news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

The long-running war between the easyJet board and the airline’s founder and largest shareholder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, has erupted again.

Sir Stelios has sent a letter to the easyJet board to call for a shareholders’ meeting to vote on the removal of Sir David Michels as a director.

This latest initiative by Sir Stelios is part of his campaign to get the company to limit its purchases of new planes and pay a dividend.

source: This is Money

Airline-industry earnings suffered the first year-to-year decline for two years in the three months to June as fuel costs rose and capacity increases outstripped demand, according to International Air Transport Association.

Early figures for 16 carriers showed operating profit shrinking by one-third and net income tumbling by almost two- thirds. North America, the Asia-Pacific region, and Latin America are all showing declines, while European earnings advanced only because traffic disruption caused by a volcanic ash from Iceland crimped profit last year.

source: Boston.com

Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has warned passengers to avoid checking some types of electronic devices into an aircraft’s hold.

The organization said that passengers would see additional screening since lithium batteries, used to power items such as laptops, mobile phones, cameras and iPods, have been linked to a rise in dangerous goods incidents onboard airplanes in recent years.

It said that given certain conditions, the new type of battery is more susceptible to starting a fire as the energy contained in them is greater than that found in previous types of rechargeable or dry cell batteries.

source: Independent.co.uk

Passengers on a budget airline last weekend were treated to the surreal experience of having a Royal prince in their midst.

Shunning the usual VIP treatment, Prince Harry took an easyJet flight home from Edinburgh with several other guests who had been attending the wedding of his cousin, Zara Phillips.

The story of Prince Harry’s cost-saving flight from Edinburgh to London came to light when rugby star and fellow passenger Olly Barkley, 29, posted a message on Twitter.

source: News Letter

Air France has put more flesh on the bones of its plan to develop provincial bases, aimed at offering lower-cost regional services to help it regain market-share from its low-cost rivals.

The carrier will debut the new regional services from Marseilles this October. It will roll out ­similar new services from Bordeaux, Nice and Toulouse in spring next year, launching 54 new routes in total to European cities and the Mediterranean.

Under the initiative Air France aims to reduce operating costs by 15% and increase capacity in the regions by more than 30%.

source: flightglobal.com

Prince William and his wife Catherine were among first-class passengers compensated by British Airways after an in-flight entertainment system failure.

As the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge returned to London from their recent tour of Canada and California, an issue with screens at the front of the aircraft meant a 10-hour trip minus amusement.

British Airways confirmed the technical issue, adding that it could not be fixed before the aircraft’s departure from Los Angeles.

source: Stuff.co.nz

The Airbus factory in Broughton, Flintshire, has been given a major boost with the news that American Airlines is to buy 260 new aircraft.

It came as the US carrier announced its biggest ever order of 460 planes from Airbus and rival Boeing.

All 260 aircraft will also feature large, fuel-saving wingtip devices known as sharklets, as American moves to make its fleet as efficient as possible.

source: Wales Online

A former Continental Airlines sales agent has been sentenced to prison for a $1 million Ponzi scheme involving the sale of hundreds of fake airline ticket vouchers.

Victoria Scardigno (Skahr-DEE’-noh) said she was “‘beyond remorseful'” as a federal judge in Manhattan sentenced her Thursday to 2 years and 5 months.

She had pleaded guilty to wire fraud in February.

source: WSJ

Lufthansa subsidiary Germanwings has extended its presence on global distribution systems (GDSs) following an agreement with Travelport.

The Cologne-based airline joined the growing list of low-cost carriers to appear on GDSs when it signed a deal with Amadeus at the end of January. However, like other low-cost carriers, Germanwings continues to push the availability of a direct link to its reservations system via Direct Connect for “‘important distribution partners’”.

source: travelweekly.co.uk

Brighter Planet, a consultant on carbon accounting and mitigation, has rated the carbon efficiency of U.S. domestic and international airlines. The top three among U.S. domestic carriers: Continental, JetBlue and Frontier. In last place was American Eagle. The international winners were Ryanair, Singapore Airlines and Delta. SAS Scandinavian was the least environmentally friendly.

source: northjersey.com