Niceair is a new airline in Iceland. The name, Niceair, refers to North Iceland Air.
The upstart wants to connect Akureyri in northern Iceland with U.K., Denmark and Spain starting on June 2 according to Visir.
The new company has secured a 150-seat Airbus A319.
Air Montenegro has unveiled its livery of its Embraer 195 4O-AOA. Previously the airline has been operating its aircraft in an all-white condition.
The eagle logo has been retained from Montenegro Airlines.
According to the airline:
Embraer, Widerรธe and Rolls-Royce have today announced plans to study a conceptual zero-emission regional aircraft. The 12-month cooperation study โ in the context of pre-competitive research and development โ will address passenger requirements to stay connected in a post Covid-19 world, but do so sustainably, and seeks to accelerate the knowledge of the technologies necessary for this transition. Such technologies will allow national governments to continue to support passenger mobility while reusing most of the existing infrastructure in a more sustainable way.
Advances in scientific research can make clean and renewable energy a major enabler of a new era of regional aviation and the three companies will share their combined in-depth knowledge of aircraft design, market demand, operations and propulsion solutions to further develop their understanding of zero-emission technologies and how they can be matured and applied to future regional aircraft.
Among other topics, the study will cover a wide range of applications for new propulsion technologies to examine a range of potential solutions โ including all-electric, hydrogen fuel cell or hydrogen fueled gas turbine powered aircraft.
Eurowings made this announcement about the upcoming summer season:
Eurowings is preparing for a summer with enormous catch-up effects. After a significant increase in tourist flight bookings โ several tens of thousands every day โ demand for business routes is also picking up. After two years of the pandemic and months of working from home, the desire for freedom in both private and professional contexts is becoming stronger and stronger: people have had to postpone their vacations, long-planned visit to friends and family or trips to see their business partners, sometimes several times.
After numerous countries, such as Spain, Sweden or Denmark, have already largely returned to normality, the German government has also decided on far-reaching relaxations: almost all Covid-related measures are to be lifted by the end of March. Against this background, people’s longing to finally be able to travel again is coming into focus.
Jens Bischof, CEO Eurowings: “The current formula is: the longer the contact restrictions, the greater the desire to travel. After two years of the pandemic, millions of people finally want to catch up on their holidays or meet important business contacts in person again. Our increase in bookings is currently following the ‘ketchup bottle principle’: first nothing for a long time, then everything at once.”
Eurowings is responding to the rising demand by significantly increasing its frequencies on both leisure and business routes.
In the context of the pandemic, Eurowings had to temporarily suspend some routes. With the increasing demand on business routes, numerous domestic and European connections will be resumed by the end of March.
Fromย Hamburg, for example, there will be up to eleven flights a week toย Amsterdamย and up to nine flights a week toย Nuremberg.
Fromย Dรผsseldorf, Eurowings is flying more frequently to Italy again โ toย Bergamoย andย Bolognaย (up to six times a week in each case) โ and also to Austria: five direct flights a week toย Linzย and three toย Graz.
Fromย Cologne/Bonn, for example, Eurowings will again take its passengers toย Bolognaย up to four times a week and toย Dresdenย up to eight times.
Fromย Stuttgart, the routes toย Bremenย (up to five times a week) andย Amsterdamย (up to six flights a week) will be resumed.
Business trips to European metropolises are currently also in high demand again: Eurowings is increasing frequencies on numerous routes โ especially at off-peak times for even better planning of business trips.
Fromย Hamburg: e.g. to London, Vienna, Budapest, Munich, Milan and Zรผrich
Fromย Dรผsseldorf: e.g. to London, Vienna, Budapest, Munich, Milan, Zรผrich, Manchester, Birmingham, Geneva, Copenhagen, Salzburg, Lyon, Prague and Barcelona
Fromย Cologne/Bonn: e.g. to London, Vienna, Budapest, Milan and Zรผrich
Fromย Stuttgart: to London, Vienna, Budapest and Milan, among others, and fromย Dortmundย to Munich
Connections toย Berlinย from Eurowings’ largest locations will also be significantly increased: up to six flights a day fromCologne/Bonnย and fromย Stuttgartย to the capital, and up to five flights a day fromย Dรผsseldorf.
Connections toย Hamburgย will also be significantly increased: a Eurowings aircraft will take off towards there fromย Stuttgartup to six times a day, and there will be three daily connections fromย Dรผsseldorfย and two fromย Cologne/Bonn.
For a successful return to business travel, Eurowings is offering its passengers a free middle seat on domestic German direct flights and on direct flights between Germany and Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Ireland, as well as between the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. The promotion is valid for flights in the booking and travel period from 17 February to 7 April 2022. The possibility of securing a free middle seat for more comfort and personal space has become one of the most popular products at Eurowings during the pandemic.
