Pasaulio aviacijos naujienos

[bato_usai]

Wizz Air Abu Dhabi Adds Two New Routes To Kazakhstan

Wizz Air Abu Dhabi was first announced in 2019 with a target launch date in the second half of 2020. The timeline slightly shifted, with the launch postponed from mid-October to mid-November and then to mid-January.

The airline’s launch has been impacted by the global health crisis and travel restrictions to some of its planned destinations. Athens and Thessaloniki have been the main services operating thus far.

[bato_usai]

Portuguese government seeks approval for €460m aid to TAP

Portugal’s government has formally notified the European Commission of its intent to grant interim support to flag-carrier TAP. Up to €463 million in aid within the scope of the restructuring can be notified, according to the government.

Finnish flag-carrier Finnair has been cleared to receive €351 million in support, through a hybrid loan, from the country’s government, after the Commission found it to fall within state-aid rules.

[bato_usai]

Belavia Takes Delivery Of E195-E2 To Celebrate Its 25th Birthday

The E2s will supplement the carrier’s current fleet of seven E195s and five E175s. Belavia says that it began flying Embraer’s E-Jets in 2012 as part of a fleet modernization plan. The third and final E195-E2 is expected sometime next month.

Since taking delivery of its very first E2, Belavia has mainly deployed it on flights to Istanbul, Turkey. Interestingly, for an aircraft that has been under Belavia’s care since late December, the jet has only flown around 12 round-trip journeys out of Minsk.

Happy Birthday Belavia – The Belarusian Flag Carrier Turns 25

[bato_usai]

Huge Demand Prompts Air Serbia To Up New York Frequency

Air Serbia is increasing the frequency of its flights from Belgrade to New York JFK due to increased demand. This is despite the travel restrictions imposed between Serbia and the US as a result of the pandemic.

“The addition of another weekly flight to New York, despite the coronavirus pandemic, is a clear indicator that our transatlantic connection functions well and that it represents one of Air Serbia’s strongest routes. The United States is a very important market for us, and we are glad to provide a continuous and strong flight connectivity, not just to Serbia, but also the broader region.”

Air Serbia first launched flights to New York JFK five years ago and has been flying there continuously up until the pandemic struck and Belgrade Airport was closed. Still, the interruption only lasted for less than three months.

As Simple Flying reported at the time, Air Serbia was the airline with the highest load factor at JFK’s Terminal 4 in September 2020. At 67%, it carried a higher load than any other airline to the Big Apple.

[bato_usai]

Emirates wants its employees to take the vaccine instead. This is for both safety and operational reasons, with an internal staff email saying,

“Certain countries may in the future differentiate entry criteria between those who have taken the vaccine and those who did not. Keeping this in mind, having a vaccinated workforce has become essential not just from a health and safety angle but from an operational one too.”
https://simpleflying.com/emirates-un...w-covid-tests/

[bato_usai]

Low Cost Carriers Want EU SAF Targets To Apply To Long Haul Flights

The European Commission is working on goals for carriers to use a minimum share of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) to curb the aviation industry’s carbon emissions. As the group redraws targets for 2030, several European low-cost carriers have written to the European Union to ask for sustainable fuel quotes to apply for all flights, not just short-haul services. Easyjet, Ryanair, Wizz Air, Jet2, and the non-governmental organization, Transport & Environment have all signed the letter.

According to Reuters, the signatories are looking for the quotas to apply on trips to and from Europe, not just those within the continent. The letter states that by excluding long-distance operations in the SAF mandate, the key area that needs to be decarbonized the most would not be covered.

The group of organizations referred to information from the air traffic management group, Eurocontrol. The data highlights that 6% of flights from European airports that flew over 4,000 km accounted for half of the total CO2 emissions from services leaving the continent.

Moreover, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary emphasized that it’s not logical to exclude long-haul trips from SAF usage obligations as it’s what he feels is the only way to decarbonize. Earlier this month, Ryanair shared details of its commitment to SAFs. The airline joined the Fuelling Flight Initiative to help it achieve net-zero carbon emissions in the aviation industry.

https://www.reuters.com/article/eu-a...-idUSL4N2L83JG

The European Commission is drawing up targets for airlines to use a minimum share of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), to curb the sector’s planet-warming CO2 emissions. In December Brussels shelved a draft 5% target for 2030 for being too low.

[bato_usai]

Norway blocks Rolls-Royce asset sale to Russians, cites security concerns

The Norwegian National Security Authority (NSM) expressed doubts over the $178 million sale of the Norwegian engine manufacturing company owned by Britain’s Rolls-Royce to Russian-controlled company THM Group. The deal is being assessed due to the security-related implications for Norway‘s navy and the civilian sector. On March 9, 2021, the government of Norway announced the suspension of the sale arguing that there was “significant uncertainty in relation to national security interests” related to the deal.

