SLOVENIA: Adria Airways Goes Bankrupt And Ceases Operations

The collapse of Adria Airways has cost Slovenia connections to dozens of international markets, a study has revealed.

The national airline filed for bankruptcy and cancelled all flights on Monday.

Adria had previously withdrawn virtually all its flights last week.

Bankruptcy proceedings were initiated by the management of the company because of the company’s insolvency, the carrier said in a statement.

A study by ForwardKeys, the travel analytics firm, revealed that the bankruptcy resulted in the loss of direct flight connections with two dozen countries, including Czech Republic, Spain and Switzerland, all important origin markets for the country.

Adria has accounted for 60 per cent of all international seat capacity to Slovenia.

Other key source markets such as Austria, Germany and France will also be impacted, as Adria Airways accounted for 99 per cent, 87 per cent and 51 per cent of seat capacity on flights from these countries.

The full list of countries, which had direct connections to Slovenia in the past 12 months and have now lost them, comprises: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Latvia, Macedonia, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.

However, the impact is less dramatic than the list suggests, because some of the routes, such as those from Estonia, Georgia and Greece are seasonal, and others, from Cyprus, Hungary, Italy, Jordan, Latvia, Romania and Ukraine are irregular.

Olivier Ponti, vice president, insights, ForwardKeys, said: Given the attractiveness of Slovenia as a destination, I expect other airlines to fill the gaps left by Adria Airways but how long it will take to get back to the previous level is anyone´s guess.

Slovenia, and its vibrant capital Ljubljana, remain accessible and well worth a visit; however, if you were counting on Adria Airways to get you there quickly, you must now allow more time.

So following the collapse of Adria Airways this week, Slovenia’s only airport in Ljubljana has lost almost half of all its air traffic.

Most flights by Adria Airways were feeder flights to Star Alliance hubs, so it is no great surprise that Lufthansa Group announced today it will launch an entire network out of Ljubljana Joze Pucnik Airport within a month.

Simple Flying first reported in June that an Adria Airways bankruptcy was increasingly likely. Adverse circumstances surrounding the Slovenian flag carrier kept growing over the summer and operations officially ceased in full earlier this week.

For years, Adria has been positioned as a feeder to Lufthansa Group hubs, serving Brussels, Frankfurt, Zurich, Vienna and Munich several times daily.

Adria Airways had such a strong relationship with Lufthansa Group that it also had feeder flights to Frankfurt and Munich from the capitals of Albania and Kosovo.

Thus, with the collapse of Adria, Lufthansa Group has been left with a loss of 216 weekly outbound and inbound flights to channel its connecting passengers.

These include 64 weekly flights to Frankfurt, which even for a giant like Lufthansa is not insignificant. 42 of these flights were from Ljubljana, 6 from Tirana and 16 from Pristina.

To fill the acute gap left by Adria in Ljubljana, several Lufthansa Group airlines are stepping in. An entire network is being formed in Ljubljana by Lufthansa’s airlines, despite the Group not having a single route to Slovenia at all at the moment.

Brussels Airlines is launching a six-times-a-week service in November. This will coincide with Wizz Air pulling out of Slovenia and no longer flying the Ljubljana to Brussels route after seven years.

Today, an announcement followed from Lufthansa Group too, that Lufthansa and Swiss will launch their own services.

Lufthansa CityLine will be flying double daily between Frankfurt and Ljubljana with its CRJ900 aircraft. Flights will depart Frankfurt every day at 09.15 am and 4.40 pm, arriving in Ljubljana at 10.30 am and 5.55 pm.

They will then depart Ljubljana at 11.05 am and 6.30 pm, returning to Frankfurt at 12.25 pm and 7.50 pm. Flights are already bookable, from Sunday 27 October, the first day of the winter schedule.

These are clearly timed to coincide with Lufthansa’s morning arrival wave into Frankfurt and evening departure wave out of it. The route is very clearly intended to be a feeder.

From Munich, the German airline will be flying daily starting Friday 1 November. Flights will depart Munich at 10.45 am to arrive at Ljubljana at 11.45 am. They will then depart Ljubljana again at 1.10 pm to return to Munich at 2.10 pm.

Swiss itself will be the first to begin flying, launching five weekly flights in just two weeks’ time. At the start of the winter schedule, on 27 October, the frequency will increase to daily.

Once the frequency increases to daily, the flights will be operated by Swiss’s A220 aircraft. Until then, presumably, because no spare aircraft are available, flights will run as five weekly with a Helvetic Airways E190.

What will be interesting to see is whether Lufthansa Group airlines expand their schedule to Ljubljana to match the capacity that Adria had on these routes.

Adria had three daily flights to Zurich all summer long, while Swiss has only scheduled a single daily rotation.

Austrian Airlines has been absent from this announcement. Adria’s two daily flights to Vienna remain nonexistent and all the feeder traffic to Austrian and Eurowings left unserved.

With Slovenia’s only airport now fully dominated by Lufthansa Group airlines, it will be interesting to see how they adapt their network over time.

It will also be interesting to see which competitors to Lufthansa Group step in to take some of the market share left vacant by Adria.

Meanwhile, bankruptcy proceedings have officially been initiated against Slovenia's Adria Airways following its cessation of operations.

Documentation issued by the district court in the city of Kranj gives creditors three months, until 3 January 2020, to declare claims against the operator.

It names Janez Pustaticnik as the manager.

Adria's latest operating licence, issued in 2011, has been revoked by the Slovenian civil aviation agency and the carrier banned from operating commercial air transport.

