiary.

British Airways likewise planned to reduce the frequency of its flights.

These adjustments should have enabled the international airlines to increase airfares in the market by addressing oversupply, bringing profitability back within reach for the sector.

But the adjustments coincided with President Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and an acceleration in Iran’s currency crisis.

The falling value of the rial had two important effects on international airlines. First, it significantly decreased demand. Not only were airfares more expensive as the purchasing power of the rial declined, but Iranians were also struggling to get reliable access to the hard currency they need in order to spend freely when abroad.

Majid Nejad, CEO of Alibaba.ir, Iran’s leading online travel website, said compared with the same period last year, bookings to foreign destinations from Iran have fallen by half.

Second, as the rial lost value, the revenues accrued by international airlines in Iran also lost value. In order to mitigate the foreign exchange risk, some international airlines began to market tickets locally only at the highest booking classes, an airline industry price categorization.

Those few Iranians with access to foreign banks cards could still purchase tickets at any booking class online, accessing cheaper fares. Nonetheless, the move to increase prices hit demand.

But even if higher fares could protect revenues from devaluation in the short-term, the airlines faced long-standing issues around repatriation of revenues.

Last week, the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization announced that international airlines would need to buy euros at the market rate, contradicting an earlier assurance provided by the Central Bank of Iran that foreign currency would be available to the airlines at the lower government exchange rate.

The executive notes that a lack of clear communication from the central bank and aviation authority proved one of the most frustrating aspects of the whole episode.

In any case, airlines struggled to convert their rial holdings into foreign currency at whatever the rate.

The airlines executive believes that when airlines sought to convert their rial holdings in accounts at banks such as Saman Bank and Parsian Bank, the central bank failed to make the foreign currency available because they either did not have sufficient foreign currency on hand or were opting to build up reserves for more critical industries like the pharmaceutical sector.

As rial-denominated revenues languished in Iran, airlines saw their losses mount, and the routes were no longer commercially viable.

For context, the executive impresses that business is good in the aviation industry worldwide right now and that for airline executive committees dealing with the headache of operating in Iran, the option to simply reassign an aircraft and flight crew to another more profitable route became increasingly appealing.

For now, Lufthansa and Alitalia are continuing their services to Iran. For these European holdouts, the withdrawal of their competitors could offer a reprieve, reducing competition and perhaps helping to stabilize airfares.

European governments, which have been actively involved in the challenges faced by their national carriers since January, remain politically supportive. Of course, Iran Air will benefit.

Iran’s national carrier announced route expansions in May in an effort to win back market share from the international players.

No doubt, sanctions contributed to the withdrawal of international airlines out of Iran, but not for the political or legal reasons readily assumed.

Rather, international airlines would have persisted in their service to Iranian destinations, emboldened by political support from European governments, had it not been for the intractable issues surrounding commercial viability.

While the withdrawal from Iran essentially came down to fundamental commercial calculations, the executive makes sure to relay that the decision to cease operating in Iran was nonetheless difficult to make.

In his words, nothing was more painful than how deeply unfair the whole situation is for our team members in Iran. Like many other young and talented Iranians, those let go by the international carriers will be wondering what next.


Tourism Observer

Air France made it’s last flight to Tehran on September 18th. Air France cut the number of frequencies to Tehran on August 1, announcing that it would fly only once in a week instead of 3.

British Airways will close route 4 days after Air France on September 22nd with a return trip on the 23rd.

British Airways and Air France are following suit of KLM, which announced last month that it would suspend flights from Amsterdam to Iran in September.

Both airlines are issuing statements that the routes are no longer commercially viable.

As the number of business customers flying to Iran has fallen, the connection is not profitable anymore, said a spokesperson for Air France.

However, speculation that the airlines are simply giving in to political pressure after the United States pulled out of the nuclear agreement with Iran and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

After the sanctions were originally reimposed in early August, Airbus and ATR stopped their deliveries to Iran Air, Iran’s national carrier.

Air France, KLM, and British Airways originally restarted their routes to Tehran in 2015 after the nuclear deal was originally struck.

British Airways is offering refunds to passengers affected or offering to rebook passengers with other carriers.

Air France has, in recent times, transferred their Theran route to their subsidiary, JOON.

Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Germania, Alitalia, and Turkish Airlines are some of the European airlines still operating their routes to Tehran. None of them have provided any indication that they plan to cut their flights as well.


