news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

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

EasyJet put its staff in French airports on British labour contracts in an attempt to avoid the costly welfare contributions required under Gallic employment legislation.

Prosecutors called for the low cost carrier to be fined €225,000 and be ordered to pay more than €10 million in outstanding social security charges as easyJet went on trial yesterday on charges of flouting French labour law. The case follows a lawsuit filed by unions and social security officials.

The company denied the claims and told the court in Creteil outside Paris it had no obligation to register employees under French labour contracts at the time of the alleged offences between 2003 and 2006.

source: Times Online

EasyJet hopes to introduce mobile check-in using handheld devices to reduce queueing at airports.

The budget carrier wants to replace check-in desks with devices that process passenger details and print boarding passes. Queueing at departure gates could also be eliminated, with mobile scanning of boarding passes.

Ryanair, easyJet’s great rival, is pressing ahead with plans to remove all its check-in desks in October and require passengers to check-in online instead. Passengers who do not check in online will face a heavy charge to do so at the airport.

source: Times Online

Two workers syndicates that operate two airlines in Spain, Easyjet and Spanair have announced plans for strike action this August in protest against senior management in both companies. Apparently the Easyjet strike will affect flights, but not the Spanair one.

The two workers unions based in Spain announced they call for 24-hour strike action of all Easyjet maintenance staff in Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Alicante and Tenerife on August 15, 22 and 29.

source: euroweeklynews.com

A high-profile campaign has been launched in a bid to see Liverpool twinned with the Spanish holiday resort of Malaga.

And after ten years of flying between the two destinations, easyJet is spearheading the calls for Liverpool to become the first UK city to officially twin with the gem of Andalusia.

Like Liverpool, Malaga is a busy port which has re-invented itself over recent years to become a busy, cosmopolitan city with an exciting and multi faceted cultural scene – not to mention attracting thousands of tourists (or guiris as they say in Malaga) each year.

source: clickliverpool.com

Budget airline easyJet will not be able to offer couples the chance to get married in the skies after a Bedfordshire council rejected the plan.

The company applied to Luton Borough Council for pilots to be authorised to officiate wedding ceremonies.

But a council spokeswoman said the law did not allow a civil partnership or marriage to take place on an aircraft.

The airline said it had received a number of requests from couples hoping to marry in the air and they had hoped to appeal to people looking to get married “somewhere out of the ordinary“.

source: BBC

Budget airline Easyjet has asked council officials for permission for its pilots to marry couples on flights.

The Luton-based airline said it hopes to combine marriage proceedings with taking newlyweds on honeymoon.

Easyjet’s Paul Simmons said: “If our request is replied positively, then so-called ‘floating on cloud nine’ would get a new meaning for people in love.”

source: BBC

easyJet is opening 14 new routes across Europe, for summer 2009. Nine of the new routes will operate from UK regional airports, giving travellers even more choice of popular destinations.

As part of the expansion, easyJet will base an additional aircraft at Liverpool from 1 June 2009 and at Manchester from 4 August 2009.

source: Boarding.no

easyJet is starting a service between Gatwick and Copenhagen in the wake of the collapse of Scandinavian carrier Sterling Airlines.The daily flight will start on January 15 and run alongside easyJet’s existing Stansted-Copenhagen service, which operates three times a day.

EasyJet might also add capacity to the Gatwick route in the summer. The new route goes on sale on Wednesday November 15.

source: ttglive.com

EasyJet has scheduled additional flights to three holiday destinations next month following the demise of XL Leisure Group.

Extra flights have been added from Gatwick to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria; Dalaman in Turkey and Arracife in Lanzarote.

source: Travelmole