news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Spanish low fares carrier clickair today announced a £40 flat fee, per sector fare to help XL Leisure Group and Futura passengers stranded in Spain – primarily in the Balearic and Canary Islands – get home.

The offer follows the cancellation of flights by the British tour operator and Spanish charter airline and also applies to European originating passengers looking to get back to Spain from the UK.

source: TravelWeekly

Low-cost airline Ryanair has been forced to cancel flights from its new Edinburgh base for the next six weeks because of strike action at Boeing.

Ryanair said the strike meant US aircraft manufacturers Boeing was unable to deliver two 737 planes it purchased to operate on the new routes.

source: BBC

US airline JetBlue is selling more than 300 flights and six holiday packages on internet auction site eBay.

The last-minute budget flights have opening bids set between 5 cents and 10 cents.

The flights are to more than 20 mainly US destinations including New York, Boston and southern California. There are also a handful of “‘mystery'” holiday packages to undisclosed locations.

source: Telegraph.co.uk

Flyglobespan, a low-cost Scottish airline based in Edinburgh, has announced that it will launch direct flights to Turkey next summer.

Considering the rising interest of British tourists in Turkish holiday spots in recent years, Flyglobespan has decided to offer direct flights to Dalaman, a popular Turkish resort.

Similarly, EasyJet, a low-cost British airline, had started offering flights to certain destinations in Turkey last year.

source: todayszaman.com

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is taking easyJet, the airline that he founded, to the High Court to try to limit its ability to make money from activities that may clash with his other ventures. The surprising spat between the budget carrier and its founder stunned the City yesterday and threatens to limit the airline’s ability to raise revenues.

Sir Stelios founded easyJet in 1995, is still a board director and owns 16 per cent of the airline. He also owns the easyJet name through a company called easyGroup IP Licensing, which has brought the High Court action.

source: Times OnLine

Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic is set to launch a major advertising campaign to challenge British Airways’ (BA) plans for a tie-up with American Airlines (AA). Branson claims that the proposed deal would damage transatlantic competition.

BA is expected to make an application in the US this week to enact the joint venture with AA. The pact between the two airlines would mean they would have dominant shares of transatlantic flights from Heathrow on six routes including New York JFK, Chicago and Los Angeles.

source: marketingweek.co.uk

JetBlue Airways said Monday that it planned to begin charging for pillow and blanket sets on flights of two hours or longer. The $7 sets, which passengers can keep and reuse, include a 10-by-12 inch pillow, a fleece blanket and a $5 coupon for Bed Bath & Beyond.

Buying the sets will be the only option for airline slumberers who do not tote their own; pillows and blankets will no longer be distributed free.

source: NYTimes.com

Budget airline Ryanair yesterday declined to comment on speculation that it may make a bid for Stansted Airport.

The carrier’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, reportedly said he was interested in making a bid for the airport, which is London’s third largest.

The move comes after BAA started legal action against the airline after it refused to pay a 15% increase in landing charges.

Ryanair is facing a lengthy court battle as the British Airport Authority confirmed it had begun legal action against the airline over its refusal to pay a 15% increase in airport charges at London’s Stansted Airport.

The court action is the latest twist in a long-running dispute between Ryanair and the UK airport manager over charges at Stansted, which is the main hub for the airline.

source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk

A budget airline allowed a faulty jet to complete a 6,000-mile round trip from New York to Liverpool and back across the Atlantic despite knowing there was a problem with its engine monitors after it had been struck by lightning, a court heard today.

The company had used some “‘optimistic interpretation'” of rules to allow take-off from, Liverpool, leaving the crew to manually adjust the throttle with the help of another gauge.

source: guardian.co.uk