Tourism Observer

Mineta San Jose International Airport is one of several airports nationwide chosen by the United States Customs and Border Protection agency to use facial recognition to screen all arriving and departing international travelers.

The airport quietly began using the technology on arriving international flights June 25. International fliers leaving SJC will see it in use at departure gates in the coming months, according to the airport. The technology is also in use at airports in Orlando and San Diego.

Here's one of the biggest changes travelers can expect: all departing international passengers will be photographed at the gate before they board their flight.

The images give the government verifiable biometric proof that a U.S. visitor has left the country, and presumably, will also be used to match citizens when they re-enter the country.

When entering the United States off a flight, passengers are photographed at passport control.

Facial recognition software compares the image against passport or visa photos the federal government already has on file.

The process takes less than a second. It eliminates the need for agents to scan passports manually and visually compare travelers to their passport photos, both are time consuming tasks that slow down immigration queues.

Interviews and customs luggage inspections will still go ahead.

Travelers enrolled in Global Entry will see no changes in the way they enter the country since those kiosks already photograph and fingerprint arriving international passengers.

Travelers who use the Mobile Passport app to digitally fill-out immigration forms and customs declarations can continue to use it, but will also go through the same facial recognition process at passport control.

SJC will install biometric readers at each of the seven gates used for international departures to photograph travelers leaving the country. That's coming in the fall, we're told.

At SJC, the process has already expedited long passport screening lines which have grown to become unbearable for many travelers.

The airport has seen a staggering increase in the number of international flights in recent years such as Aeromexico, Air China, All Nippon Airways, British Airways, and Lufthansa have all launched flights to SJC in the last decade.

In 2017, the airport logged 438,800 international arrivals — more than double the number in 2015, when there were 199,900.

Simultaneously, airport officials said there has been a shortage of Customs and Border Patrol agents to staff passport control counters because the agency isn't able to recruit and retain enough people willing to put up with the Bay Area's high cost of living.

The airport hopes the new automated screening process will shorten wait times and put an end to a lot of the frustration.

The use of the technology has raised suspicions by civil liberties groups, which oppose the government's collection of the photographs of citizens.

The biggest danger is that this technology will be used for general, suspicionless surveillance systems, the American Civil Liberties Union warned.

State motor vehicles agencies possess high-quality photographs of most citizens that are a natural source for face recognition programs and could easily be combined with public surveillance or other cameras in the construction of a comprehensive system of identification and tracking.

Passengers who want to opt-out of the biometric screening will have the option to do so.

The federal government says photos of U.S. citizens might be stored for up to 14 days, but photos of non-U.S. citizens could be stored for decades.


Tourism Observer

Qatar Airways has been ranked the best airline in the world, according to a new study.

The research, carried out by consumer group AirHelp, has put the Middle Eastern airline on top with Hamad International airport, also based in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

The group ranked 72 airlines and 141 airports analysing a series of key performance indicators (KPI) including on-time performance and service quality. Twitter sentiment was also used to measure the KPI of the airports.

Closely followed by Qatar Airways is Lufthansa in second and Etihad Airways in third and Singapore Airlines and South African Airways in fourth and fifth respectively.

Among the worst airlines were Air Mauritius, EasyJet, Pakistan International Airlines, Royal Jordanian Airlines and Wow Air.

In terms of airports, Greece's Athens International came in second place, followed by Tokyo Haneda, Germany's Cologne Bonn and Changi, Singapore.

The worst were Stockholm Bromma, Sweden; Paris Orly; Lyon; London Stansted and Kuwait International.

London Heathrow did not make it into the top 10, coming in at number 81 out of the 141-strong list.

The report found that Stansted's poor standing was due to a large volume of negative tweets. Gatwick was the worst airport when considering this metric alone, it said.

AirHelp CEO and co-founder Henrik Zillmer said: For some time now UK airports have seemingly been in the news for all the wrong reasons and that has been realised in this data.

The UK is enviably positioned when it comes to physical movement of people globally, but this report needs to serve as a wake-up call when it comes to actual performance.

Passengers are clearly not happy and while it will be a challenge to address the issues highlighted in this report, it is also an opportunity to halt the decline in performance and provide consumers with a better experience.

Best And Worst Airlines


Best And Worst Airports



Tourism Observer

Lufthansa is still assessing the damage to the Airbus A340-300 caught up in a ground tractor fire at Frankfurt Main airport.