Star Alliance has also confirmed, as a matter of formality, that Adria Airways has left the airline group as a result of the bankruptcy.

Adria ceased to be a member of Star on 2 October, the alliance says. It says the situation is a regrettable development, given that Adria has been a member for 15 years.

But Star points out that its links with Slovenia are being maintained by new services from Lufthansa, Swiss and Brussels Airlines

Tourism Observer

EUROPE: Ryanair Unending Troubles, 250 Flights Cancelled Allover Europe Due To Strike

Thousands of Ryanair passengers across Europe face travel disruption on Friday after strikes forced the airline to cancel 250 flights.

The total had stood at 150 until German pilots decided on Thursday to walk out, resulting in another 100 cancellations.

Almost 200 Ryanair flights across Europe won't take off as Ryanair staff in six European countries strike. The decision of the Cockpit pilots' union to join the strike will cancel 35-45 flights in and out of Germany.

They will join striking pilots in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Cabin crews in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain will also go on strike in a row over contracts and conditions.

Unions want staff to be given contracts in the countries where they live, rather than under Irish law.

Irish budget airline Ryanair was bracing for staff walkouts in six European countries on Friday, with 40,000 travelers expected to be affected, including passengers in Germany.

Ryanair cabin crews in Germany, Belgium, Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy, as well as pilots in Germany, served Ryanair strike notices of the 24-hour walkout as they seek better pay and conditions.

Chief executive Michael O'Leary said the company had written to unions offering to move all staff to local contracts, which made the strike action unnecessary.

However, the Dutch pilots union said it had only verbally offered its members local contracts and had refused to put the offer in writing.

Joost Van Doesburg, of the VNV union, said his members also wanted pensions in line with Dutch standards, and firmer guarantees on sick pay

The genesis of today's row stretch back to autumn last year when Ryanair 400,000 Ryanair passengers had their flights cancelled.

The airline had already canceled 150 of the 2,400 European flights scheduled for Friday, but the announcement of strikes by pilots from Germany's Vereinigung Cockpit pilots' union (VC) has caused the airline to cancel additional flights.

The subsequent decision to start recognising pilot and cabin crew unions around Europe was a multinational problem.

Some deals with some unions in some countries have been done.

But overall there is plenty to resolve.

Ryanair marketing head Kenny Jacobs said the decision by VC to participate would result in 35 to 45 flights to and from Germany not taking off.

In total, around 10 percent of Ryanair's German flights will be affected while around 6 percent of Ryanair's EU flights are affected.

Ryanair released a statement condemning what it called "unnecessary" strikes by the VC union.

The airline on Wednesday released a letter showing it had agreed to arbitration with the union with an implementation period of four to five weeks, compared to the five months VC had sought.

Ryanair staff have been pushing for higher wages and an end to the practice that has seen many work as independent contractors without the benefits given staff employees.

Some Ryanair staff across Europe want the airline to be answerable to local employment laws, instead of the employment law of Ireland, where it is based.

The Irish airline says it has made significant progress in recent weeks in negotiations, including reaching collective labour agreements with staff in Ireland, Britain, Italy and Germany.

Ryanair this week signed deals with cabin crew unions in Italy to provide employment contracts under Italian law and agreed to arbitration with the union representing its German pilots.

The European Commission said Ryanair employees should have contracts in the countries where they live rather than in Ireland, where its planes are registered.

EU rules on employment of air crews were based on where workers left in the morning and returned in the evening, and not where aircraft were registered.

Respecting EU law is not something over which workers should have to negotiate, nor is it something which can be done differently from country to country.

The internal market is not a jungle it has clear rules on fair labour mobility and worker protection. This is not an academic debate, but about concrete social rights of workers.

Ryanair has traditionally employed a large proportion of its staff under Irish law, which unions say inconveniences workers and affects their ability to access social security benefits.

Ryanair said the vast majority of its 2,400 flights on Friday would be unaffected, with only 35,000 of 450,000 passengers experiencing disruption.

Passengers whose flight have been cancelled were contacted by email and text message on Tuesday to advise them of their options.

We sincerely apologise to those customers affected by these unnecessary strikes on Friday which we have done our utmost to avoid, Ryanair said.

It has rejected calls by the UK's Civil Aviation Authority to compensate passengers whose flights have been cancelled, claiming they were caused by competitor airline crew, unions and lobby groups and were therefore extraordinary circumstances.

However, Coby Benson, a lawyer specialising in flight delay compensation at Bott and Co, said Ryanair's arguments did not comply with the precedent set in April by a case in Germany.

Last month, Ryanair pilots across Europe staged a coordinated 24-hour strike to push their demands for better pay and conditions, plunging tens of thousands of passengers into transport chaos at the height of the summer holiday season.

In July, strikes by cockpit and cabin crew disrupted 600 flights in Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain, affecting 100,000 travellers.

Another indication of the company's rethink on contracts came on Thursday when it announced two new bases in France.

They will be the first in the country since it closed Marseille in early 2011 after being sued for employing French workers on Irish contracts.

It will also open another base at Bordeaux for summer 2019 and had another four under consideration.

Two aircraft will be based at both Marseille and Bordeaux and will offer a total of 64 routes and handle 3.5 million passengers a year.

Ryanair has just struck a three-year deal with cabin crew unions in Italy, with a key point being that staff based there can now get local contracts with associated benefits and rights.

Friday's strike will be the second biggest one-day strike after some 55,000 customers were put out in August when pilots in five European countries walked out during the peak of the summer holiday season.

All affected customers have received email and text message notifications to advise them of cancelations and options, Ryanair said.