As Germany’s No. 1 leisure airline, Eurowings has greatly expanded its tourist services and is flying to more than 140 destinations for the first time โ by far the largest route portfolio. Focal points include Spain, Portugal, Italy, Turkey and Scandinavia. Services to the Canary Islands and the Greek islands are also being expanded. The top destination in summer continues to be Palma de Mallorca with 380 connections per week from 20 airports.
Lufthansa Cargo made this announcement:
Digitization of paper AWBs as of summer flight schedule continues to drive digital transformation of air cargo industry
In 2020, IATA announced an industry goal to achieve 100% eAWB by the end of 2022, meaning that all shipments will be carried only with electronic air waybills (eAWB). To meet this goal and continue to lead the way in digitizing the entire air cargo industry, Lufthansa Cargo is now taking a major step towards completely paperless shipments: starting with the summer schedule on March 27, 2022, all shipments on feasible lanes will be carried with electronic air waybill – eAWB only. In addition, the airline is introducing a “paper-to-eAWB” service, through which the few remaining paper-based AWBs will be digitized at shipment acceptance and then continue to accompany the shipment as an eAWB.
“Over the past few years, we have driven many digitization initiatives in the air cargo industry. In fact, eliminating paper AWBs in the future could be one of the most important steps. A majority of our customers already use eAWB exclusively. With the new service, we can now easily take all customers with us on our digitization journey and enable them to take the step towards paperless transports as well,” explains Ashwin Bhat, Chief Commercial Officer at Lufthansa Cargo.
“Our goal is to make communication with our customers easier, faster and better with the help of our digital services. We have implemented the eAWB process as an industry standard of IATA continuously and worldwide at Lufthansa Cargo since 2014. A five-year data quality initiative that effectively de-cluttered the data interface between customers and Lufthansa Cargo was, among other things, an important cornerstone that enabled sustainable eAWB penetration and consistent top positions in global rankings,” said Dr. Jan-Wilhelm Breithaupt, Vice President Global Fulfillment Management Lufthansa Cargo. “We are very pleased to have achieved our goal of transporting paperless shipments and avoiding unnecessary printouts along the process chains together with our customers and partners.”
The newly introduced service is mandatory on feasible lanes for all forwarding companies that do not yet use electronic air waybills. Routes that are eAWB-feasible are those for which the regulatory basis for the use of electronic air waybills is in place. This means that all shippers who have not been able to use eAWB so far due to their own infrastructure can also switch to paperless transports. If local regulations in a country require the presentation of a paper AWB, Lufthansa Cargo will re-produce the AWB and it will accompany the shipment on the flight. In addition to more efficient transport routes and faster information flows, paper is also saved during transports. This sustainability aspect also plays into the United Nations’ sustainability goals “Climate Action” and “Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure,” to which Lufthansa Cargo has committed itself along with other goals.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines issued this financial statement:
In line with the third quarter, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines succeeded in closing the fourth quarter of 2021 at a profit. Operational profits amounted to โฌ127 million. This shows that recovery is persisting, despite worldwide restrictions that continue to hamper travel. For the year 2021 as a whole, KLM has reported a loss of โฌ227 million, representing a significant improvement in comparison with the figures for 2020 when KLM suffered a loss of โฌ1,154 million.
Fourth-quarter revenues in 2021 amounted to โฌ2,038 million compared to โฌ1,136 million in the same quarter of 2020. Revenues for the year as a whole rose to โฌ6,065 million compared to โฌ5,120 million in 2020. Of the โฌ3.4 billion loan package, nothing was drawn in 2021. Thus, up until now a total of โฌ942 million was drawn.
The year 2021 consisted of two distinct parts. The first half of the year was sharply negative with travel restrictions, a lockdown, the double test requirement et cetera, resulting in โฌ522 million operating loss. In contrast, the second half of the year was one of recovery and showed a positive operating result in the third and fourth quarters of โฌ295 million. Again this year, the KLM result was supported by a substantial NOW contribution, for which KLM is very grateful to the Dutch government.
Positive booking trend
KLM welcomed a total of 5.2 million passengers on board in the fourth quarter of 2021. KLM and Transavia showed a positive booking trend for both the autumn and Christmas holiday periods. Additionally, more business travelers โ especially from the small and medium-sized business community โ took to the skies again in the fourth quarter. At the same time, uncertainties prevailed about the rapidly changing entry requirements, including the different booster requirements coupled with supplementary testing and quarantine obligations for vaccinated travelers. Meanwhile, many countries are easing restrictions and mandatory testing. This is helping the further recovery. At the same time, there are still countries where strict travel restrictions apply, such as in Asia.
Cargo contributed significantly towards more favorable results over the past year. Cargo revenues rose by 29% in 2021. Engineering & Maintenance also managed to improve operational profits despite falling revenues as a result of a decrease in demand for third-party maintenance.