The aircraft suffered smoke contamination of its forward fuselage but images from the scene also indicate that its nose skin was breached during the blaze with the strong possibility that smoke entered the cockpit and cabin.

There is no confirmation on the damage itself, says Lufthansa. There's currently an assessment of the situation and it will take some days.

German air accident investigation authority BFU is not probing the accident, because the aircraft was not engaged in any air transport operation at the time.

Lufthansa confirms, however, that the tow-tractor involved was a diesel-powered vehicle and not one of the new electric 'eTug' tractors put into operation at Frankfurt.

Ground-handling firm Lufthansa LEOS, a subsidiary of Lufthansa Technik, recently put a second 'eTug' into service at the hub.

The vehicle, developed by Sweden's Kalmar Motor and fitted with lithium-ion batteries, is able to tow long-haul types including the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747 and is designed to cut emissions by 75% compared with a conventional tractor.

LEOS began using the vehicle at Frankfurt in 2016 and provided feedback to improve the tractor before taking the second.


Tourism Observer

Countries from Angola to Venezuela owe nearly $5 billion (Dh18.4bn) in local ticket sales to international airlines including Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and Emirates as the governments struggle with currency controls.

The total amount of funds blocked by 16 countries, mainly Venezuela, Angola, Sudan, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, has dropped 7 per cent at the end of 2017 compared to a year ago, the International Air Transport Association said.

The industry body renewed calls to the governments to respect international treaties and allow foreign airlines to repatriate these unlocked revenues.

In Venezuela’s case we do not see in the short run any solution frankly, to be realistic, but we will not give up, Alexandre de Juniac, director general of IATA, said in a media briefing at the conclusion of the IATA annual meeting in Sydney.

Airlines have been struggling to get ticket revenues out of oil dependent countries such as Angola, Africa’s second-biggest oil producer, after a 2014 collapse in crude oil prices dried up foreign reserves of dollars, euros and major currencies.

In 2017, Emirates scaled back its five weekly flights to Angola’s capital Luanda to three citing difficulties in repatriating funds.

Venezuela alone owes $3.78bn to international airlines, followed by Angola where about $386 million remain blocked.

Sudan is withholding $170m, followed by Bangladesh with $95m and Zimbabwe with $76m, Iata said.

Venezuela, which has more oil than Saudi Arabia and was once one of the richest economies of Latin America, is now plagued with shortages in basic goods from food to antibiotics.

The sharp drop in oil prices in 2014 has led to an economic downward spiral in the country.

Inflation exceeded 2,400 per cent in 2017 and would worsen in 2018, the International Monetary Fund estimated.

Mr de Juniac said a solution is unlikely soon in Venezuela, given its deepening economic crisis, but remains hopeful for progress in other countries.

We are encouraged by the recent developments in Nigeria and Angola, and hope other states will also move quickly to address blocked funds, he said.

Egypt has already paid in full its obligations to international airlines, while a $600m backlog in Nigeria was cleared and Angola released $120m from the peak of more than $500m it owed, Iata said.


Tourism Observer

Germania has commenced its first services to the French island of Corsica during the last seven days.

Weekly flights (Saturdays) from Dresden (DRS) and Nuremberg (NUE) were started to Bastia (BIA), the second busiest airport on the island after Ajaccio.

The 1,007-kilometre sector from the former airport will be flown by the airline’s 737-700s, while the service from the latter facility will be operated by a mix of Germania’s A320 family.

Both routes were launched on 19 May and neither faces any direct competition.

Germania, on 26 April, launched direct flights between Dresden (DRS) and St. Petersburg (LED).

The capital city of the state of Saxony became a new destination in the Russian airport’s route network and the seventh German city with direct scheduled service.

The LCC operates the city pair twice-weekly with its 737-700 fleet, leaving from the German city on Thursdays and Sundays and the return flights departing Russia on Fridays and Mondays.

In addition to Dresden, St. Petersburg offers direct connections to such German cities as Berlin Schonefeld and Tegel airports by Rossiya Airlines and S7 Airlines respectively.

Hamburg and Dusseldorf by Rossiya, Munich by Rossiya and Lufthansa.

Frankfurt by Lufthansa and Ural Airlines and Cologne Bonn by Pobeda. There is no direct competition on this sector.

