news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. , the parent company of Brazilian airlines GOL Transportes Aereos S.A. and VRG Linhas Aereas S.A., announces that VRG began selling tickets for its Sao Paulo — Madrid route, the Company’s ninth international destination. Flights to Madrid will begin on January 28.”‘Since Madrid is one of the most popular tourist and business destinations for Brazilians traveling abroad, this is an important step in our international route expansion plan,'” says Lincoln Amano, VRG’s commercial director. The Company currently flies to Bogota, Colombia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Caracas, Venezuela; Santiago, Chile; Mexico City, Mexico; Frankfurt, Germany; London, England; Paris, France, and Rome, Italy.

source: CNN.com

The Miramar, Fla.-based airline will begin offering one daily flight on April 14 and a second daily flight on May 1.

“‘This is terrific news for San Antonians,'” San Antonio Aviation Director Mark Webb says. “‘Spirit is not only connecting two vibrant cities with non-stop service, but they’re also bringing to the market an ultra-low cost business model that I think San Antonians are going to find very appealing’.”

Airport officials are hopeful that these two flights will form the basis of a larger partnership between the airport and the airline in the future.

source: San Antonio Business Journal

Tiger Airways Singapore, flight TR717 from Perth to Singapore, was postponed on Saturday night after the captain became concerned about his crew working overtime.

Because of its low-cost, the airline has no stand-by crew at destinations other than Melbourne and Singapore.

Matt Hobbs, spokesman for the airline’s sister company Tiger Airways Australia, said he didn’t expect overtime issues would be a problem for Adelaide passengers to Melbourne.

“‘They (international crew) can work for 10 hours straight so I don’t think they will go out of hours in Adelaide because it’s a 50-minute flight.”’

Angry passengers were informed of the flight cancellation at 10.30pm, three hours after its scheduled departure, and were told to go home and return the following day or stay at the airport.

source: News.com.au

AirAsia X announced its latest international route from Kuala Lumpur to Hangzhou, China. AirAsia X will be the first airline to service the route from Kuala Lumpur with five weekly services beginning 04-Feb-08. The latest service is the airline’s second long-haul destination after Gold Coast, Australia, which was launched in Nov-07.

source: Peanuts.aero

GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. , the parent company of Brazilian airlines GOL Transportes Aereos S.A. and VRG Linhas Aereas S.A., today celebrates its seventh anniversary of operations, transporting more than 75 million passengers across Brazil and South America. The Company, which entered the Brazilian aviation market with the aim of popularizing air transportation, surpassed a 40 percent domestic market share in December 2007 and reported average load factors in 2007 of 70 percent, one of the highest in the industry. GOL’s current fleet of 78 aircraft operates 640 daily flights to 60 destinations, including eight abroad.

source: CNN

EasyJet will this week launch a credit card with loyalty perks just in time for the post-Christmas rush to book holidays.

The card, which charges interest at 16.9% on purchases – just above the average rate of about 15% – offers one free easyJet flight worth up to £40 including taxes if at least £250 is spent on the card in the first three months.

Also in the first three months it will offer 10% back on easyJet flights and purchases such as hotels and car hire made when booking the flight.

source: This is Money

Virgin Atlantic said Monday it would fly one of its Boeing 747 planes on biofuel during a demonstration flight from London to Amsterdam next month.

Virgin Atlantic Chairman Richard Branson said the test flight, which he called the first of its kind, would yield crucial information on how to reduce aviation’s carbon footprint.

Branson launched an alternative fuels division at Virgin in 2006, pledging the profits from his airline and trains for 10 years.

source: Business Week

Passengers who book between noon GMT today and noon on January 16th will be able to fly to Reykjavik for ₤52 from London, DKK 533 from Copenhagen and €71 from Berlin.

The offer gives travellers a unique opportunity to experience Iceland in mid-winter. Iceland is becoming an increasingly popular winter destination, thanks to the abundance of snow, clean air, winter landscapes, frozen waterfalls and awe-inspiring Northern Lights.

source: icenews.is

Flybe has signed a franchise agreement with Scottish regional airline Loganair that will see it introducing its low cost flights to the Highlands and Islands.

Loganair now operates as a franchise of British Airways, but will fly in Flybe colours from 26 October this year. The Scottish airline currently carries around 500,000 passengers a year and operates on 26 routes from 16 airports in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, Dublin, Derry and the Isle of Man. Routes include Glasgow airport to Shetland, Orkney, Stornoway, Derry and Dublin, and Edinburgh airport to Shetland, Orkney, Wick, Inverness, Stornoway, and the Isle of Man.

source: holidayextras.com

Irish airline Aer Arann is to start flights from Galway and Waterford to Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Malaga, and Faro from May this year.

In a statement today the airline said it the four new destinations were being provided on the back of a franchise deal between Aer Arann and Nex Aviation.

Aer Arann said the route to Amsterdam Schiphol would give passengers to one of the best connected international airports.

source: ireland.com