news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Ryanair has been officially branded the worst budget airline for hitting customers with hidden charges.

Holiday watchdogs investigated the cost of passengers checking in one piece of luggage each and paying by credit card. Stansted-based Ryanair charges spiralled by 61 per cent – ahead of Bmibaby, Jet2 and easyJet.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said: “Everybody knows that Ryanair has the lowest fares guaranteed which is why Ryanair will carry 73 million passengers this year.

source: Mirror.co.uk

America last night gave the green light to British Airways’ tie-up with American Airlines, bringing to an end a 12-year quest by the UK airline to win approval for the deal.

The US Department of Justice said that the pact would be good for consumers, bringing lower fares, new routes and improved schedules. It agreed to give the airlines’ immunity from US anti-trust laws if they surrendered four pairs of runway slots at Heathrow ” a much lower number than expected.

The two carriers are now set to combine their transatlantic divisions, creating a giant operation that will account for just under half of all UK-US traffic, and one quarter of all EU-US passengers.

source: Times Online

German carrier Lufthansa is to give one million Miles and More miles to the person who comes up with the best nickname for its Airbus A380 aircraft, due to go into service later this year.

The airline has now painted its first two A380 superjumbos in Lufthansa liveries, officially naming them Frankfurt Am Main and Munchen. But the carrier is looking for a “‘catchy nickname’” for its A380 aircraft in general, and is giving away one million frequent flyer miles to the winning suggestion.

Click on this link to propose a name.

source: businesstraveller.com

Air Asia will begin operating from a fourth national base this year after agreeing to buy into and rebrand a Vietnamese airline, even as the local affiliate of rival Jetstar struggles with a barrage of difficulties with the government in Hanoi.

The move strengthens Air Asia’s lead in Southeast Asia over Jetstar and Tiger Airways as the three Asia-Pacific, no-frills groups race to set up multinational franchise chains. For the first time, two of them will have franchised affiliates in the same country.

source: aviationweek.com

It could all be dismissed as just another Ryanair publicity stunt.

Michael O’Leary, chief executive of the budget airline, has challenged Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the largest shareholder in easyJet, its arch-rival, to a race round Trafalgar Square to settle a dispute over insults concerning “‘high fares’” and the portrayal of Sir Stelios as Pinocchio.

But the latest Ryanair insults have provoked a counter-threat. For the first time in the history of their rivalry, easyJet and Sir Stelios are threatening to sue Ryanair ” on two counts.

“‘If Stelios does not want to run, maybe he can go round in a wheelbarrow,’” said Mr O’Leary. “‘Or maybe we could do sumo wrestling.’”

source: Times Online

The Dubai-owned airline Emirates has announced a 60m-euro (£52m, $82m) sponsorship deal with AC Milan.

The four-year deal, due to begin in July, will see Emirates become Serie A team AC Milan’s shirt sponsor in place of the Austrian betting company BWin.

Emirates already sponsors several football teams including Paris Saint Germain, Hamburg and Arsenal.

source: BBC News

US airline Continental has denied responsibility for a deadly Concorde crash that spelt the end of supersonic travel as its mechanics went on trial in France with French engineers.

Judge Dominique Andreassier read out the charges against the US airline Continental and two of its technical staff who are accused of the manslaughter of 109 people on the plane — most of them German tourists — and four hotel workers on the ground.

The court will decide whether to side with investigators and technical experts who say the crash was caused by a strip of metal that fell off a Continental DC-10 that took off shortly before the Concorde on July 25, 2000.

source: themovechannel.com

A ”hotel in the sky” powered by renewable energy could be the future of green travel, according to its designers.

The Aircruise, a gigantic vertical airship, would use hydrogen gas to keep it aloft and solar energy to power its engines.

Mega-corporation Samsung has embraced the concept that fits well with the emerging South Korean dream of rebuilding its economy in a greener shade, and has appointed designers Seymourpowell to refine the idea and produce a detailed computer animation of the proposed experience to illustrate it.

The initial design proposes a bar/lounge zone, four large apartments, a penthouse and five smaller apartments. Although only a conceptual proposal, Seymourpowell has developed detailed and, it claims, achievable technical specification for the craft.

source: edie.net

Germany’s second-largest airline says it will begin regular flights to Iraq from Saturday. The new route forms another link in the carrier’s expanding global network of destinations.

Low-cost air carrier Air Berlin said it will begin scheduled fortnightly passenger flights to Iraq as of Saturday, the first German airline to do so since the Iraq War.

The airline said connections would be offered from Munich to Erbil in northern Iraq and Sulaimaniya in northeastern Iraq, alternating every second week between the two destinations.

source: dw-world.de