news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Moving quickly to take advantage of a new federal law, Southwest Airlines Co. says it will sell one-stop flights from its home airport near downtown Dallas to Orlando and 27 other new cities at introductory fares starting at $99 each way.

The move is virtually certain to trigger a fierce fight between neighboring airlines — Southwest, the most profitable U.S. carrier, and American Airlines, the nation’s biggest. American hinted it would slash prices on flights from nearby Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

source: Orlando Sentinel

Irish no frills airline Ryanair today said it has not considered increasing its â?¬1.48bn offer for rival Aer Lingus but equally has not ruled out doing so.

There are a number of obstacles to Ryanair proceeding with its bid, namely that the Irish government still holds just over 28% while Aer Lingus’ employees and the Irish Airline Pilots’ Trust holds a further 13.2%.

Irish tycoon Denis O’Brien has also spent â?¬32m to buy a 2.1% stake in Aer Lingus and has vowed to oppose the takeover.

source: ShareCast

Deutsche Lufthansa AG said it is looking to recruit 750 new staff over the next few months in a move to expand its fast-growing hub in Munich. The German flag carrier said this includes 500 flight attendants and 250 staff for the check-in area.

The airline’s chief executive, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, announced last year the carrier would create 2,400 new jobs in Germany in 2006. A Lufthansa spokeswoman said the 750 jobs in Munich comes on top of this.

source: Forbes

Six months after AirTran introduced its low-cost service at Westchester County Airport at White Plains and less than two weeks after it announced service at Stewart Airport at Newburgh, the Atlanta-based airline Monday said it would add three more cities to its Westchester service.

AirTran currently flies from Westchester to Atlanta, West Palm Beach and Orlando. As of December 21, it will add Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers and Tampa.

When it starts Stewart service on January 11, it will fly to Atlanta, Orlando, Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale.

Source: midhudsonnews.com

The Singapore low-cost carrier, Tiger Airways, has announced it is planning to purchase 8 new Airbus A-320 aircraft, for a total expense of USD 500m.

The airline, which is controlled for 49% by Singapore Airlines, communicated in a note that the deliveries will begin in 2008 and completed in 2010. The A-320s are single-aisle airplanes, designed to cover short and mid range routes and can host up to 200 passengers.

source: Avionews

Central Europe-based low-cost carrier, SkyEurope Airlines, intends to double its fleet to 32 aircraft within four years, Czech business weekly, Profit, said.

“‘SkyEurope will double its fleet from 16 to 32 aircraft within four years’,” commercial director, Karim Makhlouf, told the weekly.

“‘Generally, we will continue with our “Go East” strategy,'” Makhlouf added, referring to the carrier’s plans to develop routes in Central and Eastern Europe, where rising living standards and faster economic growth are expected to increase demand for air travel much faster than in Western Europe.

source: TradeArabia

GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, Brazil’s low-cost, low-fare airline, starts today its operations in Chapeco, in western Santa Catarina state, Brazil. Daily flights will follow the route Sao Paulo – Florianopolis – Chapeco. Passengers from Porto Alegre may fly to the new destination via a connection in Florianopolis.

source: Yahoo! finance

Low-cost airline Flybe is giving football fans the chance to win two return flights and meet their sporting heroes.

The airline is sponsoring three teams in the Coca Cola Championship â?? Southampton, Norwich and Birmingham â?? and is organising a mini “Flybe league” between them.

Fans correctly predicting the scores from three matches between the teams will be entered into a prize draw, with the winner being awarded tickets to a match of their choice, a chance to meet their team’s players and free Flybe flights.

source: cheapflights.co.uk

Some flights from San Diego to Hawaii were canceled Sunday in the wake of a magnitude 6.6 earthquake near Hawaii that caused a power outage at Honolulu Airport, authorities said.

American Airlines canceled all flights to the state Sunday and some for today until electrical problems are resolved, an airline employee said.

Flights already en route to the airport when the earthquake and several significant aftershocks occurred were allowed to land, but none were allowed to take off, the employee said.

Wizz Air, the largest low fare – low cost airline in Poland offers free tickets to Centralwings passengers whose flights to and from Cologne were cancelled.

Passengers stranded as a consequence of Centralwings’ cancelling its Katowice-Cologne and Wroclaw-Cologne routes, can re-book on Wizz Air’s Katowice-Cologne or Wroclaw-Dortmund flights. On these routes Wizz Air increased the number of free seats offered (only taxes and charges equivalent to PLN 77 / EUR 19.98 to be paid) and extended the booking period until Oct 23, 2006. Wizz Air continues to be the leading carrier between South Poland and the Ruhr region with more than two flights daily.