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Austrian Airlines Will Temporarily Suspend Flight Operations

March 19, 2020 /
  • Last flight will land on 19 March in Vienna / all further flights are temporarily suspended until 28 March
  • Lufthansa Group: entire short and long-haul schedule significantly reduced again 
  • As of 17 March: ten percent of the originally planned capacity will still be available on long-haul routes and 20 per cent on short-haul routes 
  • Lufthansa Group airlines fly thousands of cruise passengers and holidaymakers home 
  • Arrangements for further evacuation flights 
  • Lufthansa Cargo flight operations carries out all planned flights despite corona crisis 

The Lufthansa Group carrier Austrian Airlines will temporarily suspend scheduled flight operations as of Thursday, 19 March 2020. Austrian Airlines is thus reacting to the entry restrictions imposed by many countries in response to the massive spread of the coronavirus. 

For the time being, the last flight with flight number OS 066 will land in Vienna from Chicago at 8:20 a.m. on 19 March. Until then, flight operations are to be reduced in a controlled and structured manner in order to bring all passengers and crews home if possible. Initially Austrian Airlines will cancel all flights until March 28th 2020, and passengers who have booked a flight with Austrian Airlines during this period will be rebooked on other airlines if possible. 

In addition, Lufthansa Group airlines will further reduce their short- and long-haul schedule. The cancellations, which will be published as early as tomorrow, March 17th, will lead to a sharp decline in long-haul service especially in the Middle East, Africa and Central and South America. Overall, the Lufthansa Group’s seating capacity on long-haul routes will be reduced by up to 90 per cent. A total of 1,300 weekly connections were originally planned for summer 2020.

Within Europe the flight schedule will also be further reduced. Starting tomorrow, around 20 percent of the originally planned seating capacity will still be offered. Originally, some 11,700 weekly short-haul flights were planned for summer 2020 with Lufthansa Group airlines. 

The additional cancellations will be published over the next few days and passengers will be informed accordingly. 

Despite the large-scale cancellations, Lufthansa, Eurowings and Austrian Airlines have scheduled more than 20 special flights with over 6,000 guests on short notice to fly cruise passengers and holidaymakers back home. Wide-body aircraft namely, the Boeing 747 & 777 and Airbus A350 are being used to offer as much capacity as possible on these return flights. Since thousands of German, Austrian, Swiss and Belgian citizens are still waiting to return to their home countries, Lufthansa Group airlines have made arrangements for further evacuation flightsand are in close contact with the governments of their home countries concerning this. Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said: “Now it is no longer about economic issues, but about the responsibility that airlines bear as part of the critical infrastructure in their home countries.” Lufthansa will work with airports and air traffic controllers to develop a coordinated concept for maintaining the critical infrastructure.

The new timetable for all Lufthansa Group airlines will initially be valid until 12 April 2020. Lufthansa Group passengers planning a trip in the coming weeks are advised to check the current status of the respective flight on their airline’s website before departure. If rebooking possibilities exist, the passengers concerned will be proactively informed about alternatives, as long as they have provided their contact details online. In addition, currently changed rebooking conditions apply on a goodwill basis. Customers can find more information about this at lufthansa.com. 

We are currently receiving an exceptionally high number of customer calls at our Service Centers and at our stations. We are continuously working on increasing capacity to meet this demand. Nevertheless, there are currently long waiting times. Passengers can use the extensive rebooking and self-service options on the airlines’ websites as an alternative to the Service Centers.

Unlike the passenger airlines, Lufthansa Cargo has so far been able to operate all its planned flights except for cancellations to mainland China. The Lufthansa Group subsidiary will continue to do everything in its power to maintain the flight operations of its own cargo fleet and thus support the global supply chains. Especially during the current crisis, logistics and thus also airfreight are of paramount importance.

Due to the COVID-19 Outbreak, Icelandair Posts Travel Update

March 17, 2020 /

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, many countries have implemented travel restrictions. Here we have collected information on various travel restrictions to destinations that we fly to. Please be advised that the following is subject to change on short notice. We will attempt to update you as promptly as possible.

If you do not have a flight in the next 72 hours we kindly ask you to consider contacting us in a few days. Due to high volumes for incoming calls and requests, we apologize for the delay in our responses. We will do our best to post any updates on our website and social media as soon as the latest information is available.

If you have a ticket with Icelandair and are affected by these restrictions, please read our FAQ.

You are able to change your ticket yourself here.

Air France Plans to Run Flight Schedule Despite Jan 6-7 Strikes

January 5, 2020 /

PARIS (Reuters) – Air France <AFLYY> said on Sunday it planned to run its entire flight schedule on Jan. 6 and Jan. 7, despite calls by some crew unions to strike as part of ongoing nationwide protests over the government’s efforts to reform the pension system.