Germania now serves the Vienna (VIE) to Rostock (RLG) route twice-weekly (Fridays and Sundays) from 26 May.

The flights, operated by an A319, depart from Rostock at 11:50 and land in Vienna at 13:20, and leave the Austrian capital at 14:05 and arrive back in the Hanseatic city at 15:35.

We are pleased to welcome a new airline at Vienna Airport, namely Germania.

The new route to Rostock makes it even easier for passengers to reach the northern part of Germany, says Julian Jager, Member of the Management Board of Vienna Airport.

The route faces no direct competition. The day before, the airline began weekly (Thursdays) rotations between Hamburg (HAM) and Varna (VAR).

Flown by Germania’s A319 fleet, the city pair will encounter resistance from incumbent SunExpress Germany, which also flies the route on a weekly basis.

The last of the trio of new routes commenced by the airline on 23 May was the addition of another route from its recently opened Palma de Mallorca (PMI) base.

Germania added a twice-weekly (Tuesdays and Fridays) service to Montpellier (MPL) on 23 May. Operated by the carrier’s 737-700 fleet, the 459-kilometre sector will face no direct competition.

Germania has commenced two new routes from Germany this week. The airline began weekly (Fridays) operations from Düsseldorf (DUS) to Gazipasa-Alanya (GZP) in Turkey.

The 2,617-kilometre sector will be flown by Germania’s A319 fleet. By contrast, its twice-weekly (Mondays and Thursdays) operation from Nuremberg (NUE) to Athens (ATH), will be flown on its 737-700s. Neither route faces any direct competition.

Germania has based a second aircraft at Berlin Schonefeld (SXF), and is using the fresh capacity to re-start weekly services (Fridays) to Sharm El Sheikh (SSH), thereby reviving a route between the German capital and the Red Sea resort that has not been available for four-and-a-half years.

The following day the carrier also began services to Fuerteventura (FUE), a route that will operate on a twice-weekly basis (Tuesdays and Saturdays).

Unlike the Egyptian sector, the Spanish city pair will see direct competition from Ryanair (twice-weekly) and Condor (weekly).

Both routes will be flown by the carrier’s 737-700 fleet. Additional new features in Germania’s winter flight schedule from Schönefeld include increased capacity to Hurghada and a new route to Gran Canaria which launches next week.

The airline is committed to a policy for growth at this base, as well as Berlin Tegel.

Germania will achieve 400% growth in Berlin, commented Clauspeter Schwarz, Germania’s COO. This is our response to market changes and a greater presence in the capital.

Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, CEO of Berlin Brandenburg said: We are very pleased with the increased commitment of Germania to Berlin.

The wider range of flight offerings, the development of its bases at our two locations, as well as the maintenance operations at Schonefeld make the airline a key partner for us.”


Tourism Observer

Etihad A UAE carrier has confirmed that it has signed a new codeshare agreement with national carrier Swiss Air. The codeshare agreement will take place effective immediately with bookings already open.

The agreement will see Etihad Airways’ flight number EY, placed on Swiss Air flights between Geneva and Zurich, while Etihad’s flights between Zurich and Abu Dhabi will host the Swiss flight number LX.

Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways CEO said: This codeshare deepens Etihad Airways’ commitment to the Swiss travel market and Switzerland, a key destination for travelers from our UAE home, neighboring Gulf countries, and across our Asia Pacific network.

For travelers from Switzerland, our new relationship with SWISS will provide access to Etihad’s award-winning service and the hospitality for which our Abu Dhabi home is known.

This agreement continues to show Etihad’s commitment to the codeshare agreement it has with the Lufthansa Group of which Swiss Air and Etihad Aviation Group is a part of.

The daily service from Abu Dhabi to Zurich is operated by Etihad’s technologically advanced Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and will keep its 2 class layout which seats 299 passengers, consisting of 28 Business Studios and 271 Economy seats.

This is the second time Etihad has made a codeshare investment in the Swiss market after last year when it had decided to sell its 33.3 percent stake in Swiss carrier Darwin Airline.
The change comes after the airline former CEO, James Hogan, left the company which was attributed to a controlled restructuring.

Etihad is not the only Middle Eastern carrier to invest in codeshare agreements with European airlines with both Emirates and Qatar dipping into the European pool also.

Qatar Airways and Iberia extended their code-sharing agreements between Madrid and Doha.

