news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Travel giant Tui Travel could dump its TUIfly.com low-cost airline brand, the firm’s finance director said on Wednesday.”‘The simple answer is yes it is being reviewed (TUIfly branding),'” Paul Bowtell told analysts and reporters.

“‘I think it’s clear for all to see that that decision, together with incremental capacity in that source market in 2007, hasn’t been successful,'” he added.

The firm is currently in the middle of a strategic review and is to detail it decisions by January.

source: Reuters

Tony Ryan, the Irish co-founder of low-fares airline Ryanair, which helped to revolutionise air travel in Europe, died at his home on Wednesday aged 71, his family said.

Ryan, who suffered a lengthy, unspecified illness, had a family fortune worth an estimated 1.2 billion euros (1.6 billion dollars) and opened up cheap weekend breaks and short-haul flights to destinations across the continent.

source: smh

With reports that Iberia are planning to cut their flights to Gibraltar, an Iberia told that no final decisions have been taken, but added that flights to Gibraltar were under review.

It is well known that the Spanish airline is unhappy with the business on the Gibraltar route. It is not what was expected.

The route was launched with much trumpet-blowing, but it has gone from one problem to the next.

UK-based airline easyJet said it will invest 600 mln eur to create two new bases in France by 2011, at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and the Lyon-Saint-Exupery airport in Lyon.

It expects passenger traffic from France to rise from 8 mln passengers in 2008 to 12 mln in 2011, by which time it will have 80 destinations.

source: Hemscott

GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A., the parent company of Brazil’s low-cost airlines GOL Transportes Aereos S.A. and VRG Linhas Aereas S.A., has entered into an interline agreement with Air France. Since September 4, passengers traveling on Air France can purchase tickets for all 58 destinations served by GOL in Brazil and South America.

Air France will be able to sell tickets on GOL flights. Passengers have the added convenience of having their luggage checked through to their final destination, eliminating the need to retrieve it upon arrival in Brazil. GOL will honor Air France’s baggage allowance policy.

source: CNN

Air Berlin is to end its twice-daily flights from Glasgow to Stansted – with onward connections to the German capital, Dusseldorf, Leipzig, Nuremberg, Munster, Hanover and Paderborn.

A spokeswoman said: “‘Our last flight will be on October 31. The doubling of the air passenger duty made our UK domestic hub operation commercially difficult.'”

source: Evening Times

The launch of low-cost airline Virgin America Inc this year has triggered a fare war that has nearly halved ticket prices on some routes and could erode earnings at rival airlines.

The competition has been especially fierce between Virgin, which is partly backed and fully branded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, and UAL Corp’s United Airlines on the transcontinental route between San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Low-cost carriers JetBlue Airways  and Southwest Airlines also have been drawn into a turf war with Virgin and responded with capacity additions and fare cuts.

source: Reuters

Hermes Airports announced that Pafos International Airport has been selected as one of eight new routes for Summer 2008 to be operated by UK low cost airline Jet2.com, based at Leeds Bradford Airport. New services between Leeds Bradford and Pafos will start on Sunday 4 May 2008.

source: Finantial Mirror

Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA’s 20-pct owned Clickair’s chief executive Alex Cruz said the low cost unit will lead its competitors in terms of passenger volume at Barcelona’s El Prat airport by the end of November.

Speaking at a conference to celebrate Clickair’s first anniversary, Cruz said the airline aims to increase its market share in El Pratt from 13 pct at the end of August to around 15 pct at the end of November.

source: Forbes

American Airlines (in conjunction with Aircell) may be the first airline to offer in-flight broadband in the United States, but Alaska Airlines isn’t too far behind in this area of innovation. The airline has announced plans to test out in-flight Wi-Fi next year using a satellite-based system which will be the first of its kind tested in the U.S. for the purpose of this service. If the testing goes well, Alaska Airlines hopes to add the Wi-Fi service to all of its planes. The service is designed to work over water and across international boundaries making it possible to connect when flying to such destinations as Hawaii. Whether connection will be fee-based or free is yet to be determined.

source: broadbandreports.com