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Ryanair’s CEO Eddie Wilson has said the airline would continue to fight state-aid for national carriers to the very ‘last resort’. Following appeals of EU Commission approval for French, German, and Swedish government aid, it has its sights set on the Portuguese bailout of flag-carrier TAP – which could end up reaching over €3 billion before its restructuring process is complete.

The fact that Ryanair is unhappy with a state-supported bailout of a national airline should come as a surprise to no one. Over the past year, the Irish low-cost carrier has brought court cases against government support to Air France, SAS, Lufthansa, and Finnair. The airline has filed no less than 16 lawsuits against the European Commission related to state-aid since the beginning of the pandemic.

The latest round of discontent is directed towards the government support for Portuguese flag-carrier TAP Air Portugal. The European Commission first approved the €1.2 billion ($1.435 billion) bailout in June last year. Ryanair has now vowed to appeal the decision and fight what it calls ‘illegal state aid’ to the very ‘last resort’.

For 2021, the Portuguese government has budgeted another €500 million ($606 million) to help its struggling airline. It has already sought approval from the Commission for the funds to be granted as ‘interim aid’ while the airline undergoes restructuring. The plan, submitted in December, involves 2,000 job cuts by 2022, 25% pay cuts, and another €2 billion in state-guaranteed funds to cover expenses until 2024.

Eddie Wilson is skeptical about the airline’s potential of ever being able to repay the funds and that keeping TAP alive will end up being all at the expense of the tax-payers.

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.

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.

In February 2021, the number of passengers serviced at Riga International airport fell to the lowest level since flights were resumed in May 2020, according to the airport's data published March 11.

24,000 passengers were serviced in February, with the number of travelers decreasing by 95.1% compared to last year. In particular, transit flows continue to decrease – the number of travelers using the airport as a transit center to travel to other destinations represented only 14% of the total passenger volume.

In total, during the first two months of 2021, Riga airport serviced 74.4 thousand passengers, 92.7% less than during the corresponding period of last year.

The majority, or nearly 75%, of the passengers serviced by Riga airport were transported by the national airline airBaltic in February, 6.7% by the German airline Lufthansa and the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair, 3.6% by the Finnish airline Finnair, while 1.9% by the Hungarian low-price carrier Wizz Air.

During the first two months of the year, 2,825 aircraft arrived and landed at Riga, 77.4% less than last year during this period. Passenger flights have decreased by 88.2%, while the number of cargo and other flights has increased by 39.5% and 30.8%, respectively.

In January this year, only slightly more than 50 000 passengers were served at Riga airport – 90.4% fewer travelers than in January 2020. Meanwhile, in 2020, only 2.01 million passengers were served at Riga airport, 74.2% fewer than a year earlier.

Air France will significantly scale back its domestic network in a bid to cut costs and reach environmental goals required by its bailout deal. The changes will mean that the airline’s domestic network out of Paris Orly Airport will shrink drastically, with routes to cities like Lyon and Bourdeaux canceled and replaced by train services. Here’s more on these changes.

Air France has been offering a Flight + Train service for some years now, connecting several destinations to its hubs in Paris. However, the airline’s €7bn ($8.3bn) bailout package last year requires it to take steps to reduce its environmental footprint further, starting with cutting domestic connections.

Under the bailout conditions, Air France cannot compete with the high-speed TGV trains on routes under 2.5 hours. This means routes like Paris Orly to Lyon, Bourdeaux, Nantes, and more have been axed. However, connecting flights through Paris CDG are still allowed under the rules, keeping some services in the air.

While the decision might be mandated by the bailout loan, Air France doesn’t see it as completely negative. The airline operated its domestic network at a loss of €200mn ($238mn) in 2019, finding it hard to compete with the cheaper and efficient rail network.

This comes with the benefit of significantly reducing emissions in the future since trains are much more environment-friendly. Considering the threat of climate changes, governments are moving quickly to reduce emissions where possible, with the aviation industry being a significant polluter.