Money Buzz! Europa

Category: Travel

  • New landing bans force Austrian Airlines to cancel flights

    New landing bans force Austrian Airlines to cancel flights

    The Austrian Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection has massively expanded the list of landing bans for aircraft.

    Starting Thursday, 16 July 2020, no regular flights from the following countries, among others, will be permitted to land in Austria: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Egypt, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia.

    The landing bans for aircraft from Great Britain, Sweden and the Ukraine have been extended. The decree is valid until 31 July 2020.

    Due to the official prohibition, Austrian Airlines is forced to cancel all flights between Vienna and the following destinations during the period 16-31 July 2020: Belgrade, Bucharest, Cairo, Kyiv, London, Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo, Sibiu, Skopje, Sofia, Stockholm, Tirana and Varna.

    The landing bans will also have an impact on the remaining route network of Austrian Airlines, due to the fact that the affected routes are frequented by many transfer passengers. These passengers will be missing, for example on flights to the USA.

    Passengers whose flights were cancelled and who do not want to make use of the rebooking options can apply for a refund using the online form on the Austrian Airlines website.

    Passengers who wish to take their flight at a later date have various rebooking options and can start their rebooked journey up until the end of 2021.

  • Greece: Passenger air traffic dropped by 93% in June 2020

    Greece: Passenger air traffic dropped by 93% in June 2020

    Latest Greek Civil Aviation Authority data show a 93 percent drop in total passenger traffic going through local airports in June 2020, compared to the previous year.

    Only 588.186 passengers on domestic and foreign flights arrived in Greek airports in June 2020, compared to 8.427.908 passengers in June 2019.

    There were 17.049 flights in May 2020, down 74% from the same month in 2019.

    The drop in passenger arrivals from abroad was even greater, falling 97,5%.

    In the first half of 2020, 6,2 million passengers travelled instead of 24.7 million passengers in the first half of 2019.

  • 1.103 accommodation establishments were open in Bulgaria in May 2020

    1.103 accommodation establishments were open in Bulgaria in May 2020

    In May 2020, in a state of emergency and the ensuing epidemic situation, 1.103 accommodation establishments – hotels, motels, camping sites, mountain chalets and other establishments for short-term accommodation with more than 10 bed-places were open in Bulgaria.

    The total number of rooms was 30.5 thousand and the bed-places were 61.1 thousand. In comparison with May 2019, the total number of accommodation establishments (open during the period) decreased by 52.6% and the bed-places in them – by 74.1%.

    The total number of the nights spent in all accommodation establishments registered in May 2020 was 116.1 thousand, or by 92.0% less in comparison with the same month of the previous year.

    The total revenues from nights spent in May 2020 reached 5.4 million BGN or by 92.9% less compared to May 2019.

  • LOT to launch a new domestic Szczecin-Rzeszów route

    LOT to launch a new domestic Szczecin-Rzeszów route

    LOT to launch its flights on a new domestic Szczecin-Rzeszów route on 16 July. With the new flight it will take less than one hour and thirty minutes to travel the distance between the cities.

    Summer flights on the Szczecin-Rzeszów route will be operated twice a week by LOT’s Bombardier Q400s.

    The two flights per week on interregional Szczecin-Rzeszów route are part of the following timetable:

    • LO3517 19:25 – 20:55 SZZ-RZE Monday, Thursday
    • LO3518 19:25 – 20:55 SZZ-RZE Monday, Thursday

    Tickets for the flights on the Rzeszów-Szczecin route are already available starting at PLN 99 for a one-way flight without baggage. LOT’s current timetable of flights is valid until 31 August 2020.

  • Ryanair launches new route from Manchester to Poznan

    Ryanair launches new route from Manchester to Poznan

    Ryanair announced a new route from the United Kingdom to Poland, commencing 27 October as part of its winter 2020 schedule.

    The new route will operate twice weekly from Manchester Airport to Poznan.