Tourism Observer

BELGIUM: Ryanair Cabin Crew Union Reject Airline's Offer, Swear To Go On Strike As Planned

Ryanair Belgium cabin crew have rejected an offer from the Irish airline in regards to their recent complaints of local contracts. Strike action is still to go ahead later this month.

Ryanair cabin crew union CNE in Belgium have rejected the offer from the airline.

The airline offered to follow the employment law in Belgium until 2020 for any employees contracted.

This addresses one of the key concerns regarding the current policy which employs staff members according to Irish law, not contracted in their own country.

Ryanair has not yet issued an updated statement in regards to the recent claims.

They claim that the offer would only be good for half of the workers involved.

CNE union spokesman Yves Lambot told Irish Times: “It’s a deception on the part of Ryanair.”

If it goes ahead, the 24-hour walkout is to take place on 28 September.

Cabin crew members across all of Europe are expected to strike later this month in regards to complaints put forward.

Disagreements over hours and pay are some of the key issues put forward by the cabin crew unions.

Spain, Portugal, Italy and the Netherlands will also be on strike alongside Belgium on the 28 September.

They will strike once a month until their demands are met by the Irish airline.

The last cabin crew strike was the worst in Ryanair’s history, which resulted in hundreds of flights cancelled and 50,000 passengers affected.

Customers affected also reported their cheques regarding cancelled flights compensation bouncing, resulting in missed compensated fees.

Ryanair has experienced a wave of pilot strikes, mostly Irish pilots, in 2018 which lasted for many weeks.

Up to 20 flights a day were cancelled every Saturday for three months during the strikes in Ireland.

In a recent press conference, CEO Michael O’Leary warned that strike action would continue to happen to keep low fares for the airline.

He stated he would not back down against complaints: We will not be paying a 22 per cent pay increase to German pilots as we still pay more than other airlines such as Norwegian.

We want to reach agreements with our pilots but in some cases we have unions who have over promised and now can’t deliver.


Tourism Observer

ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian Airlines To Commence Flights To Barcelona, July 1st

Ethiopian Airlines has finalized preparations to launch new flight services to Barcelona, as of July 01, deploying a Boeing 787–8 Dreamliner aircraft on the route.

Barcelona, the capital and largest city of Catalonia and the second most populous municipality of Spain, is also the second largest trade fair and Exhibition Centre in Europe.

Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam, said:

We are very happy to spread our wings to Barcelona, which will be our second destination in Spain, after Madrid, and the 13th city in our European network.

The start of this new flight to Barcelona is part of our global route network expansion plan in line with our strategic roadmap, Vision 2025.

The new flight to Barcelona will provide seamless connectivity options for business people as well as tourists from Barcelona to our extensive African network of 58 destinations via our main hub in Addis Ababa.


Tourism Observer

SPAIN: Volotea Starts 10 New Routes

Volotea launched 10 new routes across its network over the last week.

Zaragoza welcomed the launch of Volotea services from Munich and Venice Marco Polo on 4 June. Both routes will be flown twice weekly by the airline’s 717s and neither faces any direct competition.

Munich has celebrated two new route launches with Volotea recently with a Montpellier service launching last week and being swiftly followed by the introduction of flights to Zaragoza on 4 June.

All of the new links are low frequency services, with six of them operating once per week and the other four being twice-weekly rotations.

Route lengths vary from the 554-kilometre Catania (CTA) to Pescara (PSR) service to the 1,822-kilometre Marseille (MRS) to Mykonos (JMK) connection.

The average sector length of the new airport pairs is 1,143 kilometres.

None of the new routes face any direct competition.

Volotea is a Spanish low-cost airline registered in Asturias, Spain with bases in Spain, Italy, France and Greece.

The focus of Volotea's route network is on destinations around the European side of the Mediterranean coast as well as Western and Southern Europe.

Volotea serves metropolitan and leisure destinations mainly in Spain, France, Italy and Greece which fewer destinations in Portugal, Croatia, Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg and Ireland.

Volotea fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Airbus A319-100 - 13

Boeing 717-200 - 17

Total - 30

Volotea is the only current European operator of the Boeing 717.

Volotea was established by Alaeo S.L. from Barcelona, a company created by former Vueling founders, Carlos Munoz and Lazaro Ros.

The name Volotea originates from the Spanish verb revolotear, meaning to fly around. It commenced operations on 5 April 2012, from Venice Marco Polo Airport.

The company is backed by three private-equity funds, two of them from Europe - Axis Participaciones Empresariales and Corpfin Capital and a third from the United States CCMP Capital, whose chairman, Greg Brenneman, was one-time President and COO of America's Continental Airlines, and also chairs Volotea's board.

The company raised over €50m before operations began. US CCMP Capital Partners holds 49% of voting rights; Axis and Corpfin Capital 25%; and Munoz and Ros 26% along with relatives.

This ownership has existed since foundation, but it could change before an initial public offering before 2021-2022.

After studying the Bombardier CRJ1000 and the Embraer E-195 in 2011, Volotea selected the 717 after Southwest acquired AirTran and replaced its 717 fleet by 737s.

Boeing announced on 15 February 2012 that it had signed a long-term lease deal with Volotea for an undisclosed number of Boeing 717 aircraft.

In March 2015, it was announced that Volotea will receive a further four 717s from Blue1.

However, in November 2015, Volotea announced plans to phase out their 717 fleet over the next few years and replace it with Airbus A320 family aircraft.]

Volotea opened 90 routes in its first year, of which 40 were closed within 2 years and operates almost 300 routes in summer 2018 including 220 openings, and this could double to at least 500-600 across Europe.