Emirates currently have agreements with Flybe, TAP Portugal and Air Malta, which shows how extensively into Europe they want to go even if the routes they themselves operate already.

Earlier this week, Qatar Airways and Iberia extended their code-sharing agreements between Madrid and Doha.

Currently, Emirates has agreements with Flybe, TAP Portugal and Air Malta, which shows how extensively into Europe they want to go even if the routes they themselves operate already.

For Etihad, this is an important agreement, especially as the carrier has been struggling in recent months, trying to regain profitability following the demises of Alitalia and Air Berlin, two carriers that they were massively involved in.

For Swiss, under the Lufthansa Group, to sign this agreement shows that the group overall still has confidence in Etihad to provide the routes to Abu Dhabi and beyond from Europe.


Tourism Observer

Ryanair Boeing 737-800, performing flight from Barcelona to Hamburg, landed on Hamburg’s runway 05 following a non-precision approach but overran the displaced end of the runway.

The aircraft vacated the runway via taxiway E6 instead of last usable exit A6 and taxied to the apron.

The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground in Hamburg for 7 hours before returning to service.

On May 17th 2018 Germany’s DFS (ATC Provider) reported the aircraft was unable to stop before the last exit A6 and vacated via the next exit immediately before the begining of the reconstruction works.

The area between A6 and E6 was kept clear as a safety buffer zone, hence no machinery, men or other obstacles were on the runway in this area and no critical situation arose.

Like all runway excursions this occurrence is being investigated internally by the DFS.

Airport and the works permitting authorities (LBA) have been informed about the runway excursion.

Meanwhile, Ryanair passengers will soon have less time to check-in unless they pay extra to reserve their seat.

The budget airline said its check-in window for passengers who have not paid for reserved seating will shrink from four days to 48 hours starting June 13.

But if customers pay for a reserved seat, which costs from £4 about $5.50 each way but rises to £15 about $20 for seats with more leg room, they will be allowed to check in up to 60 days before flying.

Passengers who turn up at the airport and have not already checked in online will be charged an extra £55 about $74.

The latest rule change comes just months after a controversial baggage policy change.

Passengers now have to pay £5 about $6.75 for priority boarding to avoid having their main cabin bag checked in to the hold at their departure gate.

The new check-in policy could encourage travellers on weekend breaks to pay for reserved seating or be forced to find ways to check in online while they are on holiday.

In 2016, passengers could check in for free up to a week before departure, but this was cut to four days and will now move to 48 hours.

The airline has also faced widespread criticism for its seat allocation policy when passengers haven't paid to reserve a seat.

Many couples travelling together have reported finding themselves seated at opposite ends of the aircraft despite Ryanair claiming that the allocation policy is random.

A Ryanair spokesman said Online check-in for those customers who don’t choose reserved seats will be available from 48 hours to 2 hours pre-departure for all flights from Wednesday, 13th June.

This is double the 24 hour check-in period operated by Aer Lingus, British Airways, Lufthansa, Norwegian and Iberia.

This will give reserve seat customers more time to select their preferred seats prior to departure.


Tourism Observer

Europe is set to benefit from increasing Chinese air travel with extra flights and more capacity for 2018.

The continent will see a boom in capacity on flights from China, according to the latest figures from travel pattern analyst ForwardKeys.

It reports that nine new routes and one resumed route will start during the first half of 2018, and a further three are in the pipeline.

At least four China-Europe routes are already planned for the second half of this year.

This follows an expansion in Chinese flights to the US and Australia over the past two years.

ForwardKeys predicts future travel patterns by analysing 17 million booking transactions a day.

According to its statistics, by June there will be an extra 30 flights a week from China to Europe and, based on an estimation of 200 seats per flight.

This means 6,000 more seats will be available for Europe-bound Chinese travellers.

Excluding Russia, the average total number of seats available each week last summer was 150,000.

In March alone new flights include:

- Twice weekly from Shenzhen to Madrid by Hainan Airlines.

- Resumption of three times weekly flights from Shenyang to Frankfurt by Lufthansa.

- Twice weekly from, Shenzhen to Brussels by Hainan Airlines in March 2018.

Finland is benefiting from a strong Asia strategy on the part of Finnair, which announced the opening of its seventh direct Chinese route in May 2018.

Spain, the UK and Ireland are seeing a mix of increased tourism alongside healthy Chinese business investment.