    Ryanair is offering seats one-way from just £24.99, which must be booked by midnight, Monday (13 July), only on the Ryanair website.

  • International tourists spent 98% less nights in Hungary in May

    International tourists spent 98% less nights in Hungary in May

    In May 2020, as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, international tourists spent 98% and domestic tourists 86% fewer tourism nights in commercial accommodation establishments (hotels, boarding houses, camping sites, bungalow complexes and community hostels) compared to the same period of the previous year.

    88% of all tourism nights were spent by domestic guests. Total gross sales revenues declined by 93% at current prices in commercial accommodation establishments.

    Compared to the same month of the previous year the number of foreign arrivals and foreign tourism nights fell by 99% and 98% respectively, with 4 thousand guests spending 22 thousand tourism nights in accommodation establishments.

    The majority of nights were spent in hotels, with the number of tourism nights not reaching 1% of the May value of the previous year in Budapest and the Balaton region.

    75 thousand domestic guests (87% decrease) spent 167 thousand tourism nights (86% decrease), with the latter falling most in community hostels and hotels and least in boarding houses and camping sites.

  • Poland: 96.5% less tourists in April 2020

    Poland: 96.5% less tourists in April 2020

    In April this year, 86.4 thousand tourists were accommodated in tourist accommodation establishments and 326.2 thousand overnight stays were provided for them, Statistics Poland show.

    This was lower by 96.5% and 94.5%, respectively, as compared to April 2019. A decrease in the number of tourists was also recorded in May.

    Compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, the number of persons accommodated was lower by about 88.1%, according to estimates.

    In the total number of tourists accommodated, domestic tourists (74.6 thousand) accounted for 86.3%, which was lower by 96.1% than in the same month last year. The number of foreign tourists (11.8 thousand) in accommodation establishments in April this year decreased by 97.9%.

    The largest decrease was observed in establishments of Małopolskie Voivodship (by 99.1%), wheres the smallest one in establishments located in Podlaskie Voivodship (93.5%) and Opolskie Voivodship (93.6%).

    Most persons were accommodated in Dolnośląskie Voivodship (13.7 thousand) and Mazowieckie Voivodship (12.1 thousand). In comparison with April 2019, there were significantly fewer of them – by 95.2% and 97.1% respectively.

    The lowest number of tourists were accommodated in establishments located in Świętokrzyskie Voivodship (1.7 thousand) and Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodship (1.9 thousand), and the decrease in their number compared to the same month last year was 96.2% and 97.6% respectively.

  • LOT resumes flights to North America and Asia

    LOT resumes flights to North America and Asia

    LOT resumed on July 1st its international flights since the suspension of passenger flights in mid-March.

    LOT’s flight route network will include the first long-haul flights to Canada, South Korea and Japan, as well as flights to the UK, Albania, Montenegro and Ukraine.

    The first passengers flew on board LOT planes to Berlin, Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, Barcelona, Prague, Budapest, Vilnius, Kiev, Dubrovnik and Split yesterday.

    They will be joined by travellers flying to Vienna and Oslo.

    From July 3rd, the summer campaign #LOTnaWakacje begins and passengers can start planning their trips outside Europe as well.

    The Polish airline will take passengers to three cities in North America and Asia: 

    • Toronto – from three to seven times a week from July 1st; 
    • Seoul – from two to five times a week from July 3rd; 
    • Tokyo (Narita airport) – from two to three times a week from July 3rd. 

    All long-haul flights will be operated from Warsaw’s Chopin Airport.

    In addition, LOT will also launch a Budapest-Seoul connection, offered once a week, from July 20th.

  • Czech Smartwings to cut around 600 jobs

    Czech Smartwings to cut around 600 jobs

    Smartwings Group announced to the Labour Office of the Czech Republic its intention of collective redundancies.

    Depending on the development of the situation, the reduction in the number of staff could affect up to 600 employees of the Smartwings Group.

    The jobs affected include pilots, flight attendants and members of the operational and administrative non-aviation business department.

