Aviation

France will send two Rafale fighter jets and the naval frigate "Lafayette" to the eastern Mediterranean as part of plans to increase its military presence in the region, the armed forces ministry said on Thursday, amid signs of tension with Turkey.

These are flights that have not been operating since mid-March, when the National Coordination Body for Infectious Diseases introduced a temporary ban on flights at airports in Montenegro due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, Vecernje Novosti writes.
This decision of the Russian airline represents a strong blow to the stumbled Montenegrin economy, especially tourism.

Turkish jets violated Greek airspace on Wednesday for the first time after 26 days, with several F-16 fighter jets entering Athens' Flight Information Region (FIR) without submitting a flight plan, according to the Hellenic National Defence General Staff (GEETHA).

Between 3 and 4 p.m., pairs of jets flew three times over Oinouses, four times over Panagia and one northeast of Chios.

The Bucharest Airports National Corporation (CNAB) organizes on Wednesday the event "Everything will be fine!" to mark the resumption of flights after the coronavirus-induced halt of services that saw Romania's air traffic plunge by about 98 percent. "For the entire mankind, the first half of 2020 has posed the greatest health, economic and social challenge of the century.

Monday's resumption of a considerable number of international flights to Athens and Thessaloniki produced a marginally satisfactory occupancy rate for Aegean Airlines, Kathimerini understands.

The US Senate Armed Services Committee said on Thursday it had authorized $9.1 billion to procure 95 F-35 aircraft in its version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, an annual bill setting policy for the Department of Defense.

Turkish Airlines will resume some international flights this month to China, South Korea and the United States among other destinations, the airline said on June 12, a day after it began restarting such services.

Up to 26,000 job cuts are possible at the German aviation giant Lufthansa. The news comes as Lufthansa's shareholders prepare to vote on a €9 billion ($10.3 billion) bailout with conditions such as slot losses at key airports attached.

Turkey restarted international flights on June 11 for the first time after an almost three-month ban imposed to stem the coronavirus pandemic.

As part of the new "normalization" phase, Ankara resumed domestic flights as of June 1, which have been followed by international flights.

Daily scheduled flights between Turkey and the U.K. will resume as of June 11, the British Embassy in Ankara announced on Twitter.

"Turkish Airlines will operate 1 daily flight from Istanbul Airport to London Heathrow. Anadolu Jet will be operating 1 daily flight from Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport to London Stansted," the embassy said.