news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Flyglobespan, Scotland’s largest airline, said it would introduce surcharges on long-haul flights as it revealed its finances had plunged into the red after a turbulent summer and the rocketing price of oil.

Rick Green, the Edinburgh-based company’s chief executive, yesterday told The Herald that while the company was “‘about three-quarters hedged'” against further oil price rises, it was planning to introduce surcharges of £20 to £25 per passenger on flights this year.

source: The Herald

Economy airline Flyglobespan is to be prosecuted after claims it breached strict safety rules.

The Edinburgh-based firm is accused of allowing a flight from Liverpool to New York to take off when engine sensors were not working.

The decision to prosecute was made by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

source: BBC News

Airline British Midlands (BMI) is trialling a mobile phone-based ticket system which could replace its print-at-home scheme if successful.

The text messages will display a barcode on the handset screen and will work only once to prevent unauthorised access to the boarding gate.

BMI’s goal is to speed up boarding times for customers travelling without luggage.

The airline is using the paperless system on routes connecting London to Edinburgh, Manchester and Belfast City.

source: vnunet.com

Managers from the bankrupt budget airline Air Madrid say they are to create a new airline which will be based in Málaga.

The company says that it will employ a total of 97 people and intends to specialise in direct flights from the Costa del Sol to destinations in the Caribbean.

The new company will be presented to the public at the Torremolinos Congress Palace on Friday May 30, and will go under the name Andalus Líneas Aéreas.

source: typicallyspanish.com

British Airways boss Willie Walsh has confirmed the airline will be forced to raise fares and cut capacity due to rising oil prices.

Walsh also said the era of the low-cost fare was over and predicted a wave of airline failures in the coming months.

However, he said BA was in good position to ride out the storm and would be investing in premium travel to help achieve that.

“‘Prices will have to go up given the way the oil prices are,'” said Walsh.

“‘I don’t think the industry can absorb these significant increases. This is just the start of a correction. Those who are strong will be able to adapt but those who are weak are going to go out of business.’

When asked if the era of the low fare was over, he replied: “‘My view is yes.’

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost airline, today announced changes to its optional priority boarding service which allows passengers to be first to board their flights.

Web check-in passengers receive this service free of charge in order to promote online check-in, whilst airport check-in passengers currently pay £4 or €5 for the service. However, from June 3 this year the airline will introduce a new web check-in policy, which means that web check-in passengers will no longer receive priority boarding free of charge.

source: ireland-digital.co.uk

Norwegian air shuttle said on Tuesday that a court ruled that Scandinavian airline SAS should pay it 132 million Norwegian crowns ($26.33 million) in compensation in an industrial espionage case.

It also ruled that SAS should pay Norwegian Air’s legal costs of about 6.8 million crowns, said Norwegian – a low-cost rival to SAS.

source: Reuters

A plane of the Norwegian Air Shuttle low-cost airline whose crew reported a fire aboard safely landed at Prague’s Ruzyne airport and the fire has been extinguished, investigator Jiri Hosek, from Prague firefighter corps, told CTK.

Nobody of the crew and 131 passengers has been injured during the fire and the emergency landing.

source: Prague Daily Monitor

Since Jun-07, the Spanish government requires that all passengers travelling from the UK/Ireland to Spain (including the Canaries and Balearic Islands) provide ‘advance ‘passenger information” (‘API’ or ‘APIS’ data) before their flight departure. 

From 1-Jun-08, all passengers flying with Ryanair to Spain from the UK and Ireland must provide this APIS at the time of original booking or at least 4hrs before departure on the airline web site.

Spanish Government APIS requirements are :
 
  *Full Name (as it appears on the passport)
  *Date of birth
  *Nationality
  *Passport or Travel document number
  *Type of Document
  *Issuing State

source: Peanuts!

A New York man who says he was denied a seat on a five-hour jetBlue flight and was instead told to “‘hang out'” in the plane’s bathroom has sued the airline for $2 million, saying he suffered “‘extreme humiliation.'”

When Gokhan Mutlu arrived to check in for a jetBlue flight from San Diego to New York in February he was told the flight was full, according to the lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court.

But Mutlu was allowed to board after a jetBlue flight attendant agreed to give up her seat and travel in an airline employee “‘jump seat.'” It was not clear in the lawsuit whether the flight attendant was working.

source: Reuters