States of Germany

Angela Merkel's conservatives were heaving a sigh of relief on June 7 after a convincing win in the last regional vote before a general election that also exposed the weaknesses of the Green party, their main rival at the national level.

Lufthansa is more than doubling its itinerary in Greece with the addition of seven brand new destinations for this summer. From May 21, 2021, Aktio, Chania, Corfu, Kavala, Kos, Mykonos, and Zakynthos will welcome the German air carrier for the first time. This is Lufthansa's largest increase in its 62 years of presence in Greece.

Istanbul will host the 2023 UEFA Champions League final as Turkey will mark the centenary of the republic's foundation in that year, Anadolu Agency learned on May 14.

A source in the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), who asked not to be named, said an official announcement in this regard is expected soon.

Koper – AK Automotive, a Turkish-owned company, to expand production and has recently purchased a production facility in Koper it used to lease from Cimos. It plans to invest more than EUR 20 million in the location within a year.

AK Automotive was set up in 2018 by Kücükoglu Holding, which acquired Cimos’s kinematics business the same year.

Albania deployed army and police forces at the country's only international airport on Wednesday after protesting air trafficker controllers halted inbound and outbound flights.

The air traffic controllers were not allowed to enter the airport. The prosecution has opened an investigation into allegations of "abuse of duty". Police issued restraining orders for three of them.

Bulgaria's Burgas Airport will be closed until March 27. The reason is planned construction and repair activities related to the airport runways major overhaul. 

All planned flights during the repair works will be cancelled or redirected to Varna Airport, BTA reported.

Henri Coanda Airport adapts its terminal infrastructure to current traffic values and will keep open only 52 check-in counters through which passengers will be processed on the Departures flow and only 14 boarding gates for international flights, the Bucharest Airports National Company (CNAB) informs on Thursday.

Brussels – The European Commission has approved EUR 5 million in state aid for Fraport Slovenija. The company operating Ljubljana airport will receive the money to compensate the damage it suffered between 17 March and 30 June 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Commission said on Tuesday.

"During the bombing, we did not [feel] comfortable in the wagons, but we all felt somehow happy because we knew that the destruction of some factory in Germany meant it was one day closer to the end of the war," a Croatian Czech called Franjo Zada said in the memoirs he wrote after World War II, recalling the events of mid-1944 when Allies bombed Munich.

The number of passengers through Turkish airports- including transit passengers- reached 81.7 million in 2020, according to the country's airport authority on Jan. 7.