news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

While embattled private carrier, and rival, Kingfisher Airlines has decided to dump low cost services in a bid to increase revenue yields, financially beleaguered state-owned carrier, Air India, has opted for the reverse route and is considering adding more economy seats on its domestic flights to increase yields.

Air India management has constituted a committee to look at ways to increase per flight yields in accordance with occupancy ratios, and one of the options under consideration is cabin restructuring by adding more economy seats.

source: domain-b.com

Irish airline Ryanair said it will pursue Aer Lingus directors for a breach of company law if the former state carrier refuses again to hold an extraordinary general meeting.

Ryanair, Aer Lingus’s largest shareholder with a near 30 percent stake, said on Thursday it had the right to request a meeting at which it wanted to discuss Aer Lingus’s 400 million euros ($534 million) pension deficit and a tax settlement.

While Ireland is considering selling its 25 percent stake in Aer Lingus as part of a wider sale of state assets under an EU-IMF bailout, the airline’s pension deficit, larger than its 380 million euros market value, is a major stumbling block.

source: Reuters

Southwest Airlines is giving its most loyal customers a double whammy of deals starting this week through its newly launched Rapid Rewards Shopping program with Cartera Commerce Inc. that rewards its frequent fliers for online shopping. This marks the first time that Southwest, one of the biggest airlines in the US, is offering rewards for shopping at online retailers.

Similar to its competitors, Southwest now has a sort of online mall where shoppers can sign in with their Southwest Rapid Rewards login information and shop with around 700 online retailers. Consumers will receive discounts off products and also be rewarded with loyalty points they can use toward the purchase of airline tickets.

source: internetretailer.com

Spirit Airlines‘s agreement to buy 75 single-aisle jets from Airbus SAS, with list prices totaling $6.7 billion, would triple the carrier’s existing fleet within the next decade.

The non-binding memorandum of understanding includes 45 upgraded A320neos with new, more fuel-efficient engines and 30 of the existing model.

Spirit focuses on leisure travelers who fly to beach destinations, and offers low base fares with higher add-on fees, such as $35 to bring a piece of luggage aboard a plane.

source: businessweek.com

Four airlines from the UK and Irish Republic are calling for the UK government to scrap ‘Air Passenger Duty (APD)’.

The tax, which is applied to almost every ticket on a flight originating in the UK, has risen sharply since it was introduced in 1994.

When APD was introduced, passengers whose journey originated in the UK paid between £5 and £40 per ticket. They now have to pay from £24 to £170.

It is opposed by Easyjet, Ryanair, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways.

The airlines say it penalises British holidaymakers and makes the UK a less attractive destination.

source: BBC.co.uk

EasyJet is breaking with one of the key principles of low-cost airlines as it begins a trial of allocating seats on some routes.

Starting this spring, the budget carrier will allow passengers on some flights to pay a surcharge to choose a seat in advance. Carolyn McCall, chief executive, said it was too early to say how much this option would cost travellers, nor how many or which routes would be included in the trial. She added that “‘if it increases boarding time we won’t do it”.

source: FT.com

Airport workers are being paid bonuses to crack down on travellers with bulky hand luggage.

Ryanair passengers are among those who could face particularly eagle-eyed attention as a result, but other budget airlines are thought to use similar tactics.

Airlines often have contracts giving companies that provide check-in staff a financial incentive to detect passengers with excess baggage.

But yesterday it emerged that the firm providing baggage services for Ryanair at Liverpool John Lennon Airport is passing a cut directly to workers.

source: dailymail.co.uk

AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes revealed Monday his plans to start a new super-premium regional airline in partnership with national carrier Malaysia Airlines.

Fernandes said the proposed short-haul carrier would cater largely to business travellers, among others, who need to travel across the region quickly.

Malaysia-based AirAsia has become one of the airline industry’s biggest success stories after Fernandes acquired the then-failing company a decade ago.

Its 2010 full-year net profit nearly doubled to 1.07 billion ringgit ($340 million) compared to 2009.

source: The Economic Times

Embattled Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has become the butt of a joke used by low-cost carrier Ryanair to advertise one of its flight offers.

”Dear Berlusconi, another opportunity to escape with Ryanair,” the ad posted on the Irish carrier’s website said.

The ad was accompanied by a cartoon-like figure of the Italian premier, holding the latest edition of ”The Girls of Ryanair” – a calendar depicting several Ryanair female staff clad in bikinis.

source: skynews.com.au

Vueling, Europe’s fourth biggest LCC, and the biggest airline at Barcelona’s main El Prat Airport, has announced plans to start 13 new routes next summer from Spain’s second busiest airport. Last year, the Spanish LCC that is part-owned by Iberia carried over seven million passengers at the airport, accounting for one in four passengers.

In the first nine months of this year, it has carried 5.9 million passengers at the airport, representing 22.2% of the total.