news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Travelport GDS, one of the world’s leading global distribution system (GDS) providers, and Jet2.com, one of Europe’s leading low cost carriers (LCCs), have today announced details of a new direct connect content agreement.  Under the new agreement,  Jet2.com’s full content will be made available in the GDS channel for the first time via Galileo’s direct connect solution. Jet2.com is now the third airline this year to sign up to Galileo’s innovative LCC direct connect solution.

source: Breaking Travel News

British Airways was accused of hypocrisy as the airline prepared to launch a luxury all-business service between London and New York, with just 32 seats on an aircraft normally fitted for 100 people, days after chief executive Willie Walsh pledged a drastic cut in emissions.

The twice daily service on customised Airbus A318s features flat beds and latest technology allowing passengers to send emails and text and use the internet while on board.

Flights leaving from London though will be forced to make a brief refuelling stop at Shannon airport in the west of Ireland because City airport’s runway is too short to handle an A318 aircraft with a full fuel load. BA is arranging for passengers to use the Shannon stop to clear US customs and immigration.

source: guardian.co.uk

Passengers attempting to travel using only their driving licence as identification will no longer be admissible on domestic Ryanair flights.

From October 1st the company will only accept passports and National Identity Cards as valid forms of identification in a move it says is to “‘reduce confusion’” over what documents passengers can use.

source: Irish Times

British Airways passengers will have to pay to choose their seats before they travel from October.

The charges will affect those seeking to ensure they sit together on a flight and people with a preference for window, aisle or emergency exit seats.

Prices range from £10 per person for European economy flights, to £60 for long haul trips in business class.

source: BBC

Smokeless cigarettes which look like the real thing but do not have to be lit to provide nicotine to the user, are to be introduced by Ryanair.

Smoking on commercial flights has been illegal since the 1990s, but the airline says it will introduce Similar Smokeless Cigarettes, which it says look and feel like a real cigarette and deliver a small amount of nicotine through inhalation – passengers do not light the ‘’cigarette”.

The new Similar Smokeless Cigarettes are available to passengers over 18 years of age and are sold in packs of 10 on board all of the company’s flights for €6.

source: irishtimes.com

British Airways is understood to have joined Qantas and American Airlines in a three-strong investment consortium bidding to drag Japan Airlines (JAL) back from the brink of financial collapse.

Other offers to buy stakes in JAL are believed to have come from Korean Airlines and Air France-KLM.

The rehabilitation of JAL, which is bathed in red ink and has been allowed to operate with huge inefficiencies, poses a severe political challenge to the new administration of prime minister Yukio Hatoyama, who was only inaugurated two days ago.

source: Times Online

Design Q, a British design firm, has proposed a radical change in the manner in which you sit inside an aircraft.

The company has come up with an innovative, high-density configuration for new sideways seating on airplanes to cut airlines’ costs by maximising the number of passengers on board.

If the new design is implemented by cash-strapped airlines, you will see a row of seats facing inward (with your backs to the windows) on each side of the plane and two rows running back-to-back all along the middle of the aircraft. This will be for flights of one hour duration or less.

Military aircraft carrying soldiers already have such a seating arrangement.

source: rediff.com

The drift away from premium to economy class air travel has been reconfirmed by British Airways, which has registered another month of falling sales from first- and business-class passengers.

The airline saw premium-class traffic in August fall by 11.9 per cent year-on- year although “‘non-premium'” economy-class custom edged up 1.3 per cent.

The monthly breakdown confirmed trends established this year as BA continued to grapple with a downturn in demand among business travellers.

The airline is also battling against competition from no-frills budget airlines on its less lucrative short-haul routes in Europe.

source: FT.com

German flag carrier Lufthansa has completed the takeover of rival Austrian Airlines following months of tense negotiations.

The Cologne based airline will pay around €166 million (£150 million) for private Austrian Airlines shares while also paying €350,000 for the stake presently controlled by the Austrian government.

In 2008, 10.7 million passengers flew with the Austrian Airlines Group to 120 different destinations. Austrian Airlines currently operates a fleet of 91 aircraft.

source: travelbite.co.uk

Ryanair is to increase the fees it charges to check in bags and sporting equipment from 1 October by up to 50%.

The airline is to increase the fee for checking in a bag to £15 from £10 now if booked in advance online and to £30 from £20 now if you pay at the airport.

Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said: “‘These baggage fees are all avoidable by all passengers who choose to travel with carry on luggage only. Over 70% of Ryanair passengers will be totally unaffected by these changes as they already travel with just one carry on bag, which is free of charge.’”

source: Times Online