And once again this year there are several new developments to report:
In the last few years all of the major English holiday airlines have modernized their look and some have even been renamed: The airline that used to be known as Britannia has now completed its rebranding and all aircraft of the English airline with the TUI smilie on its hull are now bearing the new name "Thomsonfly.com". Monarch Airlines has also given its fleet a fresh coat of paint and after sitting out several years is now offering regular flights to London Gatwick on its Airbus A300-600R. Many changes have been made in Irish traffic, too. Instead of Islandsflug and Transavia, this year Czech airline CSA is operating flights to Belfast and Cork. Austrian Airlines has added two Saturday flights to Dublin on its Airbus A321.
A marked change has been made in Scandinavian airlines as well. Sterling has merged with Maersk Air. Now all former Maersk Air aircraft are sporting a mixed design: The background painting is still that of the former Danish airline, but now they are emblazoned with the new Sterling moniker. And Finnair is using an Airbus A321 for the first time for its weekly charter flight from Helsinki.
Most of the new airlines have operated repeated flights to Salzburg from Eastern Europe: Atlant Soyuz, Kalinigradavia, Polet, Saravia and Wolga Avia Express Kruiz all added to the hustle and bustle at Mozart Airport for the first time. The new airline Kalinigradavia will be bringing skiers to Salzburg every week on its Boeing B737-300s until the beginning of April. Generally speaking, more and more airlines from the former East Bloc are switching to Western products: For the first time, Pulkovo Aviation of St. Petersburg has been using its newly acquired Boeing B737-500 for flights to Salzburg. Even Aeroflot, Russia’s largest airline, is once again offering regular flights to Salzburg. For the flights scheduled for Orthodox Christmas the reliable Tupolev Tu 154M aircraft were used, most of which already bear the extremely attractive new ornamental painting. Since the end of January the four-engine Ilyushin IL96-300 has been flying every Saturday morning, but this Aeroflot aircraft isn’t the only Russian wide-body jet landing at Salzburg Airport. Transaero and Kras Air are using the larger members of their fleet for regular flights to Salzburg again. Kras Air is in the process of merging with several airlines to form Air Union. In Salzburg a Boeing B767-200 has already been shown in the new corporate ID. In Ukrainian traffic Donbassaero has replaced its Yak 42 with an ultra modern Airbus A320.
|
|
|
