news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Following an agreement signed on Thursday, the Malta Tourism Authority confirmed yesterday that Spanish low-cost carrier Clickair will begin serving the Malta route in June on a twice-weekly basis.

In a statement issued yesterday evening, the MTA said the agreement, signed by MTA chairman Sam Mifsud and Clickair CEO Alex Cruz, had been finalised in collaboration with Malta International Airport and effectively confirms that the airline will be commencing operations between Malta and Barcelona as from the first week of June.

source: The Malta Independent

During this week, American Airlines was subjected to a legal act by the widow of Taisuke Matsuo, the passenger that on April 2005 was found dead in the toilette of an airline’s plane departed from Tokyo only two hours after the landing.

The man, that apparently had a hearth attack during the first leg of the trip to Indianapolis, was found only two hours after the arrival to the final destination, the O’Hare international airport of Chicago.

source: Avionews

JetBlue Airways today announces the continuing expansion of destination choices for its Boston customers with the launch of new low-fare service to San Diego, CA and the Caribbean island of Aruba, bringing to 27 the number of nonstop destinations served nonstop by Logan’s fastest-growing airline.

Beginning June 28, 2007, JetBlue will operate the only daily nonstop low-fare service between Boston and San Diego, with fares ranging from $159-$399(a) each way. Then on June 30, JetBlue will add Saturday-only nonstop service to Aruba with fares ranging between $149-$399(a) each way.

source: Primenewswire.com

Budget carrier Ryanair is considering launching a separate airline that would fly long-haul between Europe and the United States around the turn of the decade.

Ryanair on Thursday confirmed comments made in an interview by Chief Executive Michael O’Leary that he has already had speculative approaches from U.S. airports about setting up a service.

More competition is expected on trans-Atlantic routes after the European Union approved an aviation deal with the United States last month to open up the restricted routes to new rivals.

The “‘Open Skies'” deal, which takes effect from the end of March 2008, will allow airlines to fly from anywhere in the EU to any point in the U.S., shedding limitations that also discourage them from charging what they like or combining with other carriers.

source: USA today

Low-cost airline Zoom will offer daily flights from London to New York from June 21, with prices starting at £129 one-way, the budget carrier announced today.

Zoom has been operating from UK regional airports to a number of Canadian destinations for three years. The airline has been given permission to operate from Gatwick as an official UK carrier to the US alongside British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.

India’s Jet Airways said on Thursday it had agreed to buy Air Sahara for INR14.5 billion rupees (USD$340 million), about 34 percent cheaper than an earlier deal it had abandoned.

The price includes INR5 billion that Jet had paid its smaller rival last year as a bank guarantee pending an acquisition, as well as INR4 billion that Jet will pay on or before April 20, said Harish Salve, a legal counsel for Jet.

The balance will be paid in equal, interest-free annual installments from March 2008 to 2011, he told reporters.

source: Airwise

The Polish low-cost airline, Centralwings, has commenced a new scheduled flight between Shannon and Katowice. It has also introduced a new, twice-weekly service from Cork to Warsaw.

Prices start from 4.99euro each way, excluding one single fixed passenger charge of 24euro,.89 cent which includes tax. There is a 20 per cent discount for children aged between 2 – 16 years old, and infants under the age of two, travel free.

source: limerickpost.ie

Irish low-cost airline Ryanair Holdings PLC seeks to transport 9 million passengers in Spain this year, Sinnead Finn, the company’s head of sales and marketing for Europe, said Wednesday.

Ryanair began operations in Spain in 2002 and now operates 127 routes out of 19 Spanish airports. Last year, Ryanair upgraded Madrid to a base airport and added regional flights from the Spanish capital. Ryanair also uses Girona, in northwest Spain as a base airport.

Competition among low-cost carriers in Spain has heated up recently, after U.K. carrier EasyJet PLC, Ryanair and Spain’s Vueling Airlines SA have increased flights and added new destinations.

source: Marketwatch

Budget airline Norwegian Air Shuttle had 100,000 more passengers this March, an increase of 28 percent compared to this time last year.

Norwegian expanded its routes last year, and its eleven new routes from Poland have pulled the results down.

On domestic flights Norwegian has had a 77 percent cabin factor, up one percent point from March 2006. The cabin factor on Norwegian’s international flights fell two percent points, to 78 percent, largely due to unfilled flights to and from Poland.

source: Aftenposten.no

AirCell has announced early details about AirCell broadband for business aviation. AirCell broadband is an exclusive new highspeed data system set for release early next year.

AirCell broadband will offer business aircraft operators true high-speed connectivity at a cost, weight, and complexity that is substantially lower than any system available now or in the foreseeable future. It is based on the same proven technology that drives the newest generation of ground-based mobile wireless devices.

source: shephard.co.uk