In 2019, Norway implemented a new national security-related law under which the government received the right to suspend foreign acquisitions when the national country‘s interests are involved.

[bato_usai]

US And EU Agree To Suspend Aircraft Tariffs For Four Months

The United States and the European Union agreed this week to suspend all retaliatory tariffs exports between the two imposed in the Airbus and Boeing disputes for a period of four months. This move will allow both parties to concentrate on resolving the ongoing trade dispute between the pair.

[bato_usai]

Hope lies in leisure and cargo as Lufthansa suffers 2020 loss of €6.7bn

Overall, for the year ending 31 December 2020, Lufthansa Group reported a net loss of €6.7 billion on a 63% drop in revenues to €13.6 billion.The group’s airlines saw revenues down 74% at €7.2 billion, as they recorded an adjusted operating loss of €5.4 billion.

It closed the year with net debt some 43% higher at €9.92 billion.

“The Lufthansa Group is well financed beyond 2021,” says chief financial officer Remco Steenbergen. “This is also helped by the previously unused elements of the stabilisation package, which we can draw on as needed to further strengthen our balance sheet.”

That potential recovery is backed by group liquidity of around €10.6 billion ($12.8 billion) as of 31 December 2020 – including €5.7 billion related to undrawn government stabilisation measures.

Etihad operating loss more than doubles in 2020

Etihad Airways has accelerated restructuring efforts after its core annual operating loss more than doubled to $1.7 billion in 2020. The Middle Eastern airline had made an operating loss of around $800 million in 2019. EBITDA swung a profit of $450 million in 2019 to a $650 million loss last year.

[bato_usai]

airBaltic Plans 3 Week Trial Of IATA's Travel Pass Health Passport

airBaltic today revealed its plans to become one of the airlines trialing IATA’s health passport solution. Initially running for three weeks, airBaltic will offer the solution on two routes originating in Riga. Passengers traveling to and from Olso and Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport will be able to use the offering.

[bato_usai]

FAA Selects Five Host Airports to Test and Evaluate Unmanned Aircraft Detection and Mitigation Systems

The research will lead to the implementation of new technologies that will make airports safer for passengers and manned aircraft. Researchers plan to test and evaluate at least 10 technologies or systems at these airports. Testing will begin later this year and continue through 2023. It will create standards for future unmanned aircraft detection and mitigation technologies at airports around the country.

[bato_usai]

Czech Airlines insolvency petition outlines scale of financial burden
https://www.flightglobal.com/airline...142693.article

Czech Airlines’ insolvency petition sets out the scale of the company’s financial problems, which it partly attributes to the inability to source rescue funding from the Czech government.

The company has 266 creditors, with the total liability to suppliers amounting to Kc809 million ($37.1 million) as of 25 February, its petition to a Prague municipal court states.

But the petition, seen by FlightGlobal, adds that there is a debt of nearly Kc1 billion to “hundreds of thousands” of passengers who are owed for the cancellation of flights.

“[Czech Airlines] is unable to meet these obligations owing to a lack of liquid funds,” the petition states, adding that the company’s liabilities exceed the value of its assets.

“For this reason the [company] is also in a state of over-indebtedness.”

It is blaming the need to file the petition on a combination of the impact of the pandemic, an absence of support from the Czech government, and the competitive pressure from other better-funded carriers.

“Virtually all of the [airline’s] competitors have received significant state aid,” it says.

The petition puts the company’s revenues last year at Kc1.69 billion compared with Kc8.5 billion in 2019 and over Kc9 billion in 2018.

[bato_usai]

Ryanair and Wizz fly less than a million passengers between them in February
https://www.flightglobal.com/network...142690.article

Europe’s biggest budget operator Ryanair carried 500,000 passengers in February, compared with 10.5 million a year ago, while Wizz flew a little under 400,000 passengers, compared with over 3 million in February 2020.

Over the rolling year during this period Ryanair carried 32.7 million passengers, a fall of almost 80% on the 153.8 million it carried in the 12 months to February 2020.

Wizz passenger levels are down 72% for the same rolling year, down from 41 million to 11.5 million.

[bato_usai]

Norwegian posts $2.7bn annual loss
https://www.flightglobal.com/airline...142643.article

Norwegian made a net loss of NKr23 billion ($2.7 billion) in 2020, dramatically deepening one of NKr1.61 billion in 2019, as its long-haul low-cost business model was devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Amid an 82% cut in available seat-kilometres, revenue tumbled to NKr9.1 billion, from NKr43.5 billion in 2019.

The company’s results were heavily impacted by NKr12.8 billion in fourth-quarter impairments as it adapted its fleet to a smaller network. From a fleet of 131 aircraft at the end of 2020, it aims to operate a maximum of 53 jets this year, depending on the progress of the pandemic, and is currently using just 10. Fourth-quarter capacity was slashed by 96%.

