Etihad Airways (Abu Dhabi) has announced it will recruit around 50 pilots from partner Airberlin (Berlin) which has been downsizing. The carrier issued this statement:
The move comes as Airberlin, Germanyโs second largest carrier, continues to work through its Turbine business turnaround program, and as Etihad Airways prepares for significant international expansion.
The recruitment transfers began in April when the first batch of six Boeing 737-rated First Officers arrived inย Abu Dhabiย to start type conversion training on to the Boeing 777 at Etihad Airwaysโ Flight Training Centre.
Upon successful completion, the six pilots will undertake line training on the airlineโs global network, before being fully licensed as type-rated Boeing 777 First Officers.
Further pilot transfers will take place in the coming months, comprising Airbus A320 Captains, Airbus A320 First Officers, Airbus A330 First Officers and Boeing 777 non-rated First Officers.
Etihad Airwaysโ current fleet of 77 Boeing and Airbus aircraft will grow significantly this decade with more than 90 firm order aircraft scheduled for delivery.
Over the next 12 months the carrier will take delivery of four Boeing 777-300 ERs, five Airbus A320s, one Airbus A321, one Airbus A330-200 and one Airbus A330-200 freighter aircraft.ย Late next year, Etihad Airways will also introduce its first Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
Etihad Airways currently employs over 1,400 pilots, and plans to recruit 1,000 more by 2020.
In other news, Etihad has announced it has entered the second phase of its strategic partnership with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam) following the launch of new Amsterdam service. The airline issued this statement:
The daily service, operated by a two cabin Airbus A330-200 and configured to carry 262 passengers with 22 in Pearl Business Class and 240 in Coral Economy Class, was launched on May 15 and carries KLMโs KL code.
The launch of the new flights coincides with the addition of 12 new KLM destinations out of Schiphol Airport which now carry Etihad Airways EY code. KLM has also added its KL code to a further six Etihad Airways destinations from its Abu Dhabi hub.
The 12 additional destinations that Etihad Airways customers can now access through codeshare operations with KLM are Stockholm, Aberdeen, Barcelona, Bergen, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Leeds/Bradford and Madrid.
These cities join the first phase of cities served by KLM, which carry the EY code, Billund, Cardiff, Newcastle, Oslo, and Stavanger.
KLM now has its KL code on six Etihad Airwaysโ flights to Abu Dhabi, Brisbane, Khartoum, Male, Muscat and Seychelles.
These join the initial group of cities served by Etihad Airways โ Colombo, Islamabad, Lahore, Melbourne, and Sydney โ which also carry the KL code.
In addition to flight operations Etihad Airways has this year wet-leased a Boeing 747-400 freighter from KLM. This aircraft, with a payload capacity of 124 tons, links the two cargo hubs of Abu Dhabi and Amsterdam, and increases our capacity to Frankfurt, Hong Kong and Dhaka.
From KLMโs partner, Air France, Etihad Airways has also wet-leased an Airbus A340-300 for use on the Paris-Abu Dhabi route from now until the end of the year.
Amsterdam joins a group of 17 leading European cities that Etihad Airways flies to including Brussels, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, London and Paris.
Copyright Photo: Arnd Wolf. Etihad Airways’ย Airbus A330-243 A6-EYE (msn 688) (Manchester City Football Club) arrives at Munich.
Video: Etihad Airways.
Etihad Airways:ย 
Frameable Color Prints and Posters:ย 
Airberlin:ย
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines:ย
Cyprus Airways (Larnaca) is struggling to survive in a harsh environment. The flag carrier announced yesterday it is in discussions with theย Beijing Yi Xiang Da Investment Company Limited according to this report by the Cyprus Mail. No agreement has been reached on a possible investment. The airline has been kept alive by previous loans of the Cypriot government which has come under the scrutiny of the European Commission.
Cyprus has also been the center of a banking crisis with citizens waiting in line to withdraw their limited funds.
Read the full report: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Tony Storck.ย Airbus A319-132 5B-DBO (msn 1729) prepares to land at Munich.
Cyprus Airways:ย
Thomas Cook Group (London) has announced it will merge Condor Flugdienst (Frankfurt), Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) (Manchester) and Thomas Cook Airlines (Belgium) (Brussels) into one airline ย within the group on March 1.
The merger is part of Thomas Cook’s turnaround plan. It is unclear if the historic Condor name will be retired.
Read the full report from Reuters: CLICK HERE
Top Copyright Photo: Arnd Wolf. Condor already wear sthe Thomas Cook brand but still clings to its historic Condor name. Boeing 767-330 ER D-ABUH (msn 26986) taxies to the runway at Munich with the additional Peanuts characters.
Condor Flugdienst:ย 
Thomas Cook Airlines (Belgium):ย
Thomas Cook Airlines (UK):ย
Middle Copyright Photo: Karl Cornil. Thomas Cook Airlines’ (Belgium) Airbus A320-232 OO-TCN (msn 425) with the image of Kim Clijsters arrives at the Belgium base.
Bottom Copyright Photo: Keith Burton. Boeing 757-28A G-FCLH (msn 26274) of Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) completes its final approach into London (Gatwick).
Blue Air (Blue Air Transport Aerien) (Bucharest) has finally cancelled its 2008 order for two new Boeing 737-800s and three 737-900 ERs. The five aircraft were due for delivery in 2015 and 2016.
The order was cancelled after its investor Romstrade encountered financial problems according to this report by Bloomberg.