Volotea has been profitable since 2014, a turnover of €360 million ($431 million) is expected in 2018 after $347M in 2017, carrying 5.7 to 6 million passengers: 50% are travelling for leisure, 35% to visit friends and relatives, and 15% for business.


Tourism Observer

SPAIN: New Model Airline Volotea Is New Member Of IATA

Volotea, the airline of mid- and small‐sized European cities is a new member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Representing some 280 airlines or 83 percent of total air traffic, IATA is the trade association for the world’s airlines.

It supports many areas of aviation activity and helps formulate industry policy on critical aviation issues.

We are pleased to become an IATA member, as this global association leads the innovation, safety and value creation in the airline industry, supporting the highest industry standards, said Carlos Munoz, Volotea’s founder and CEO.

The airline is expected to benefit from IATA’s know how and resources covering all fields of the industry, including analysis of regulations, development of standards, innovation in distribution, improvements on safety procedures, updates and training for aviation industry professionals, as well as cost reduction.

Volotea is a new model airline with a clever and bold approach, creating demand and connectivity by establishing innovative routes.

We are thrilled to welcome Volotea to the IATA family and to help them grow and excel in this highly competitive European market, said IATA Regional Vice President for Europe Rafael Schvartzman.

Volotea has carried 15 million passengers since its first flight in 2012, and over 4.8 million in 2017 alone.

Since the beginning of 2018, Volotea has launched 58 new flights to serve a lineup of 293 routes.

It currently operates flights to 78 mid- and small-sized European cities in 13 countries including France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, Croatia, and the Czech Republic.

The airline is expected to carry 5.7-6 million passengers in 2018.

Its fleet consists of 32 aircraft, Boeing 717s and Airbus A319s.

Volotea currently operates from twelve bases: Venice, Nantes, Bordeaux, Palermo, Strasbourg, Asturias, Verona, Toulouse, Genoa, Bilbao, Marseille that opened on April 19 and Athens, which launched on May 3.

Volotea is a Spanish low-cost airline registered in Asturias, Spain with bases in Spain, Italy, France and Greece.

Volotea was established by Alaeo S.L. from Barcelona, a company created by former Vueling founders, Carlos Munoz and Lazaro Ros.

The name Volotea originates from the Spanish verb revolotear, meaning to fly around.

It commenced operations on 5 April 2012, from Venice Marco Polo Airport.

The company is backed by three private equity funds, two of them from Europe - Axis Participaciones Empresariales and Corpfin Capital and a third from the United States - CCMP Capital, whose chairman, Greg Brenneman, was one-time President and COO of America's Continental Airlines,and also chairs Volotea's board.

The company raised over €50m before operations began.

Boeing announced on 15 February 2012 that it had signed a long-term lease deal with Volotea for an undisclosed number of Boeing 717 aircraft.

In March 2015, it was announced that Volotea will receive a further four 717s from Blue1.

However, in November 2015, Volotea announced plans to phase out their 717 fleet over the next few years and replace it with Airbus A320 family aircraft.

As of January 2018, the Volotea fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Airbus A319-100 - 11

Boeing 717-200 - 17

Total - 28

Orders

Airbus A319-100 - 4


Tourism Observer

A Billion Visitors In The First Nine Months Of 2016

Tourism sites around the world have recorded close to about one billion visitors in the first nine months of 2016, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) says.

The UNWTO World Tourism Barometer found that destinations around the world received 956 million international tourists between January and September 2016.

“This is 34 million more than in the same period in 2015, a 4 per cent increase,” the organisation said.

The UN tourism agency sated that demand for international tourism remained robust in the first nine months of 2016, though growing at a somewhat more moderate pace.

“After a strong start of the year, growth was slower in the second quarter of 2016 to pick up again in the third quarter of the year. While most destinations report encouraging results, others continue to struggle with the impact of negative events, either in their country or in their region,” it added.

Indicating results for the various regions of the world, it said Asia and the Pacific led growth across world regions with international tourist arrivals, noting that overnight visitors went up 9 per cent through September. It indicated that all the four subregions shared in the growth.

The UNWTO said many destinations reported double-digit growth, with the Republic of Korea (+34 per cent), Vietnam (+36 per cent), Japan (+24 per cent) and Sri Lanka (+15 per cent) in the lead.

According to the UNWTO, in Europe, international arrivals grew by 2 per cent between January and September 2016, with solid growth in most destinations.

“Nonetheless,” it added, “double-digit increases in major destinations such as Spain, Hungary, Portugal and Ireland were offset by feeble results in France, Belgium and Turkey. As a consequence, Northern Europe grew by 6 per cent and Central and Eastern Europe by 5 per cent while results were weaker in Western Europe (-1 per cent) and Southern Mediterranean Europe (+0 per cent).”

The Barometer indicated that international tourist arrivals in the Americas increased by 4 per cent through September. South America recorded +7 per cent and Central America up at +6 per cent led the results, followed closely by the Caribbean and North America both at +4 per cent.

In Africa there was +8 per cent increase, as sub-Saharan destinations rebounded strongly throughout the year, while North Africa picked up in the third quarter.

Available data for the Middle East points to a 6 per cent decrease in arrivals, though results vary from destination to destination. Results started to gradually improve in the second half of the year in both North Africa and the Middle East,” the UNWTO said.

The UNWTO however indicated that the results from the Barometer reflect preliminary data reported to date and are subject to revision.

EGYPT: Nesma Airlines

Nesma Airlines, a member of Saudi Arabia’s Nesma Group, is a flag carrier of two countries: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Arabic Republic of Egypt.