    The decision on the first organizational change was discussed with representatives of trade unions and concerns 29 employees.

    The termination of employment of redundant employees within the framework of collective redundancies should appear gradually from July 2020 to February 2021.

    At the same time, Czech Airlines and Smartwings will allow employees affected by the organisational change to switch to unpaid leave of absence status for up to one year.

    The redundancy process will follow the provisions of the Czech Labour Code.

  • Smartwings Group resumes operations to 25 more destinations

    Smartwings Group resumes operations to 25 more destinations

    Airlines of the Smartwings Group, Smartwings and Czech Airlines, are resuming flights to 25 additional destinations in July.

    In the first week of July, Smartwings will re-launch regular scheduled flights from Prague to seven Greek destinations: Heraklion, Kavala, Kefalonia, Corfu, Kos, Preveza, Rhodes and Zakynthos.

    It will include four Spanish destinations: Malaga, Mallorca, Tenerife and Valencia, to Cagliari in Italy and Burgas and Varna in Bulgaria.

    In the second half of July, Smartwings will also add flights to Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Madeira. 

    Smartwings has been operating flights to Split, Croatia, on a daily basis since 25 June 2020.

    In the first week of July, scheduled flights will also resume from regional airports

    Brno will offer connections to Rhodes, Zakynthos, Corfu, Kos, Heraklion and Burgas, while Ostrava will handle flights to Heraklion and Burgas.

    In the first week of July, Czech Airlines will resume flights to Odessa, Rome, Barcelona, ​​Gothenburg, Madrid and Helsinki. 

    The carrier’s flights to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Stockholm, Bucharest, Košice, Budapest, Keflavik and Kyiv were re-launched in May and June 2020.

    On 25 June 2020, a new route was launched to London’s largest airport, Heathrow, which is now operated daily. 

    Flights to Copenhagen will resume on 24 July 2020.

  • Wizz Air to fly eight new routes from Bucharest

    Wizz Air to fly eight new routes from Bucharest

    Wizz Air announces eight new routes from Bucharest to Cagliari (Sardegna/Italy), Copenhagen, Bergen (Norway), Hamburg, Karlsruhe / Baden-Baden, Memmingen (Germany), Santorini and Mykonos (Greece). 

    Passengers can already book tickets from as low as RON 119. 

    Cagliari is the 11th destination offered by Wizz Air from Bucharest to Italy and the 2nd in Sardegna besides Alghero.

    Bergen is the second destination in Norway after Oslo which Romanians will be able to enjoy with Wizz Air while Copenhagen is the second city in Denmark after Billundin Wizz Air’s network from Bucharest.

    Wizz Air now offers 61 routes to 20 countries from Bucharest

    Since 2007 the airline has carried more than 22 million passengers on its Bucharest routes.

    Together with the eight new routes announced today Wizz Air will offer over 3 million seats in the airline’s Bucharest network in 2020.

  • LOT will resume regular international passenger flights from July 1

    LOT will resume regular international passenger flights from July 1

    LOT will resume, from July 1, its first regular international passenger flights since their suspension on March 13.

    The flight schedule for the first two weeks of July includes primarily flights to the Schengen countries and popular holiday destinations.

    The route network of 20 European cities includes:

    • seven flights a week to Prague, Duesseldorf, Vilnius and Budapest;
    • six flights a week to Berlin;
    • five flights a week to Vienna, Brussels and Kiev (Boryspil Airport);
    • four flights a week to Amsterdam and Bucharest;
    • three flights a week to Barcelona, Tbilisi and Oslo;
    • two flights a week to Split and Dubrovnik;
    • at least one flight per week to Zadar, Podgorica, Corfu, Chania and Varna.

    All international flights will be operated from Chopin Airport in Warsaw until July 14.

    In addition, two connections from Budapest will return to the resumed LOT network – to Varna and Dubrovnik, operated once a week during the weekend.

    LOT will also maintain its existing schedule of over 30 domestic flights a day.