by Lufthansa Flyer | Dec 11, 2012 | Airlines, Industry News |
Austrian Airlines today announced a new phase in their attempt to increase efficiencies and profitability that will take place throughout 2013.
After a thorough analysis during the preceding 2 quarters that involved reviews of their administrative and technical operations including those of Tyrolean Airways, Austrian has found ways to further reduce expenses by an additional €10 million above and beyond the savings they’ve already identified this year.
The savings does not come without a price. After the review, it was also decided that 150 administrative positions would be eliminated. This amounts to a 2.3% reduction in personnel. Austrian will have 6170 employees after these actions are taken. Austrian however is working with the “Works Council” to help those that will be affected by the job cuts.
The cuts do not come as a surprise since Austrian was aware of a fair amount of duplicity between the operations of Tyrolean Airways and Austrian. The biggest change will be that Tyrolean’s flight control operations will be merged with Austrian’s in Vienna, and all flight administration operations will be based in beautiful Innsbruck. Additionally, technical maintenance will be consolidated to Tyrolean since they technically hold the Air Operator Certificate that is required for an airline to function.
In the press release by Austrian today, CEO Jaan Albrecht added that “The difficult conditions prevailing on markets do not leave us any choice. We have to increase our organization’s efficiency and to eliminate redundancies in the entire Group. This especially applies to duplications in our organizations, of which we have been aware for a number of years.”
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jun 18, 2012 | Airlines, Industry News |
MySkyStatus is a great tool from Lufthansa that lets you integrate your social communities and let your friends, family, fans and and any other kind of “followers” know when you board a flight anytime and anywhere in the world.
Even though it is a Lufthansa app, you can enter flights from over 1000 different Airlines which really makes this a powerful tool for your travel app toolbox. Once you enter your flights, your social community followers will receive an update once you depart, an update while enroute, and an update when you arrive. This especially comes in handy for letting friends and loved ones that your flight has arrived safely at it’s destination.
You can enter your flight information without signing up for the program and link alerts to your social community accounts or enter the email addresses for the people that you want to receive an email of your flight activity. However, by signing up for the service (it’s free and does not require you to be a member of Lufthansa’s Miles & More) you can enter and manage all of your flights as well as see past flight information. My recommendation would be to sign up for MySkyStatus so that it’s easier for you to manage your flight activity and alert settings. If you are concerned about privacy, the app allows you to block other MySkyStatus users from seeing your flight activity, so you have good control as who does and doesn’t see your flight information.
The MySkyStatus home screen shows current user statistics:
Once you sign up, it’s 2 simple steps to get your flight information entered (click on each image to enlarge):
The first screen will ask you for your flight information:
Next, you can choose your Social Community and Email preferences:
The last screen shows your flight information (clicking the “+” button allows you to edit or delete the flight):
Then as you travel, your followers and email alert recipients will receive the following types of messages:
I know that there are a lot of different apps out there that provide flight information and alerts for you and for those that you want to know of your plans. I would recommend that you give MySkyStatus a try (Click here to go to MySkyStatus.com).
In using it myself, I’ve found that it does actually simplify my workload. MySkyStatus really does help me consolidate my efforts in letting friends and family be aware of my flight information regardless of what social community service they are subscribed to. If you need help figuring it out, or have any other questions, feel free to send me an email or leave a comment on this post.
by Lufthansa Flyer | May 28, 2012 | Airlines, Industry News |
In news coming out of India, the Star Alliance has extended an invitation to Indian carrier Jet Airways to become the newest member of Star Alliance and join EVA Air as new member-elects to the world’s largest airline alliance. Though this has been in the news previously, it may be resurfacing again.
According to the “Centre For Asia Pacific Aviation”, the invitation had been extended but the Indian Government insists that it will not allow Jet to join the Alliance unless Air India is accepted first. Yes you read that correctly. The airline that was on the cusp of membership in recent months after a 3 1/2 year application period, who has befallen on disastrous economic times, is being used as leverage and Jet Airways stands to be the biggest loser if Star Alliance does not accept Air India in some quasi-package deal.
To me this is simply a transparent ploy by the Indian government to offload a struggling airline into an alliance in the hopes that membership will cure Air India’s woes. Unfortunately, AI’s problems run far deeper than can be fixed by any membership in any alliance. Operating losses and outdating technology platforms have been the major obstacles to alliance membership.
With Jet being the best positioned to succeed, India is willing to threaten the success of yet another Indian based carrier. Have they not learned their lesson with Air India and Kingfisher?
This development follows a recent meeting that was held recently by Lufthansa’s CEO Christoph Franz and Jet’s Chairman Naresh Goyal ahead of Jet beginning new service to Frankfurt and Munich. Personally, the timing of the meeting was a little bit more than interesting to me at this point.
If I had a crystal ball, I think I would see the capitulation of the Indian goverment, who will remove their demands, and will finally let one of their national carriers join an alliance. Maybe.
Austrian Airlines today announced a new phase in their attempt to increase efficiencies and profitability that will take place throughout 2013.