Nesma Airlines first commercial flight was on 18 July 2010 from Hurghada to Ljubljana and the airline currently operates charter flights linking Egypt's most popular tourist spots to Europe and the Middle East mainly to Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Italy,Spain, Poland and France.

And to continue its success in the charter market, the airline started to operate scheduled flights to Saudi Arabia on the 24th of June 2011 to Hail, Tabuk and Taif.

On October 27, 2016, the airline launched domestic flight services within Saudi Arabia. Flights will operate out of the central hub at Hail Regional Airport to various locations in the Kingdom which currently includes Tabuk and Qaisumah. All flights will be flown on board the airline's ATR 72-600 aircraft.

Nesma Airline's scheduled flights include:-

Egypt
Cairo – Cairo International Airport
Alexandria – Borg El Arab Airport
Asyut – Assiut Airport

Saudi Arabia
Abha – Abha Regional Airport
Yanbu – Yanbu Airport
Buraidah – Qassim Airport
Ta'if – Ta’if Regional Airport
Tabuk – Tabuk Regional Airport
Jeddah – Jeddah Airport
Ha'il – Hail Airport
Jizan - Jizan Regional Airport
Ha'il – Hail Airport
Qaisumah - Al Qaisumah/Hafr Al Batin Airport
Tabuk – Tabuk Regional Airport

However the majority of the airline's current operations center around charter flights from Egyptian resorts to the following European countries:
- Armenia
- Czech Republic
- Estonia
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Macedonia
- Poland
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Serbia
- Ireland
- United Kingdom

Nesma Airlines fleet consists of the 6 aircraft.
1 Airbus A319-100
3 Airbus A320-200
2 ATR 72-600

RUSSIA: Russian Federation Refuses Pobeda Airlines To Fly To Turin

“The Interdepartmental Commission at the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation has refused "Pobeda" to perform regular flights to Turin”, - according to the published order of the Federal Air Transport Agency on Tuesday.

The carrier requested admittance of flights on this destination 7 times a week. The airline companies "Siberia" (S7 group) and "Ural Airlines" also claimed to this slot. As a result, according to the order, the first company received 5 frequencies per week, the second one - 2.

It was reported earlier, that "Pobeda" gained admission to 7 frequencies per week to another Italian city - Pisa. Flights on this route the company plans to open in the winter schedule 2016/2017. Currently, "Pobeda" performs flights to Milan.

"Pobeda" is a low cost carrier of "Aeroflot" group. Flights are performed by 12 Boeing-737-800 to 58 destination, including 8 international: to several cities in Germany, Spain, Italy, Slovakia, Montenegro and Cyprus.

RUSSIA: Russian Tourism Improves In 2016

Mediterranean destinations and Southeast Asia attracted this year more Russian tourists after the problems in Turkey and Egypt, according to the Director of Russian Tour Operators Association (ATOR) Maya Lomidze.

She revealed that the first data on Russians' holidays abroad this summer indicate an increased demand throughout the entire season for Mediterranean destinations such as Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Italy along with a slight increase for Croatia and Montenegro.

Southeast Asia made a comeback in the top ten popular destinations after two years of weak demand. Another important finding is the increased demand for Tunisia this year, at a rate of over 200% compared with last year, positioning the destination among the top-3.

Ms. Lomidze added that Russians seek more affordable accommodation and flights this year with the average package cost ranging around $600.

Nevertheless, they are still among the most generous tourists with the average spending per trip reaching as high as 500 euros.

UNITED KINGDOM: UK Must Stay In Europe To Protect Brighton's £750 Million Tourism Industry

THE boss of Brighton's i360 viewing tower has come out in support of remaining in the EU.

Chief executive Eleanor Harris claimed leaving would cause huge damage to the city’s tourism industry as she firmly nailed her colours to the Remain mast in warning that Brexit would leave many potential EU visitors less inclined to visit the city.

Ms Harris said: “As an organisation which has been marketing the i360 and Brighton and Hove to international travel buyers, I am a strong advocate of remaining in the EU.

“The EU is by far our most important market.

"Two thirds of all of our international visitors in the UK and Brighton and Hove are from the EU and our most important markets are Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland and Spain."

Ms Harris said that during her 20 years’ experience in the industry, which has seen her work for the London Eye and British Airways, she had seen the huge benefits of EU membership for UK tourism.

She said EU membership had brought many benefits to British tourism including the ability to travel without a visa while the open skies agreement had made it both cheaper to fly to Europe but also made it cheaper for Europeans to fly to the UK.

The i360 boss said Brighton and Hove particularly benefited because of its proximity to Gatwick.

She also pointed to a recent survey of 6,000 international travel buyers by online travel website Travelzoo which found that one third said a Brexit vote would make them less likely to visit the UK as they would feel less welcome.

A Liberal Democrat published report released earlier in the campaign claimed that leaving the EU would harm the city’s £750 million tourism economy and the more than 19,000 jobs it supports.

The report’s authors warned that Brexit could result in higher flight costs and higher mobile data roaming charges putting off some of the 8.5 million annual visitors to the city.

Brighton and Hove City Councillor Tom Bewick dismissed the concerns about Brexit’s impact on the city’s tourism sector and said the claims were just the latest example of Remain scaremongering.

Cllr Bewick said: “This is just another example of Project Fear.

“Travel is a global industry and the price of flights is more affected by changes in the price of oil than the EU or the threat of Brexit, I don’t accept that our tourism industry would be affected.

“In fact our tourism industry has been hampered in recent years because Chinese and Indian visitors find it very difficult to come to Britain and prefer to visit Schengen countries on a single visa.

