news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

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

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

One of EasyJet‘s biggest institutional shareholders has called on Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the airline’s founder and largest shareholder, to either stop attacking the company or make a bid for it if he is not happy with the way it is run.

Sir Stelios, who controls 38 per cent of the airline’s shares, has reignited his dispute with EasyJet by demanding the board call a shareholder vote over the airline’s plans to buy new aircraft from Airbus.

He demanded it halt any payments to the European aircraft maker for those aircraft until it has addressed his concerns.

In future, Air Berlin and Iberia are offering selected flights under joint flight numbers.

The connection possibilities from and to Madrid will improve for Air Berlin passengers as a result of the agreement. Iberia in turn will benefit from the extensive domestic route network and the good connections to destinations in Germany and Scandinavia via the Air Berlin hub in Berlin.

In a further step, plans are underway to expand the codeshare agreement to the frequent flyer programs of both airlines, Air Berlin‘s topbonus as well as Iberia’s plus.

source: the FINANTIAL

Virgin America has teamed up with Google to offer travelers access to a Chromebook, Google’s new laptop, when they fly with the US airline.

The carrier announced June 30 that some passengers will be able to pick up a Chromebook at the gate on select US domestic routes, to trial while they fly.

As the Chromebook is a cloud-based computer and requires an internet connection for almost all of its features, flyers who get their hands on the laptop will be given a free in-flight WiFi.

source: Independent.co.uk

Ryanair celebrated IATA confirmation that it is the world’s favourite airline after IATA stats for 2010 showed Ryanair carried more international passengers than any other airline.

Ryanair carried 71.2m international passengers last year, 62 million more than Aer Lingus,  almost 30m more than second placed Lufthansa (44.6m) and almost 10m more than easyjet (37m) and British Airways (26m) combined.

source: The FINANCIAL

Budget airline Flybe has laid down a marker in its quest to dominate Europe’s regional routes by acquiring a Finnish regional carrier in a €25m (£22.7m) deal.

Exeter-based Flybe has bought Finnish Commuter Airlines in a joint venture with Finnair, Finland’s national carrier.

The deal came a day after Flybe announced a pre-tax loss of £4.3m last year following last April’s Icelandic volcano eruption and severe winter weather.

source: Guardian.co.uk

Ryanair has rejected a ruling by the UK’s consumer and competition authority that it should stop imposing a £6 charge on flight bookings that appears only after customers log their credit and debit card details, even though the regulator has warned that it could take legal action.

Such fees should be included in the price from the beginning of the transaction, the authority said, although it urged the British government to pass legislation quickly to block the imposition of any charges on debit card payments.

source: irishtimes.com

Ryanair is to announce a jet design agreement with a Chinese manufacturer on Tuesday, firing a warning shot to Boeing that it cannot expect another multibillion-pound aircraft order from the low-cost carrier.

Europe’s biggest short-haul airline has agreed terms with Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) to help design an aircraft that could rival Ryanair’s fleet aircraft, the Boeing 737.

The Dublin-based carrier broke off talks with Boeing over a new order last year and has been openly planning to consider another manufacturer if it expands further after 2013.

source: Guardian.co.uk

British Airways and Air Berlin will start codesharing on around 40 flights from early July.

BA customers can buy direct Air Berlin flights to Nuremburg, Munster and Paderborn through ba.com.

In addition, customers can use ba.com to book connecting flights on selcted routes from airberlin’s network,  including main German gateways and other destinations such as Palermo and Brindisi.

Airberlin will join Oneworld in April 2012. Its entry is sponsored by BA.

source: abtn.co.uk