news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Easyjet has become the first low cost carrier to protect passengers under the Package Travel Regulations by way of insurance.

On September 2 2010, Easyjet switched its financial security obligations provider from the Travel Trust Association to International Passenger Protection (IPP).

All passengers booking packages (flights plus other travel components) online with Easyjet will benefit from financial protection in the event of its insolvency.

Easyjet is the first low cost carrier to protect its passengers through insurance arranged with IPP.

source: postonline.co.uk

Data compiled by Gatwick, the airport that is easyJet‘s largest base, show that fewer than 50pc of its flights from the airport took off on time last month.

In June, 48pc of easyJet’s international flights departed on time – within 15 minutes of its advertised schedule. That was worse than Air Zimbabwe, which managed 50pc on time, and considerably worse than British Airways, which hit 85.7pc. The revelation will stoke the furore about the state of easyJet’s operations.

source: Telegraph.co.uk

Easyjet has drawn up plans to drop the Easy name if it cannot resolve a bitter row with the airline’s founder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

The company could until recently have revived Go, the name used by the low-cost airline set up by former British Airways executive Barbara Cassani. Easyjet bought Go in 2002 but sold the brand last year for $1m (£688,000).

A simmering dispute between Stelios and the company exploded on Friday, with Stelios resigning from the board. He said he had stepped down to speak freely about his concerns with the way the company was being run. “‘The gag is off,’” he said. He accused Andy Harrison, the chief executive, of pursuing a reckless expansion programme and buying too many aircraft.

source: Times Online

It could all be dismissed as just another Ryanair publicity stunt.

Michael O’Leary, chief executive of the budget airline, has challenged Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the largest shareholder in easyJet, its arch-rival, to a race round Trafalgar Square to settle a dispute over insults concerning “‘high fares’” and the portrayal of Sir Stelios as Pinocchio.

But the latest Ryanair insults have provoked a counter-threat. For the first time in the history of their rivalry, easyJet and Sir Stelios are threatening to sue Ryanair ” on two counts.

“‘If Stelios does not want to run, maybe he can go round in a wheelbarrow,’” said Mr O’Leary. “‘Or maybe we could do sumo wrestling.’”

source: Times Online

EasyJet put its staff in French airports on British labour contracts in an attempt to avoid the costly welfare contributions required under Gallic employment legislation.

Prosecutors called for the low cost carrier to be fined €225,000 and be ordered to pay more than €10 million in outstanding social security charges as easyJet went on trial yesterday on charges of flouting French labour law. The case follows a lawsuit filed by unions and social security officials.

The company denied the claims and told the court in Creteil outside Paris it had no obligation to register employees under French labour contracts at the time of the alleged offences between 2003 and 2006.

source: Times Online

EasyJet hopes to introduce mobile check-in using handheld devices to reduce queueing at airports.

The budget carrier wants to replace check-in desks with devices that process passenger details and print boarding passes. Queueing at departure gates could also be eliminated, with mobile scanning of boarding passes.

Ryanair, easyJet’s great rival, is pressing ahead with plans to remove all its check-in desks in October and require passengers to check-in online instead. Passengers who do not check in online will face a heavy charge to do so at the airport.

source: Times Online

Two workers syndicates that operate two airlines in Spain, Easyjet and Spanair have announced plans for strike action this August in protest against senior management in both companies. Apparently the Easyjet strike will affect flights, but not the Spanair one.

The two workers unions based in Spain announced they call for 24-hour strike action of all Easyjet maintenance staff in Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Alicante and Tenerife on August 15, 22 and 29.

source: euroweeklynews.com

A high-profile campaign has been launched in a bid to see Liverpool twinned with the Spanish holiday resort of Malaga.

And after ten years of flying between the two destinations, easyJet is spearheading the calls for Liverpool to become the first UK city to officially twin with the gem of Andalusia.

Like Liverpool, Malaga is a busy port which has re-invented itself over recent years to become a busy, cosmopolitan city with an exciting and multi faceted cultural scene – not to mention attracting thousands of tourists (or ‘guiris’ as they say in Malaga) each year.

source: clickliverpool.com

Budget airline easyJet will not be able to offer couples the chance to get married in the skies after a Bedfordshire council rejected the plan.

The company applied to Luton Borough Council for pilots to be authorised to officiate wedding ceremonies.

But a council spokeswoman said the law did not allow a civil partnership or marriage to take place on an aircraft.

The airline said it had received a number of requests from couples hoping to marry in the air and they had hoped to appeal to people looking to get married “‘somewhere out of the ordinary'”.

source: BBC

Budget airline Easyjet has asked council officials for permission for its pilots to marry couples on flights.

The Luton-based airline said it hopes to combine marriage proceedings with taking newlyweds on honeymoon.

Easyjet’s Paul Simmons said: “‘If our request is replied positively, then so-called ‘floating on cloud nine’ would get a new meaning for people in love.'”

source: BBC