“It was EU law that the Channel Tunnel operators tried to use to close down the Newhaven to Dieppe ferry service.”

UNITED KINGDOM; Secret Escapes Announces More Global Expansion

Secret Escapes, the London-based flash sales site for affordable luxury travel, has expanded into Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The move follows a $60 million investment in 2015, led by Google Ventures and Octopus Ventures, and forms part of the company's ongoing international expansion plan.

In the last 12 months, Secret Escapes has begun operating in additional markets in Europe (The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Italy), and is planning further openings later in 2016. In addition, it will continue to grow its operations in North America.

Since launching in 2011, Secret Escapes - which offers its members exclusive deals on hand-picked hotels and holidays at up to 70% off - has established itself as a major player in the travel scene, reporting an average year-on-year growth of 230% and securing over $650 million cumulative global turnover.

Its membership base has grown from four million in January 2014 to over 28 million members worldwide and has now sold over 3.6 million room nights across the world.

Chief executive Alex Saint said: "Last year's $60 million cash injection is helping us to realise our ambition to become a truly global brand, enabling us to open up opportunities in Asia, continue our expansion throughout Europe and capitalise on our good start in the US.

"We want to be the number one destination for customers looking to book affordable luxury holidays, and it seems pretty clear to us that there is a strong desire for our kind of product in Asia."

RUSSIA: Russian Domestic Tourism Grows

Travelers from Russia curbed their spending abroad by 30 percent in 2015 compared to the previous year, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Domestic tourism has seen a 20 percent increase.

Russians spent $35 billion on accommodation, food, entertainment, shopping and service last year, making them the sixth highest spenders. In 2014 they spent 50.3 billion.

Chinese tourists still top the list, spending $292 billion last year, 25 percent more than in 2014.

The US was ranked second with American travelers spending $120 billion abroad. Germans spent $76 billion, Britons - $63 billion and French tourists rounded up the top five with $38 billion spend abroad.

The flow of tourists from Russia shrank 31.1 percent last year with 12.1 million departures, according to the Russian statistics bureau Rosstat.

The decline in the number of tourists from Russia is explained by the weakening of the domestic currency as well as the ban on flights to the most popular destinations – Turkey and Egypt.

The number of Russians visiting Turkey has fallen over 90 percent in the first three months of 2016.

“Over the first four months of last year, 126,690 Russian tourists visited Turkey, and this year - only 12,039 people,” the deputy head of Turkey’s Republican People’s Party, Chetin Osman Budak, told in an interview with a Turkish news channel.

Egypt’s tourism earnings have fallen by nearly $1.3 billion since the Russian plane crash last October.

According to the Russian Tourism Industry Union, Indonesia lost 96 percent of its Russian visitors in 2015, Tunisia saw an 83 percent drop, with travel to the Dominican Republic down 82.5 percent compared to the previous year.

The number of Russian visitors to Greece was down nearly 50 percent. Russian tourist numbers to Bulgaria, Spain and Croatia dropped by 41 percent last year, the data says.

Thailand bucked the trend with an increase in Russian tourists of 13 percent.

Meanwhile, domestic tourism in Russia grew by 20 percent in 2015 with inbound tourism up by 5.3 percent. The Russian Federal Agency for Tourism expects the uptrend to continue this year.

Travelers Should Expect To Meet Robots On Holidays By 2020

A survey of more than 6,000 travellers in Asia, Europe, North America and South America reveals nearly 80% of respondents expect robots to play a big part in their lives by 2020, with three quarters believing they will make their lives significantly better. Almost two-thirds of respondents would be comfortable with robots being used in the travel industry.

Travelzoo, a global media commerce company, conducted the research as part of its Future of Travel project exploring consumer acceptance of robots in the travel and tourism industry. Richard Singer, Travelzoo’s European President, will make a keynote speech on the findings at this year’s ITB Berlin – Europe’s largest travel trade show. On March 11, Mr. Singer will share the stage with Toshiba’s Chihira Kanae – one of the world’s most human-looking robots, who will make her European debut at the event.

According to the survey, international travellers are largely comfortable with robots playing a role in their holiday, though some nations appear more cautious than others. German and French respondents were the most averse, while Chinese and Brazilians were the most positive about how robotics and artificial intelligence could enhance a holiday or travel in general – 92% of Chinese were comfortable with the idea.

The main advantages respondents see in robots are related to general efficiency, data retention and recall. More than three-quarters of respondents think that robots would be better than humans at handling data (81%) and dealing with different languages (79%), while 76% believe robots have better memories. 81% of respondents selected their untiring energy as an advantage.

Commenting on the survey’s findings, Mr. Singer said, “Right now is a very exciting moment in the history of the travel industry – groundbreaking technology is revolutionising what is possible from the perspective of customer service, entertainment and personalisation. Robots and artificial intelligence are making their debut on the tourism stage, and our research into global acceptance of robots working in the travel industry is largely positive. Most nations are starting to open up to the idea of robots in travel and see the tangible benefits heading our way in the very near future.”

Singer continued, “While the advent of technology such as robot butlers and bartenders is hugely exciting, it’s also very clear from our research that consumers see the combination of robots and humans working in tandem in customer-facing roles as the ideal solution.”

“Consumers still want humans in the picture, as otherwise there is a genuine fear that cultural nuances, humour and irony will be missed and the holiday experience could become too impersonal. If we don’t respect the desire for the human touch, we risk ‘robophobia’ setting in, when in fact technology can significantly improve the holiday experience when used appropriately.”

