news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Virgin America today launches twice daily service from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Guests on the first flights should expect some typical Virgin America-style fun at the ticket counters and departure gates, with Virgin America teammates decked out in costume as our Founding Fathers at LAX and as Hollywood celebrities to welcome guests at Washington Dulles.

source: primenewswire.com

Austrian Airlines said Wednesday that it flew back into profit in the first nine months of the current year thanks to an overhaul of its long-haul business, but third-quarter earnings were lower.

The Austrian flag carrier said in its interim report it booked net profit of 20.6 million euros (29 million dollars) in the period from January to September compared with a bottom-line loss of 25.8 million euros a year earlier.

Underlying earnings, as measured by earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), also swung back into the black, amounting to 32.2 million euros in the nine-month period compared with a year-earlier loss of 9.1 million euros.

source: Yahoo!

Air travel across the pond is set for a major shake-up. After decades of dominance by European national airlines and a handful of American carriers on lucrative transatlantic routes, the U.S. and the European Union signed the so-called Open Skies Agreement in April to unshackle air travel. Among other things, the agreement will make it possible for, say, a Spanish airline to shuttle passengers from Britain to the U.S., or for American carriers to drop off passengers in one European country, then pick up more and relay them to another destination.

Now, at last, the reverberations from the agreement, which takes full effect in March, 2008, are starting to be felt. On Oct. 17, Delta Airlines and Air France-KLM announced a landmark deal to share costs and revenues on transatlantic routes. Under the agreement, Air France will give three of its slots at London’s Heathrow airport”Europe’s most important hub to the U.S.”to Delta to use for flights to New York and Atlanta. The French carrier also will start a new service between London and Los Angeles.

source: BusinessWeek

Budget airline Fly Monarch, best known for flying hundreds of thousands of British holidaymakers off to Spain and other popular European holiday destinations, has announced that it is adding PayPal to its accepted payment methods.

The first airline in the UK to do so, Fly Monarch joins US airlines including US Airways, Southwest and Northwest Airlines in accepting PayPal as a payment method alongside credit and debit cards.

source: ITpro

TAP Air Portugal said a series of pilots’ strikes beginning Tuesday would likely cause the cancellation of many flights and advised passengers to change their travel plans if possible.

Services “‘will be severely disrupted,'” company spokesman Antonio Monteiro said Monday. He could not predict how many of the flag carrier’s about 150 daily flights would operate during the three days of stoppages this week.

The airline’s approximately 500 pilots announced they would strike Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. They also plan to strike Nov. 5, 7 and 9.

source: IHT

Airlines are embracing self-service check-in technology as passengers seek to avoid congested airport terminals.

More than half of the airlines surveyed by air transport IT services company SITA now offer online check-in facilities while 89 per cent expect to offer the service within the next two years.

Among the low-cost airlines surveyed and the top 25 airlines (in terms of passenger numbers), the implementation of web check-in is 100 per cent.

The survey found on average 21 per cent of passengers use online check-in and this is expected to increase to 35 per cent by the end of 2008.

source: silicon.com

Southwest Airlines and Continental Airlines , two of the largest U.S. carriers, posted higher quarterly earnings on Thursday as fuller planes and fare increases helped offset soaring fuel costs.

The earnings from Southwest and Continental are the latest sign that the U.S. airline industry’s recovery from a long slump remains on track despite a slowing U.S. economy.

Earlier this week, American Airlines parent AMR and Delta Air Lines posted better-than-expected earnings, benefiting from tighter cost controls and lower capacity in the United States.

source: Yahoo!

Budget airline easyJet has unveiled a brand new look for its cabin crew – designed by the mile-high workers themselves.

The stylish and more formal self-desgined uniform replaces the previous black trousers and orange shirts worn by cabin crew on flights.

It is made up of a number of different pieces, including a black suit, orange or white shirt, waistcoat and orange necktie, so that crew can create their own combination in which they
fell most comfortable.

source: biggleswadetoday.co.uk

The regional airline Flyglobespan has had one of its flying licences suspended as a result of serious concerns about its operations.

Several of the Edinburgh-based firm’s services to North America have been affected.

The firm has had its ‘ETOPS’ licence, which lets it fly over large expanses of water with two engines, suspended.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it is the first time in 15 years a UK operator has lost ETOPS approval.

source: BBC

Germany’s biggest airline Lufthansa on Friday denied Spanish press reports that it was preparing a takeover bid for Spanish national carrier Iberia.

“‘This is not true. We deny it,'” a Lufthansa spokesman told AFP.

The takeover speculation was sparked by a quote in the Spanish press from a Lufthansa executive, Aage Duenhaupt, saying that Lufthansa believed three euros per share was a “‘very interesting price.'”

But the Lufthansa spokesman said there had been “‘a misunderstanding'”.

Iberia has been looking for a commercial partner since March.

source: Yahoo!