This growth will be building on an already strong start to the year.

Europe had a 10% market share of the outbound Chinese market and saw a 7.4% increase in Chinese travellers during January and February this year.

Turkey recovery after terrorist attacks increased by 108.2%, and Greece by 55.7%, compared to the same period last year.

Travel in the opposite direction is also set to increase.

Flight bookings to China, in the coming six months, from the rest of the world, are 11.8% ahead of this time last year.

Bookings from Americas, which is responsible for 25% of travel to China, are currently 24% ahead of last year.

The EU-China Tourism Year was launched in Venice in January, heralded as the largest-ever official EU-wide initiative to grow Chinese tourism across Europe.

ForwardKeys chief executive and co-founder, Olivier Jager, said It seems that the EU-China Tourism Year is having a positive impact on travel in both directions.

The Chinese have been growing in confidence for international travel for some time now and that trend is being reciprocated.

Europe clearly has a lot to gain from this increased capacity because the Chinese are ready to spend money on luxury goods while on holiday, providing good opportunities for European retailers.


Tourism Observer

Lufthansa Group is offering 85 additional flights to Russia on occasion of the 2018 World Cup.

This means that football fans have up to 18,000 additional seats than usual to travel to the tournament and support their teams.

Lufthansa will be increasing its offering to Moscow (Domodedovo), namely flights from Frankfurt will be increased from four to up to six times a day, and from Munich from two daily flights to up to four flights a day.

Starting 1 June until 31 July, an Airbus A330, with flight numbers LH1440 and LH1441 will be operating between Frankfurt and Moscow once a day, except on Fridays.

Depending on the aircraft configuration, passengers will have up to 255 seats to choose from, including 42 Business Class seats for more comfort.

Passengers will have a great in-flight entertainment program to choose from.

More than 160 feature films, over 250 TV options, more than 200 music albums and highlights from the world of football to get in the mood for the tournament.

During the flight you can even watch live World Cup matches broadcasted via the Live TV Channels on your in-seat screen and via your personal electronic device via FlyNet connection.

As a partner of the German Football Association (DFB), Lufthansa will by flying the German national team from Frankfurt to Moscow Vnukovo Airport on 12 June.

For further information or to book Lufthansa flights, please visit LH.com or call the Lufthansa Service Center at (069) 86 799 799, rates may apply.

Flights can also be booked at Lufthansa travel agency partners and at Lufthansa sales counters at airports.


Tourism Observer

The Venezuelan government has unilaterally suspended all Copa Airlines operations to and from the country for at least 90 days, starting today, to protect the Venezuelan financial system from organized crime and terrorism, an official communicate says.

The release notes that the sanction could be extended.

The unilateral measures come as a retaliation taken by the government of Nicolas Maduro over a series of sanctions the Government of Panama imposed last week on several Venezuelan politicians.

The Panamanian Government stated that Maduro, along with 55 individuals and 16 Venezuelan companies, are considered a high risk for laundering money, terrorism financing, and trafficking weapons of mass destruction.

In return, the Venezuelan regime issued these sanctions against Copa Airlines claiming that several top-ranking authorities from Panama, including its President, Juan Carlos Varela, had been involved in money laundering.

They present an imminent risk to the Venezuelan financial system, the stability of commerce in the country, and the sovereignty and economic independence of the Venezuelan people, Maduro said.

The retaliation from the Venezuelan government has taken Copa Airlines by surprise.

These penalties were released by 4:00 p.m. local time on Thursday, April 5, and the Venezuelan National Civil Aviation Institute (INAC) released it at 9:00 p.m. via a Twitter post.

INAC claims the sanctions imposed on Copa were to prevent organized crime and terrorism finance

As a consequence, commercial ties with various companies and Panamanian officials were halted by the Venezuelan executive.

Following Venezuela’s measures, Panama has decided to recall its ambassador and asked the Venezuelan ambassador in Panama City to leave the country.

Copa Airlines said in a release that all affected passengers may ask for a refund of any outstanding tickets without penalties.

As of today, Copa Airlines was the last Latin American carrier operating in Venezuela with daily services to/from its hub in Panama City.

Just recently, the airline celebrated its 70th anniversary and held an event at the Venezuelan Capital reaffirming their intentions to continue serving the country despite the massive exodus of Venezuelans and the cancellation of other airlines serving Caracas.

Copa has operated daily flights to Caracas for the last 20 years.