Professor Stephen Page of Bournemouth University, which is one of the leading global authorities on travel and tourism, said, “Robots represent a major innovation in the tourism sector and their potential impact and use offers many new avenues to enhance and develop the visitor experience of travel and hospitality. Understanding how consumers will embrace and interact with this new technology will be critical to their adoption and dissemination in an industry that is one of the market leaders in the use of technology.”

Toshiba is pioneering ‘human-looking’ robot technology and has created three ‘communication androids,’ two of which are already being used in Tokyo in a hotel reception and a shopping mall. Hitoshi Tokuda, Chief Specialist at Toshiba’s Research and Development Division said, “Chihira Kanae is a taste of things to come – we look forward to working with the travel industry to refine her, so that she can enable better holiday experiences for consumers.”

The survey for Travelzoo’s Future of Travel project was conducted via an online questionnaire by third-party research agency Norstat. The questionnaire was completed by 6,211 travellers in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

SPAIN: Opera Singer Montserrat Caballe Sentenced For Tax Fraud

Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballe has been given a six-month suspended prison sentenced for tax fraud.

Prosecutors said Caballe failed to pay the Spanish treasury 508,468 euros (£368,409) in tax on her earnings.

The 82-year-old singer admitted in 2010 that she lived in Spain but was registered as a resident of Andorra for tax purposes.

The sentence was the result of an agreement with prosecutors that avoided the need for a trial.

Caballe is best-known for Barcelona, her 1987 duet with Queen singer Freddie Mercury, which was a worldwide hit and was played during the 1992 Olympic Games.

She will not go to prison because all first convictions resulting in sentences of less than two years are suspended in Spain.

The Catalan regional justice department said she was also fined 326,000 euros (£236,263).

Prosecutors claim she earned more than two million euros (£1.45m) from a number of recordings and concerts in countries including Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Russia in 2010.

The soprano claimed she was a resident in neighbouring Andorra at the time but it was alleged she was actually living in Spain "with the sole objective of not paying taxes to the Spanish state".

According to court documents, Caballe allegedly signed all her concert contracts through a dummy company registered in Andorra and deposited the income in an Andorran bank account with the aim of "ensuring the Treasury did not have knowledge of her income and her true residency in Spain".

In a career spanning 50 years, Caballe had stints with the Basel Opera and Bremen Opera before her international breakthrough in 1965 in Lucrezia Borgia at Carnegie Hall in New York.

She went on to perform with the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera and Vienna State Opera, appearing opposite the likes of Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo.

IRELAND: Irish Tourism To Rise Due To Filming Star Wars Movie On Skellig Michael

Tourism in Ireland hit an all-time high this year and is set to feel the force even more with a new Star Wars campaign.

Over the past 12 months 7.9 million visitors from overseas have visited our shores adding €4.2billion in revenue to the economy.

And Tourism Ireland said it hopes the filming of the latest Star Wars movie on Skellig Michael, off the coast of Co Kerry, will help to draw even more in the coming months.

Boss Niall Gibbons added: “Following a record 2015, ambitious targets have been set for 2016
and beyond.

“This week’s release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens – which will feature Skellig Michael – also presents Tourism Ireland with a truly unique opportunity to highlight the South West and Ireland in 2016.”

Tourists from the US, Canada, Germany, France, Spain and Australia have come to Ireland in record numbers this year.

There was also a 10% jump in visitors from Britain, our largest tourism market.

The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office showed an extra half a million holidaymakers came here in the first nine months of the year – a rise of 19%.

And more importantly for the economy, revenue from overseas visitors jumped by 18% during this period – an additional €500million compared to 2014.

Star Wars filming will help bring 8.2m tourists to Ireland in 2016.

Tourism Ireland said a number of its key promotions around the world including the 150th anniversary of the birth of WB Yeats and its Ireland Says “I do” campaign helped to increase numbers.

Mr Gibbons added: “Throughout 2015 Tourism Ireland undertook a packed programme of promotions to bring Ireland to the attention of travellers everywhere.

“A major focus of our activity was the Wild Atlantic Way. Other important themes have included ID2015 [Year of Irish Design] and Yeats2015.”

UK: Monarch Positive On 2016 Despite Delayed Bookings

British airline and travel group Monarch expects demand to grow next year, even though customers were delaying decisions on where to go because of security concerns.

Privately-held Monarch said it expected to report annual underlying earnings (EBIT) of more than GBP£40 million (USD$60 million) for the year ended October 31, after a turnaround plan helped it recover from last year's GBP£94 million loss.

Monarch, which competes with the likes of Thomas Cook and TUI, said in a statement that further progress was expected this year, calling the outlook for the winter good. "We do expect 2016 to be better than 2015," chief executive Andrew Swaffield told reporters.

The company's financial recovery comes despite Monarch being forced to cancel flights and packages in Tunisia and Egypt this year after the British government raised concerns over safety in the wake of attacks.

London Luton-based Monarch sells holidays and flights primarily to British holiday-makers travelling to destinations such as Spain, Italy and France. Since being acquired by Greybull Capital in 2014, it has focussed on cutting costs by shedding staff and ending loss-making routes.

Swaffield said the halting of holidays to Egypt's Sharm al-Sheikh resort and the Islamist militant attacks in Paris, both last month, meant customers were booking later, in line with what travel companies usually see after such incidents.

"There's an initial lack of bookings and then people get back to normal, but they don't book as far in advance as they normally do," he said.

That was in line with what other airlines such as easyJet have reported in relation to the attacks.