In November, Norwegian entered into an examinership and restructuring process that it hopes will enable it to reduce its fleet, cut its debt and secure new capital as part of its transformation into a Norwegian domestic and European short-haul carrier. Noting that this effort is “on track”, the airline warns that without a successful exit from the process it would be “highly likely that the company will enter into liquidation and/or bankruptcy proceedings during the second quarter of 2021.”

As part of its transformation the carrier hopes to reduce its debt to around NKr20 billion and raise NKr4-5 billion in new capital. In 2020 it slashed net debt by NKr18 billion, mostly through equity conversions.

Aeroflot losses hit $1.3 billion in 2020
https://www.flightglobal.com/airline...142311.article

the company’s net loss for the year amounted to Rb96.5 billion [$1.3 billion],” states the SkyTeam member, which had made a profit of Rb5.3 billion in 2019. Revenue almost halved, falling from from Rb552 billion to Rb228 billion.

[bato_usai]

British Airways owner IAG suffers biggest loss in its history
https://www.aerotime.aero/27359-IAG-...l-results-2020

On February 26, 2021, IAG reported a net loss of €6.9 billion ($8.4 billion) after tax in 2020 compared to a net profit of €1.7 billion ($2.1 billion) after tax in 2019. The airline’s financial results also disclosed the operating loss of €7.4 billion ($9 billion) in 2020 compared with a profit of €2.6 billion ($3.2 billion) in 2019.

Air France-KLM warns of ‘challenging’ Q1, posts €7.1B net loss
https://www.aerotime.aero/27269-Air-...l-results-2020

On February 18, 2021, Air France-KLM reported its net loss of €7.1 billion ($8.6 billion) in 2020, as a result of continued negative impacts to passenger demand due to COVID-19 crisis.

The airline’s financial statement disclosed €4.5 billion ($5.4 billion) annual operating loss and its net debt which widened to €11 billion ($13.3 billion). The airline’s passenger numbers, which were crucial for the airline's financial performance, slumped by 67%.

Cold winter ahead: SAS reports record loss of $1.2 billion
https://www.aerotime.aero/26597-cold...of-1-2-billion

On December 3, 2020, SAS Scandinavian Airlines reported a SEK10.2 billion ($1.2 billion) loss before tax for the financial year from November 2019 to October 2020. In comparison, the company reported a profit of around SEK800 million ($95 million) the year before. It said that the COVID-19 measures were the most significant contributor to the deficit.

To increase the liquidity, the company started the process of retiring 21 aircraft earlier than planned, including 15 Boeing 737, five Airbus A340 and one Airbus A330 aircraft. In August 2020, SAS also had an agreement with Airbus to delay the arrival of eight A320neo and two A350-900s.

In October 2020, Denmark and Sweden, currently the largest owners of SAS, secured the rescue plan to restore the company's equity by $1.5 billion (SEK14.2 billion).

American Airlines posts $8.9 billion loss in challenging 2020
https://www.aerotime.aero/27096-amer...allenging-2020

Turkish Airlines posts $836m net loss for 2020 despite freight boost
https://www.flightglobal.com/strateg...142691.article

The improved cargo performance could not prevent the carrier posting an operating loss of $530 million for the full year and a net loss of $836 million. That compares with an operating profit of $585 million and net profit of $788 million in 2019.

Its joint-venture leisure carrier SunExpress turned in a full-year loss of $198 million after a deterioration in revenues of more than $1 billion, to $564 million – a contrast in performance with 2019 when the airline made a profit of $62 million.

[bato_usai]

Nordica to acquire LOT stake in Xfly, become sole owner
https://www.aerotime.aero/26854-Nord...ome-sole-owner

Estonia’s flag-carrier Nordic Aviation Group (Nordica) reached an agreement with LOT Polish Airlines to obtain LOT’s 49% share in Xfly (previously Regional Jet). The deal makes Nordica the sole owner of its regional subsidiary Xfly. Despite the “breaking up”, commercial cooperation between Nordica and LOT would continue.

“As a result of the pandemic and significantly reduced demand for air connections, today we are completing this special journey,” Rafał Milczarski, the CEO & President of the Management Board of LOT Polish Airlines, said, adding that the four years of mutually beneficial cooperation is over.

In November 2016, Poland’s flag-carrier LOT acquired a 49% of share in Nordica’s subsidiary Xfly, previously called Regional Jet. The two airlines outsourced flight operations services from Xfly, shared a ticket sales platform, and worked together in operating flights between Tallinn and Warsaw.

As Nordica is striving to survive COVID-19 pandemic, the airline received approval for a state-aid package, which included a state-guaranteed loan of $8 million and capital back-up by $22 million in October 2020.