Spirit Airlines has announced it will be connecting even more vacationers to the 60 miles of beaches known as the Grand Strand. The airline will launch nine nonstop routes to Myrtle Beach International Airport (MYR) this spring, introducing five new destinations, and resuming service from four other cities. 
The seasonal service begins with nonstop routes to Manchester and a resumption of operations to Niagara Falls in April. Next up, routes to Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Houston, Louisville, Milwaukee, and St. Louis will launch ahead of Memorial Day weekend in May. In June, Spirit will connect Myrtle Beach to its newest market, Rochester.
| New or Resuming Seasonal Routes | ||
| Destination: | Flights Available: | Launch Date: |
| Manchester (MHT) NEW | Daily | April 20, 2022 |
| Niagara Falls (IAG) RESUMING | 3-4x weekly | April 22, 2022 |
| Indianapolis (IND) RESUMING | 4x Weekly | May 25, 2022 |
| Minneapolis (MSP) RESUMING | 2-3x Weekly | May 26, 2022 |
| Houston (IAH) RESUMING | 2-3x Weekly | May 26, 2022 |
| Louisville (SDF) NEW | 2-3x Weekly | May 26, 2022 |
| St. Louis (STL) NEW | 2-3x Weekly | May 26, 2022 |
| Milwaukee (MKE) NEW | 2-3x Weekly | May 27, 2022 |
| Rochester (ROC) NEW | 4x Weekly | June 24, 2022 |
Spirit continues to invest in MYR with nearly 30 daily departures during the peak season. This includes markets with multiple flight options such as twice daily service to Baltimore (BWI), Detroit (DTW), Hartford (BDL), New York LaGuardia (LGA), Newark (EWR) and more. Just last year, Spirit celebrated its 25th year serving Myrtle Beach, and we continue to deliver Moreย Go!
Norwegian today reported its fourth quarter and preliminary full year results for 2021. Passenger demand increased from the previous quarter,ย however, demand was negatively impacted by the outbreak of the coronavirus omicron variant. Profit before tax (EBT) was NOK 117 million, compared to a loss of NOK 16.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020 and a profit of NOK 169 million in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, 3.1 million passengers travelled with Norwegian, up from 0.6 million in the same period last year and 2.5 million in the previous quarter. Production (ASK) was 4.6 billion seat kilometres, while passenger traffic (RPK) was 3.6 billion seat kilometres. The load factor increased to 77.0 percent, up from 52.4 percent in the same period 2020 and 73.1 percent in the previous quarter. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, the total operational fleet comprised 51 aircraft.
Norwegian has continued to focus on cost control and liquidity discipline across every aspect of the company, which has led the to an improvement in the cash position. By the end of the fourth quarter, cash and cash equivalents increased to NOK 7.7 billion.
โI am pleased that we have been able to adapt to fluctuations quickly and efficiently, and that we can report a profit and an improved cash position in a quarter strongly affected by the omicron virus and government-imposed travel restrictions. I would also like to thank colleagues from across the airline for their continued dedication and hard work. We are looking forward to welcoming more customers on board heading into the busier spring and summer seasons, with a fleet increasing to 70 aircraft and over 270 routes on sale,โ said Geir Karlsen, CEO of Norwegian.
Punctuality, meaning share of flights departing on schedule, was 87.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021, down from 94.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020 and 91.0 percent in the previous quarter. Norwegian was named the most punctual Nordic airline in 2021, and number three in Europe.
Norwegian has entered into a collaboration agreement with Neste, the worldโs leading producer of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Norwegianโs corporate customers can now reduce their CO2 emissions from business travel by up to 80 per cent through sustainable aviation fuel. The agreement is an important step in accelerating a voluntary market for such fuels.
Sustainable aviation fuel is a proven low carbon solution that has been in use since 2011. Norwegianโs modern and fuel-efficient aircraft can tank up to 50 per cent SAF. By replacing fossil-based aviation fuel, SAF can reduce lifecycle GHG emissions up to 80 per cent.
In 2022, Norwegian will blend in 0.5 per cent sustainable aviation fuel on all fuel consumption in Norway and 1 per cent in Sweden and France, under government mandates. All voluntary purchases from corporate customers come in addition to these government mandates.
Helping corporates meet their emission reduction targets
Scan Global Logistics (SGL), a fast-growing global full-service logistics provider headquartered in Copenhagen, has set an ambitious target of reducing their emissions with 50% every 10 years. Reducing CO2 emissions from business travel is one of their priorities and they chose to partner with Norwegian and Neste to make significant steps in reducing business travel impact.
Under the agreement between Norwegian and Neste, Scan Global Logistics covered the additional cost for seven tons Neste MY Sustainable Aviation FuelTM which was used on Norwegian flights. This reduced SGLโs CO2 emissions from business travel by 21 tonnes.