Monarch said in the absence of Tunisia and Egypt as destinations, its customers were booking flights to places such as the Eilat resort in Israel, adding mainland Spain and the Canary Islands were also popular.

British airlines and travel companies are waiting for the UK government to confirm it is safe to fly to Sharm al-Sheikh again. Monarch has cancelled its programme there until January 6.

FRANCE: Paris Christmas Bookings Low After Attacks

Demand for Christmas trips to Paris has slumped following last month's attacks in the French capital, according to data from travel information firm ForwardKeys.

Overall, net bookings recovered in the week starting November 23, compared to the week immediately following the attacks, due to fewer cancellations.

New bookings, however, remain around 25 percent lower compared to last year, and Christmas demand has stagnated at pre-attack levels. There is a lack of new bookings from all major source countries, including Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States, Forward Keys said.

"Put another way, in a normal year bookings for Christmas would be accumulating well now but following the attacks, enthusiasm has been dented," chief executive Olivier Jager said.

Travel companies are feeling the impact, with several airlines saying the numbers of people heading to France are down, although many expect the effect will be short-lived.

Didier Le Calvez, who is managing director of luxury hotel Le Bristol and heads the luxury section at hotel association UMIH, said earlier this week that high-end Paris hotels had only sold 40-50 percent of their rooms for the end-of-year festive period, whereas normally they would be 80-90 percent booked.

The chief executive of AccorHotels has said the French hotel group is seeing fewer last-minute bookings for the second half of December compared with a year ago and that the impact will probably last three or four months.

The ForwardKeys database contains reservations handled by more than 200,000 online and offline travel agencies worldwide.

TANZANIA: Sustainable Tourism Chumbe Island Wins Award

Chumbe Island wins Skål International Sustainable Tourism Award in the category Marine and Special Recognition Award by Diversey Care 2015.

The fourteenth annual Skål Sustainable Tourism Awards took place last month during the Opening Ceremony of the 76th Skål World Congress held in Torremolinos, Spain.

The awards were launched to highlight best practices in tourism around the world and also serve the purpose of acquainting the world with this new concept that puts emphasis on the importance of the interaction of the physical, cultural and social environment the traveller's responsibility and the need for active community
participation for Sustainability.

A record number of 67 projects have competed in the eight categories available to win these prestigious awards:

* Tour Operators
* Urban Accommodation
* Rural Accommodation
* Transportation
* Countryside
* Marine
* Community and Government projects
* Major Tourist Attractions

Skål International selects a panel of three distinguished experts in sustainability to evaluate the projects independently. The primary criteria for the evaluation are based on:

Contribution to the conservation of nature
Cultural heritage conservation
Community involvement and benefits
Educational features and benefits
Business viability and economic growth
Innovation and creativity
Marketing value generation (brand enhancement)
Health, safety and wellbeing of employees and guests

They have made a tremendous work this year given the long list of entries and Skål International sincerely appreciates their time and efforts for the meticulous and laborious work they have conducted.

The initial awards were presented in 2002 following the United Nations declaration of 2002 as the Year of Ecotourism and the Mountains, to highlight and acknowledge best practices around the globe. The awards have been generously sponsored and supported by our partner Diversey Care since 2009.

For the fifth consecutive year, Diversey Care has presented the Skål Sustainable Tourism Awards by Diversey Care, in eight different categories as well as the Skål Special Recognition Award by Diversey Care.

The 'Skål Special Recognition Award by Diversey Care' shares its aim with the "Skål Sustainable Tourism Awards', and is designed to acknowledge sustainability projects which are new and innovative, and which transform the conventional understanding of sustainability. They do this by delivering more efficient output, bringing businesses closer to an 'integrated bottom line', in which business and environment, along with safety, risk management, and corporate responsibility, is managed effectively.

At Diversey Care, we aim to Re-imagine™ the industries we serve, in order to help create a world that feels, tastes and works better. For us, sustainability starts with our vision: "To create a better way for life", an ethos which was strongly reflected in every one of this year's award entries.

The Skål Special Recognition Award by Diversey Care was
presented by Mareike Schaumburg, Sector Marketing Lead Hospitality Germany at Diversey Care to David Fisher, Vice President of Skål International, who accepted the award on behalf of the overall winner CHUMBE ISLAND CORAL PARK, Tanzania.

VIETNAM: China Leads Arrivals But Australians Lead In Spending

AUSTRALIANS are the top spenders in Vietnam's growing tourism market, each outlaying more than $2200 a trip, according to an official report.

IN its first annual assessment of its $US15 billion ($A20.85 billion) tourism industry, Vietnam's National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) reported 7.9 million international tourist arrivals in 2014.

Australians accounted for 321,089 arrivals - the ninth largest in a market led by China (1.95 million visitors) and South Korea (847,958).

But Chinese visitors on average stayed less than a week with average spending of just $US790 ($A1,098) a trip.

Australians each spent $US1,677 ($A2,331) per trip, followed by Germany ($US1,367) and the United Kingdom ($US1,348).

The annual tourism report, sponsored by the European Union, compared Vietnam with Thailand and Malaysia, and called for improvements to Vietnam's tourism service and air transport infrastructure to match its regional rivals.

Vietnam's Tourism Minister Hoang Tuan Anh told the National Assembly on Tuesday the tourism industry had recovered, buoyed by increased foreign tourism arrivals in recent months.

Vietnam's tourism industry has been pressing the government to further ease visa requirements to boost the outlook.

Earlier this year the country amended its visa requirements for travellers coming from the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Australians still require a visa but the government is expected to grant visa-free access for Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians for a 15-day period starting from July 1, 2016.