[Lettered]

Nors 2020 metai aviacijai buvo sudėtingi, kai kurioms bendrovėms pavyko atrasti nišą plėtrai ir augimui. Pavyzdžiui, gana nauja Skandinavijos regioninė aviakompanija "Air Leap" skraidino dvigubai daugiau keleivių negu 2019 metais, pasiūlė 9 naujas kryptis Skandinavijos rinkoje bei įsteigė naują bazę Gotlando salos Visbio mieste. Taip pat nuo šių metų kovo 23 dienos aviakomanija tampa pagrindiniu keleivių transportuotoju oro linijoje tarp Stokholmo-Arlanda ir Örnsköldsvik oro uostų Švedijoje. (Šaltinis)

Dar vienas konukrentas "Norwegian" ir "SAS".

Dar įdomus dalykas su 2020 metais, kad per pirmus 2 mėnesius bankrutavo daugiau avialinijų nei per likusius 10 coroninius. Šitas faktas tik dar karto įrodo, kad aviacija nėra eilinis verslas, o labiau visuomeninė infrastruktūra.

[Silber418]

Nors 2020 metai aviacijai buvo sudėtingi, kai kurioms bendrovėms pavyko atrasti nišą plėtrai ir augimui. Pavyzdžiui, gana nauja Skandinavijos regioninė aviakompanija "Air Leap" skraidino dvigubai daugiau keleivių negu 2019 metais, pasiūlė 9 naujas kryptis Skandinavijos rinkoje bei įsteigė naują bazę Gotlando salos Visbio mieste. Taip pat nuo šių metų kovo 23 dienos aviakomanija tampa pagrindiniu keleivių transportuotoju oro linijoje tarp Stokholmo-Arlanda ir Örnsköldsvik oro uostų Švedijoje. (Šaltinis)

Dar vienas konukrentas "Norwegian" ir "SAS".

[udrius]

Juodkalnijos valstybinė aviakompanija Montenegro Airlines dėl skolų uždaroma. Turėjo 4 lėktuvus - 3 Embraer 195 ir vieną Fokker 100, per metus perveždavo 657 tūkst keleivių. Tiesa, planuojama kitais metais sukurti naują aviakompaniją

https://www.atorus.ru/news/press-centre/new/53825.html

[Zorro]

Delfi.lt 2020.12.20
Keleiviniai skrydžiai iš Jungtinės Karalystės stabdomi nuo pirmadienio ryto

Jungtinėje Karalystėje plintant naujai koronaviruso atmainai, Lietuvos Vyriausybei sekmadienį buvo pasiūlyta stabdyti visus keleivinius skrydžius iš tos šalies. Sekmadienio vakarą buvo surengtas neeilinis Vyriausybės posėdis šiam klausimui spręsti. Jame nutarta keleivinius skrydžius į Lietuvą stabdyti jau nuo pirmadienio, 4 valandos ryto.

„Nuo 2020 m. gruodžio 21 d. 04:00 val. iki 2020 m. gruodžio 31 d. 00:00 val. draudžiami skrydžiai keleiviams vežti iš Jungtinės Didžiosios Britanijos ir Šiaurės Airijos Karalystės į Lietuvos Respubliką. Išimties tvarka skrydžiai gali būti vykdomi tik gavus Lietuvos transporto saugos administracijos išduotą atskirą leidimą, atsižvelgiant į sveikatos apsaugos ministro, užsienio reikalų ministro arba vidaus reikalų ministro teikimą.“ Jam ir pritarė Ministrų kabinetas.

Belgija ir Nyderlandai jau priėmė sprendimus dėl skrydžių draudimo iš Didžiosios Britanijos.

M. Skuodis sekmadienį vakare savo socialiniame tinke „Facebook“ rašė
"Iš mūsų artimiausių kaimynų taip pat susisiekimą iš Jungtinės Karalystės stabdo Latvija, Estija, Vokietija. Šiuo metu sprendžia Lenkija. Žinome ir apie Prancūziją. Apie sprendimus jau viešai paskelbusios Beniliukso šalys, Italija. Artimiausiu metu tikimės ir bendro ES sprendimo."

Nuo gruodžio 14 d., 13 val., iki gruodžio 20 d., 13 val., iš Didžiosios Britanijos į Lietuvą atvyko 3485 keleiviai: į Vilniaus oro uostą – 2139 asmenys, į Kauno oro uostą – 1346.
Prognozuojama, kad tai palies kitą savaitę iš Jungtinės Karalystės į Vilniaus, Kauno ir Palangos oro uostus planuojančius atvykti apie 7000 keleivių. Neišvengiami sutrikimai ir tiems, kurie planuoja išvykti, nors skrydžiai į Jungtinę Karalystę ribojami nebus.


https://www.delfi.lt/news/daily/lith....d?id=86049735