Read the full report: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Arnd Wolf. Blue Air use to operate the newer and larger Boeing 737-800 but downsized to only older Boeing 737-400s and 737-500s in order to reduce costs. Ex-Airberlin Boeing 737-86J D-ABBP (msn 29641) became YR-BID with Blue Air before it left the fleet.
Blue Air:ย 
Current routes from Bucharest:
Please click on the map for the full-size view.
XL Airways Germany (Frankfurt) after suspending operations for the winter season on December 14, filed for bankruptcy protection and reorganization in theย local district court in Darmstadt, Germany on December 27.
Copyright Photo: Arnd Wolf. Wearing the special livery for tour operator ITS.
XL Airways Germany:ย 
Germania Fluggesellschaft (Berlin) is adding 10 new routes from Bremen as it expands operations for the coming summer season. The new routes will include Enfidha (starting on May 11),ย Fuerteventura (May 6), Ibiza (May 6),ย Irakleion (May 8), Las Palmas (May 5), Mahon (May 9), Moscow Domodedovo (May 7), Nice (May 2), Tenerife (South) (May 2) and Varna (March 31).
Read the full details from Germania (in German): CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Arnd Wolf. Boeing 737-75B D-AGEQ (msn 28103) prepares to land at Munich.
Germania:ย 
Kuban Airlines (Krasnodar, Russia), named for the Kuban Province of southern Russia, ended all operations today (December 11) due to “a difficult financial situation”. The airline started operations in 1932 as a regional division of Aeroflot (Moscow). The company merged with SkyExpress on October 29, 2011. The company issued the following statement (translated from Russian)
Kuban airline will stop all operations at 00:00 on December 11, 2012.ย The main reason for the stop of the airline is the difficult financial situation and the inability to follow a number of provisions of the new Federal Aviation Regulations “Certification requirements for natural persons, legal persons engaged in commercial air transport” (FAP-11), which became effective at the end of November 2012.ย According to the rules scheduled air carrier shall not have less than 8 aircraft with a capacity of 55 or more passenger seats.
Until now, Kuban operated six aircraft of foreign manufacture. Three of them (Airbus A319) were prematurely returned because it is impossible for timely payments under the contract and the company was in arrears on the payments.ย Previously, from November 1, 2012, the company had removed the obsolete Yak-42s. (The A319s were operated in an all-white condition).
Given the inability of the prevailing conditions (reducing the fleet by 50%) to run a program of autumn-winter navigation in the stated amounts in accordance with the requirements of FAR-11, airline management made the decision to stop the forced operations.
We have to state that today the very existence of regional airlines in Russia is threatened.ย This is facilitated by the current legislation. There is a problem with access to markets, selective support of some airlines in the form of protectionist measures and subsidies, the opacity of the aviation industry suppliers, the absence of a favorable financial background, aimed at stimulating regional carriers to move to new modern aircraft.ย The existing regulations does not promote competition, the emergence of new carriers, opening regional routes and the overall financial health workers airlines.
Kuban will work closely with the Administration of Krasnodar region, in order to minimize the problems associated with the forced cancellation of flights.
The company sent a statement to the Arbitration Court of Krasnodar Krai on the recognition of its bankruptcy.ย All financial claims will be considered by the bankruptcy process to manage the airline.
Copyright Photo: Arnd Wolf. Kuban also operated two Boeing 737-300s and two 737-500s. This bright and dazzling Sunflower design was introduced by the airline in February 2010. Boeing 737-3Q8 VQ-BHB (msn 26310) taxies to the runway at Munich.
Kuban Airlines:ย 
Frameable Color Prints and Posters:ย 
Lufthansa (Frankfurt) has cancelled the regional feeder contract with the Augsburg Airwaysย (Munich) effective on October 26, 2013.
The five Embraer ERJ 190-200s (ERJ 195s) assigned to Augsburg will be transferred to CityLine also on October 26, 2013.
The company was established in 1980 asย Interot Airways. Revenue operations commenced in 1986. Inย 1996 the airline becameย Augsburg Airways. In 2003 Augsburg started operating as anย Lufthansa Regional carrier. It was the last independent feeder operating for LH.
In other news,ย Lufthansa is expanding its long-haul services from its Munich hub and next year, for the first time, will offer a nonstop flight from Munich to Vancouver. From May 16, 2013, the new route to the largest city in British Columbia will be served daily with an Airbus A330. The service will complement Lufthansa’s daily flights from Frankfurt.
Read the full report about Augsburg from augsburger-allgemeine.de (in German) : CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Arnd Wolf. Augsburg Airways’ Embraer ERJ 190-200LR (ERJ 195) D-AEMD (msn 19000305) approaches the Munich hub for landing.
Lufthansa:ย 
Ural Airlines (Yekaterinburg) will start a new route on October 3 linking Ekaterinburg with Budapest, Hungary. The new route will operate weekly on Wednesdays with Airbus A320s.
In addition, the airline will also start weekly service between Chelyabinsk and Tashkent on September 5, also with Airbus A320s according to Airline Route.
On the traffic side, the company operatedย a total of 14,925 flights since the beginning of 2012, including 6,201 international flights, 5,447 domestic flights, and 3,134 flights to CIS countries. The Ural Airlines passenger traffic has grown by 44 percent in the first seven months of 2012.
Ural Airlines currently operates 15 Airbus A320s and nine A321s.
Copyright Photo: Felix Gottwald. Airbus A320-211 VP-BPV (msn 203) completes its final approach into Munich.
Ural Airlines:ย 
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