Sustainably sourced and independently verified
Nesteโs sustainable aviation fuel reduces emissions by up to 80 per cent in neat form and over the life cycle compared to fossil jet fuel use, calculated with established life cycle assessment (LCA) methodologies, such as the CORSIA methodology. It is made from sustainably sourced, renewable waste and residue raw materials.
Norwegian has decided to purchase sustainable aviation fuel for all its administration related business travel in 2022, replacing the fossil jet fuel consumption.
StarLux Airlines has made this announcement:
STARLUX Airlinesย will takeย delivery of its first A330neo B-58301 today inย Toulouse, France. The aircraft will arrive at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport atย 16:15ย onย February 19thย local time. STARLUX was the first airline inย Taiwanย to purchase an A321neo, which was flown back toย Taiwanย personally by K.W. Chang, the company’s chairman. STARLUX is now the first airline inย Taiwanย to take delivery of an A330neo.
Company chairman K.W. Chang said, “My team and I had spent much time evaluating and discussing the selection of the optimal mid-range aircraft to augment our current line A321neos and A350 XWBs, expanding the range of our fleet to full strength, covering short, mid and long range flights. The efficiency of the A330neo is outstanding by bringing together enhanced technologies and highly efficient Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines. In addition, pilots can easily acquire type rating for various aircraft that make up the Airbus family. I am delighted to welcome our first A330neo, as it marks a key milestone in our growth. With the addition of the A330neo, STARLUX can deploy our fleet more flexibly and provide our service to more passengers over regional routes.”
STARLUX intends to lease eight A330neos. The B-58301 is the first of these and will be put into service after the approval process and required crew training is completed in May. Three more will be added to the fleet this year. The A330neos will gradually fly additional routes to major cities within theย Asia-Pacificย region includingย Macau,ย Ho Chi Minh City,ย Singapore,ย Bangkokย andย Tokyo.
Powered by the latest Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines, the A330neo provides an unprecedented level of efficiency โ with 12% lower fuel burn per flight than previous generation competitors โ and provides significant noise reduction. STARLUX also signed a long-term TotalCare service agreement for the airline’s eight Airbus A330neo aircraft with Rolls-Royce, building on the existing partnership with the jet engine manufacturer. The airline has ordered 18 Airbus A350 XWBs powered by Trent XWB engines, which are also covered by the TotalCare long-term service agreement.
STARLUX’s A330neo features a spacious layout with 297 seats, including 28 in business class and 269 in economy class. The A330neo is equipped with an Airbus Airspace cabin, designedย to customize and maximize all available space and provide addedย comfort and ambience. The overhead storage of the STARLUX A330neo is 66% larger, ensuring that passengers have enough space to stow their luggage. The state-of-the-art LED lighting can switch between different scenarios to set the right ambience throughout all phases of a flight and even reduce jetlag.
The cabin interior is once again designed by BMW Designworks to evoke the ambience of “Home in the Air“.ย The “Pure Tea” color theme featuring natural colors, the warm fabric and leather, along with the ceiling panel with Polaris glowing gently overhead combine to create a most relaxing atmosphere.
Business class passengers will now be able to enjoy more privacy. The 1-2-1 seating layout allows every passenger to have his or her own private entrance into their seat. Luxuriously covered with a cashmere silver back shell and enlarged privacy dividers, each seat can fold down into a fully flat bed. Each passenger has a side cubby for storing personal belongings like water bottles and headphones, and a mirror is mounted on the cubby door. A reading light with three different brightness levels and wireless charger are available in every seat to provide the utmost in convenience and comfort during the flight.
STARLUX does not compromise the comfort of economy-class passengers either. The luxurious RECARO seats in the economy cabin offer ultra-thin seatbacks to increase leg room and are equipped with high-quality leather headrests. The headrest can be adjusted six ways to provide head and neck support for various postures. Passengers can slide their headrest up or down six inches while unfolding the side cushions to an angle that best suits them. Each seat has been installed a tablet holder and a cup holder to ensure that passengers do not have to worry about spilling their drinks or have to tuck cups sloppily in the seat pockets.
The A330neo inflight entertainment system has also been greatly upgraded. In business class, every seat is equipped with a 17.3-inchย 4Kย screen, while passengers in economy class can also enjoyย 4Kย resolution with 13.3-inch screen. Bluetooth audio connectivity is now available for passengers to use their own headphones onboard. 3D interactive “Kid’s map” is added for the little passengers flying STARLUX to explore the world with their fingertips.
The STARLUX fleet is now entering the beginning of a full upgrade. Not only has the first A330neo arrived, but the delivery of eighteen A350 XWBs will also start in the third quarter this year. Through strategic deployment of its A321neos, A330neos and A350 XWBs to routes of varying distances, STARLUX will be able to extend its network with utmost efficiency and to provide convenient and luxurious service fromย Taiwanย to more and more destinations.
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