Venezuela has suffered a massive exodus of airlines, with ten global carriers axing their daily services to the country in the last six years.

International organizations have also fled away because of the prohibitive, unsafe, and tense political climate in the country.

Since 1997, Copa Airlines has flown millions of Venezuelan passengers, connecting them from Caracas (CCS), Maracaibo (MAR), and Valencia (VLN) across its 75 destinations in 31 countries in the American continent.

With this suspension, the connectivity to Latin American cities from Venezuela will see a drop of over 85% in seat availability.

Currently, Wingo remains as the only Latin American carrier flying to Venezuela, five times per week, from its hub in Bogota. Wingo is a subsidiary of Copa Airlines and, so far, hasn’t been added to the sanction.

Copa Airlines (CM) and Lufthansa (LH), as members of the Star Alliance, reached an agreement that increases their commercial relations.

Copa will now be able to commercialize the Panama (PTY) – Frankfurt (FRA) – Panama route, operated by the German carrier.

Austrian Airlines will also be incorporated to the group of airlines with commercial relations with the Panamanian carrier.

Passengers will have the option to make connections in different cities from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia through Frankfurt’s hub.

With this alliance between Copa Airlines and the Lufthansa Group, passengers will have better options to connect to and from all Latin America through Copa Airlines’ Hub of the Americas in Panama, said Christophe Didier, Commercial Vice President of Copa Airlines.

Similarly, it will now be easier and more comfortable for passengers anywhere in Latin America to directly reach their destination in Europe, he said.

Additionally, Lufthansa’s passengers could use Copa’s services to and from its hub in Panama.

In turn, Copa’s customers can benefit from the services of the Lufthansa Group’s airlines and their hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, and Brussels.

Felipe Bonifatti, General Manager of the Lufthansa Group in Panama, said that the excellent relationship that has united us with Copa Airlines for many years now has now expanded and consolidated through this new and more complete commercial agreement.

This brings countless benefits for everyone, particularly for mutual customers.

At Lufthansa, we are delighted that our flight from Panama to Frankfurt and vice versa also carries a Copa Airlines flight number, with codeshare, he said.

Back in November 2015, Lufthansa signed its first agreement with Copa for the flights to Latin American destinations.

Copa flights in the current winter schedule from Miami, Florida, to Panama, were operated under an additional Lufthansa flight number for passengers to travel from Frankfurt via Miami to Panama City.

Also, additional codeshare flights on Copa from Panama City to the cities of David in Panama, Guayaquil, and Quito in Ecuador, and San Jose in Costa Rica starting with Lufthansa’s inaugural flight from Frankfurt to Panama on March 2, 2016.

Copa Airlines also has agreements and codeshares with other international carriers, allowing its customers to reach over 1,300 airports in 191 countries, with more than 18,400 daily flights.

The airline currently offers service to more than 70 destinations in 31 countries, in North, Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean with 101 aircraft: 80 Boeing 737 Next-Generation and 21 Embraer-190.



Tourism Observer

The Italian Government has confirmed receiving three offers to buy the insolvent airline Alitalia, not giving any details regarding these proposals or bidders.

easyJet said on April 10, 2018, easyJet has submitted a revised expression of interest for a restructured Alitalia, together as part of a consortium, consistent with easyJet’s existing strategy for Italy.

Given the nature of the process, the content of the expression of interest is subject to confidentiality, the airline said in a statement and clarified that further updates would be provided in due course.

Lufthansa also presented new plans and ideas of what the German carrier would convey as a New Alitalia.

On top of Lufthansa, a US investment fund in the name of Cerberus Capital Management is also in the list of potential investors who are interested in acquiring some aspects of the carrier.

Alitalia has supposedly had interest from the Air France-KLM group, although they have vividly denied such claim.

The initial report said that the group was going to provide a joint bid with easyJet, but updated plans now show that this is not the case anymore.

Alitalia went into Chapter 11 in May 2017, and the deadline for bids was set on October 16th, 2017 initially.

However, this had been delayed due to current consultations with the political parties in Italy regarding the sale of the airline.

In terms of repayments of bridge loans, these have also been delayed as state commissioners need to weigh up the bids given by the interested airlines.

The mandate of such commissioners is due to expire by the end of the month, thus putting pressure on the commissioners to make their minds up about the bids.

