Blogging about aviation
Using autonomous drones developed by the French start-up “Donecle”, Austrian Airlines’ aircraft are checked for damage to paintwork and structures. The innovation not only makes work easier for the airline’s technicians, but the shorter duration of the check – less than two hours instead of the previous four to ten hours – also ensures faster availability of the aircraft in daily operations. Continue reading “Austrian Airlines inspects aircraft using drone technology”
On 31.08.2019 the 32nd season of the Rheingau Music Festival came to an end with Gustav Mahler’s 4th Symphony in the Basilica of Eberbach Monastery with the soprano Christiane Karg and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under the direction of chief conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla from Lithuania.
Mahler’s 4th Symphony is balm for the soul. It calms, decelerates and helps the listener to ,come down to earth´. The Basilica was the ideal place to make this happen on August 31, 2019. Continue reading “Mahler´s Fourth Symphony at the end”
Clear Air Turbulences, short CAT, which occur completely unexpectedly, increase. The tricky thing about it is that no pilot, radar, satellite or meteorologist can predict a CAT. The turbulence comes from nowhere. According to atmospheric scientist Paul Williams from the University of Reading (England), this phenomenon is likely to occur much more frequently in the future, because climate change not only affects the ground, but also the altitude in a special way.
11 July 2019: Air Canada’s Boeing 777 flew quietly over the Pacific. The night was cloudless. Many passengers slept, Continue reading “Clear Air Turbulences – are on the rise”
Brahms gave a very special Requiem to the music world: “A German Requiem”. On August 24, the soprano Sophie Wagner, the bass baritone Matthias Winckhler supported by the Bach Choir Mainz and accompanied by the Deutsche Radio Philharomie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern performed as part of the Rheingau Music Festival in the basilica of Eberbach Monastery with overwhelming intimacy and impressive intensity.
When Brahms presented his work to the public Continue reading “Johannes Brahms: A German Requiem”
Because of the flight ban for Boeings medium range jet 737 MAX there are hundreds of jobs on the tip of the Irish low-cost airline. The company needs around 1,500 fewer pilots and flight attendants than originally planned, Michael O’Leary told the staff in a video message. Continue reading “Ryanair: hundreds of jobs on the tip”
Serving the irresponsibility and the greed of consumers for ever cheaper ticket offers, to quickly jet somewhere at the weekend, to fly domestic routes, has further dramatic not only ecological but also economic consequences for the airlines itselves.
On the morning of 30 July, the Lufthansa share fell by up to seven per cent to its lowest level for two years. The discount battle with airline tickets Continue reading “Ruinous price war in the sky – Airlines serve greed and irresponsibility of consumers”
First the profit warning, then the fall in the share price, Lufthansa recently shocked investors. Various media speculate that Group CEO Spohr could counter the increasing pressure with a restructuring. Apparently a lean holding company is being discussed.
Lufthansa could transform itself into a holding company in the future. The “Handelsblatt” writes that a new, leaner group structure is being discussed in the company’s Executive Board and parts of the Supervisory Board. Continue reading “Lufthansa on the verge of restructuring?”
After many years of growth in global air traffic with increasing flights, passengers and flight connections, a slowdown in development is currently becoming apparent. Global passenger flight movements increased by only 1.5 percent in June, from 3.3 million in June 2018 to just under 3.4 million in June of this year. Continue reading “Current situation of global air traffic”
“We do not currently see any restraint – on the contrary,” Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr told the Neue Züricher Zeitung (NZZ) on 14 July in an interview on the question of a possible Greta effect. The Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg is the initiator of the worldwide student protests, which also blame the growing number of flights for climate change. Continue reading “Lufthansa does not feel a “Greta effect””
Pure party atmosphere in the Cuvéehof of Johannesberg Castle in the Rheingau. With hits like “Celebration“, “Fresh”, “Get Down On It”, “Joanna“, “Jungle Boogie” and “Ladies’ Night” Kool & the Gang have influenced the music of several generations. On 27 June they made their debut at the Rheingau Music Festival.
With a mixture of jazz, funk and R’n’B, the cult band climbed the pop Olympus in the 1970s and 80s. For more than 50 years the brothers Ronald and Robert “Kool” Bell have been touring with their gang, selling more than 70 million records, collecting two Grammy Awards, being one of the most sampled bands of all time and having a star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame. Continue reading “,Hands up´ for Kool & The Gang at the Rheingau Music Festival”