news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Etihad Airways of Abu Dhabi and Air Berlin, Germany’s second-largest airline, announced a strategic partnership Monday that will see Etihad become Air Berlin‘s largest shareholder and gain access to new European routes as it seeks to keep pace with its larger Gulf-based rival, Emirates.

Under the terms of the agreement, Etihad will increase an existing 3 percent stake in Air Berlin to just over 29 percent through the purchase €73 million, or $95 million, in new shares while providing up to $255 million in loans to finance new jet purchases.

source: NY Times.com

Deutsche Lufthansa will launch a new advertising campaign aimed at filling more seats with holidaymakers as companies spend less on business trips.

Germany’s biggest airline said last week  it has named Hamburg-based Kolle Rebbe to help it build an image of more than just a solid business carrier.

“‘We already have many routes to popular holiday destinations in our schedule and want to emphasise this more strongly in our communication in the future,'” a spokesman for Lufthansa said.

Legacy carriers such as Lufthansa traditionally make a large chunk of their profits through sales of business class tickets.

source: Reuters.com

Ryanair has defied the government’s move to ban surcharges on payments to airlines and other firms by saying it does not charge its passengers any credit or debit card fees.

Airlines, cinemas and holiday firms will be stopped from imposing millions of pounds in “‘hidden last-minute'” charges on internet bookings. Treasury minister Mark Hoban said the government is prepared to legislate to prevent airlines and other businesses from imposing hefty charges on credit and debit card bookings that are difficult to detect.

However, the budget airline said in a statement: “‘Ryanair, the UK’s favourite airline, today confirms that it does not impose any debit or credit card fees.'”

Ryanair claims instead to charge an “‘admin fee'” per passenger per one-way flight. This £6 charge is levied when a passenger comes to pay and can only be avoided by using the airline’s own prepaid Mastercard. It states on its website that this charge “‘relates to costs associated with Ryanair’s booking system.'”

source: Guardian.co.uk

easyJet has announced increased capacity on five of its most popular ski routes making it the UK’s largest ski airline. This season the airline is offering more than one million seats to ski destinations – a four percent increase on last season – to ensure that winter thrill seekers can secure affordable flights to the widest range of ski resorts.

Fresh snowfall, particularly at high altitude western European resorts, has prompted resorts in Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland to open up for the first time this season.

source: traveldailynews.com

President Raul Castro put on ice highly-anticipated plans to ease travel restrictions on Cubans, telling lawmakers the nation would not be pressured into moving too fast and citing continued aggression from the United States as the reason for his cautious approach.

Cuba has been awash in speculation the much-hated regulations, which prevent most Cubans from leaving the island, might be lifted during Friday’s session of the National Assembly. But Castro said the time still wasn’t right, despite a year of free-market reforms that has seen the Communist government legalize a real estate market and greatly increase private business ownership.

“‘Some have been pressuring us to take the step … as if we were talking about something insignificant, and not the destiny of the revolution,'” Castro said, adding that those calling for an end to the travel restrictions “‘are forgetting the exceptional circumstances under which Cuba lives, encircled by the hostile policy … of the U.S. government.'”

source: AP

The owner of British Airways agreed to buy rival airline BMI in a deal which rivals claim will mean higher prices for flyers.

The deal will give BA owners International Airlines Group (IAG) more than half of the take-off and landing slots at Heathrow.

Virgin Atlantic said the airline would be able to use their ”monopoly power” to force up fares if the £172.5million takeover is completed.

source: Dailymail.co.uk

Lufthansa-owned Germanwings will launch flights from Manchester and Heathrow to Stuttgart in 2012.

The routes are currently being operated by Lufthansa Regional partners CityLine and Contact Air.

From February 2012, the low cost carrier will fly 21 times a week between London Heathrow and Stuttgart.

source: abtn.co.uk

Thomas Cook Airlines has been named as the worst short-haul carrier by a consumer watchdog.

The company had the poorest results for overall customer satisfaction and the likelihood of being recommended to a friend. A panel of more than 8,000 ‘Which?’ members gave the airline a rating of 37%, while Ryanair was scored at just 38%.

The cabin environment of Thomas Cook Airlines was given one star out of five and Ryanair got the same rating for the quality of its boarding process. Both airlines were given two stars for their value for money.

Swiss International Air Lines was voted as the best short-haul carrier with a satisfaction rating of 76%. Aer Lingus came second with 67%. In the long-haul category, Singapore Airlines came number one with a rating of 89%. Air New Zealand was second (88%) and Emirates third (80%).

source: AP

German airline Deutsche Lufthansa said it would initiate further cost-cutting in 2012 with details it will reveal in the first quarter of the year.

“‘In the new and constantly changing environment in which we operate, it takes an enormous effort simply to aim to grow with the market,'” Lufthansa Chief Executive Officer Christoph Franz said in a company newsletter.

Franz said the company would post a profit in 2011, but the numbers were “‘well below'” what it needed to maintain the current operation strategy.

source: upi.com

A flight attendant who started a fire on an aircraft mid-flight just so he could ”play the hero” by putting it out has been jailed for more than six years.

Eder Rojas, 23, risked the lives of 72 passengers and four crew members, when he set fire to paper towels in the plane’s rear bathroom while he was working on the Compass Airlines flight.

Investigators accused Rojas, of Woodbury, Minnesota, of starting the fire because he was unhappy about working the route from Minneapolis to Regina, Saskatchewan.

A tearful Rojas said that he was sorry for what he did and would accept any punishment he received.

source: dailymail.co.uk