“On January 6 and 7, 2020, Air France plans to operate its entire flight schedule,” the airline said in a statement, which also cited discussions between the government and unions that it said had resulted in guarantees for flight crews’ future pension system.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Gareth Jones)

An Air France Airbus A319 plane takes off from the Nantes-Atlantique airport in Bouguenais near Nantes

Atlas Air and Southern Air Prevail in Appeals Court Ruling Against Teamsters Pilot Union

November 22, 2019 /

PURCHASE, N.Y., Nov. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (AAWW) today confirmed that its subsidiaries Atlas Air, Inc. and Southern Air, Inc. have prevailed in another legal dispute with the union that represents its pilots in ongoing negotiations, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirms a March 13, 2018, decision by the Southern District Court of New York compelling the Teamsters to arbitrate whether the merger provisions in Atlas Air and Southern Air’s collective bargaining agreements apply to the bargaining process. Today’s decision, as well as two binding decisions by arbitrators rendered in favor of both Atlas Air and Southern Air this summer, have made clear that IBT must engage in the current Atlas Air and Southern Air collective bargaining agreements’ expedited and defined process for achieving a joint collective bargaining agreement.

In a separate labor-related decision rendered in July 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously affirmed a federal district court ruling in November 2017 that ordered the union to stop an intentional and illegal work slowdown by Atlas Air pilots in violation of the Railway Labor Act. The unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel upheld the lower-court order that blocked the union from continuing to engage in improper activities such as excessive sick calls on short notice or refusing to volunteer for open time.

“With these decisions behind us, it’s time for the union to honor its obligations under the collective bargaining agreements and these binding decisions. Specifically, the union has an obligation to produce an integrated seniority list and engage in direct bargaining for a defined and limited period of time. In ongoing negotiations, the union has yet to provide us with a comprehensive economic proposal covering pay and benefits for evaluation. We remain committed to working collaboratively with union leaders to efficiently negotiate and complete the contract,” said William J. Flynn, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Atlas Air Worldwide.

For more information about the contract negotiations process and updates, please visit AtlasAir5YPilots.com and follow @AtlasAir5Y on Twitter.

Cargo-Services-Commercial-Cargo-Charters-4_13_18_2_opt_2

 

Canada’s Largest Railroad Hit by Strike, Trudeau in Hot Seat

November 19, 2019 /

MONTREAL/WINNIPEG, Nov 19 (Reuters) – Thousands of workers at Canada’s largest railway went on strike for the first time in a decade on Tuesday, disrupting the shipping of commodities and sparking calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government to intervene.

About 3,000 unionized workers of Canadian National Railway, including conductors and yardmen, hit picket lines after both sides failed to resolve contract issues at a time of softening demand for freight service. They continued talks on Tuesday in Montreal amid union concerns over fatigue, safety and ensuring that workers’ breaks are not reduced.

Canada, one of the world’s biggest exporters of farm products, relies on CN and Canadian Pacific Railway to move canola, wheat and other commodities over vast distances from western farms to ports. Crude oil shippers and the mining industry also depend on the railways.

The strike comes at an awkward time for Trudeau’s government, which relies on smaller parties to pass legislation and faces criticism from western provinces about its failures to get new oil pipelines built. Trudeau has said he is not reconvening Parliament until Dec. 5, and the government cannot start the process to force workers back on the job until then.

Andrew Scheer, leader of the Conservatives, the second-largest party in Parliament, and Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage each separately urged Trudeau on Twitter to recall Parliament immediately.

The Canadian mining industry, which accounts for more than half of annual rail freight revenues, depends on CN to transport supplies to company sites and products from their operations.

“This strike will result in a severe reduction or elimination of railway capacity and will trigger the closure of mines with concurrent layoffs of thousands of employees beginning in a matter of days,” said Pierre Gratton, president and CEO of the Mining Association of Canada.

“SCREECHING HALT”

Industry groups ranging from the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters to propane and fertilizer groups said Ottawa needed to step in to limit damage to the economy.

The BC Council of Forest Industries, which represents the sector in British Columbia, expressed concerns about the disruptions caused by the strike for rail transport.

“Ninety percent of the forest products we produce are sent to export markets in North America and around the world,” Susan Yurkovich, the body’s president, said.

“A disruption of this critical transportation network will adversely impact BC forest companies at a time when we are already facing significant challenges and increasing competition from around the globe”, Yurkovich added.

CN and CP also collectively handle nearly all grain movement in Western Canada, the country’s crop belt, split roughly evenly between the railways.

The stoppage “has an impact before it even begins because companies pull back sales in anticipation of a strike,” said Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association, whose members include Cargill Ltd, Richardson International and Viterra Inc.

CN’s shipments of hazardous goods such as crude are likely to come to a “screeching halt” even if the railroad’s management steps in to limit freight volumes, said Kent McDougall, chief commercial officer at Torq Energy, which loads crude oil in Western Canada onto trains operated by both CN and CP.

A strike may temporarily constrain CN’s volumes, but will not likely have a meaningful long-term impact on the company’s earnings, Credit Suisse analysts said in a research note on Monday, adding that Ottawa has historically been quick to intervene.

Shares of Montreal-based CN were down 1%, while the benchmark Canadian share index was up slightly.

Canadian Labour Minister Patty Hajdu and Transport Minister Marc Garneau said they are monitoring the CN strike situation closely after meeting with the two sides on Monday.

CN said in a statement that it was “disappointed” at the strike action. CN’s service in the United States will continue operating despite the strike.

The company said on Friday it would cut management and union jobs as it grapples with an economic slowdown.

Rail workers with the Teamsters held their last strike in 2009, when locomotive engineers walked off the job for five days, the union said.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and Rod Nickel in Winnipeg Additional reporting by Kelsey Johnson, David Ljunggren and Steve Scherer in Ottawa and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Sandra Maler and Leslie Adler)

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