Although progress is somewhat evident, there is still an issue with the airline’s internal affairs.

With Alitalia being a massive problem within Italian politics, the system itself is also in crisis. The national election which took place in March resulted in a hung parliament.

Political parties have not come together yet to form an overall minority government, which could potentially extend the deadlines further if no decisions are made.

At the moment, with the political parties being notified about updates, a deal may not be made until the government is formed and solidified following such a hung parliament.

Even before the hung parliament occurred, the demise of Alitalia became a significant political issue.

With the government not being able to keep to deadlines and making a decision towards the sale of the ill-fated carrier, a decision must be made in the short-term to keep the airline fully operational.

Overall, the Alitalia/Italian Government situation is going to put significant pressure on the parties involved to push for a collective solution that will benefit all parties.

Seven new envelopes last year arrived at the Alitalia Administrators office in Rome with binding offers from interested investors.

The Italian carrier released a statement saying that these offers will be analyzed to determine whether they meet all the criteria to move forward.

Currently, Lufthansa and EasyJet remain in pole position to acquire the assets of the bankrupt Italian carrier.

According to a story published in the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, the German group is interested in taking part of Alitalia’s assets, including its fleet, slots, and some of its crew, and might have a plan to re-launch Alitalia as an all-new airline.

Lufthansa, who recently took over the majority of Air Berlin’s assets, would be interested in acquiring Alitalia’s global network, including their point-to-point slots in both the domestic and regional markets.

The German carrier’s CEO, Carsten Spohr, said on Thursday that Lufthansa would be interested in taking over Alitalia only if it were possible to make a fresh start with it.

Spohr added that if there were a chance of creating a new Alitalia, as Europe’s number one (carrier) Lufthansa would certainly be interested in the talks.

Lufthansa’s initial offer, however, was deemed too rough by the Italian airline, given that it proposed a cut of at least 50% of Alitalia’s workforce—unacceptable for both the Italian government and the carrier.

EasyJet, on the other hand, would be interested in taking some slots and several aircraft.

The low-cost-carrier released a statement stating that they have submitted an expression of interest in certain assets of a restructured Alitalia, consistent with easyJet’s existing strategy for Italy.

Given the nature of the process, the content of the expression of interest is subject to confidentiality.

There is no certainty at this stage that any transaction will proceed and easyJet will provide a further update in due course if and when appropriate.

With today’s announcement, five more parties are bidding to take some assets from Alitalia. Seven envelopes have been delivered today at the Atlante Cerasi associate notary’s office in Rome.

The special commissioners of Alitalia will now begin evaluating the envelopes, said Alitalia in a public statement.

As of today, Alitalia has received over €1 billion of the capital injection by the Italian government.

This has created some controversy, as the Italian taxpayer continues to fund a failing airline that hasn’t shown any signs of getting back on a profitable path.

The head of the powerful industrial employers’ federation Confindustria, Vincenzo Boccia, said that we will need to see who buys it and who pays for it.

I do not think Italian citizens are willing to accept paying for on behalf of and in the name of others. Alitalia needs to be competitive and appeal to investors, he said.

Even though Alitalia filed for Chapter 11 in May, the airline’s operations remain stabilized.

Now that seven binding offers have been received, a long road ahead of negotiations and internal discussions will determine the path of the ill-fated airline.

The Italian government has extended the deadline to receive improved bids and loaned an additional €300 million so that the airline remains operational.

New routes, and a new plane, are about to join Alitalia despite its financial woes.

On September 1, the airline took take delivery of its first Boeing 777-300(ER). The ex-Air Austral Triple-Seven will be deployed on the airline’s flights from Rome (FCO) to Buenos Aires (EZE)—one of the most profitable and busy routes in Alitalia’s network.

According to Routes Online, the aircraft will begin scheduled services to EZE on October 30, 2017.

Moreover, Alitalia launched three weekly flights to the Maldives on the last day of October 2017.

The departing flight out of FCO will leave at 21:45 and arrive the following morning at Male International Airport (MLE) at 11:05 every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday.

Similarly, New Delhi (DEL) will be linked to Rome on a daily basis starting on October 29, departing FCO at 14:40 and arriving in DEL at 02:40.

Today, Alitalia has a fleet of 22 Airbus A319, 42 A320, 12 A321, 14 A330-200, 11 Boeing 777-200(ER), and one 777-300(ER).


Tourism Observer