news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Controversial airline Ryanair has attracted the ire of unionist politicians over an ad for its services in the North.

The ad shows a mock-up of Martin McGuinness with the caption that Ryanair flights are “‘so cheap even the British army used them to go home'”.

Michael Copeland, an Ulster Unionist MLA in east Belfast, has described the promotion as insensitive, crass and provocative to people who consider the North a part of Britain.

source: independent.ie

The number of passengers carried by Latvian airline airBaltic in 2007 reached one million this July. For the first time in its history, the airline has carried a million passengers in seven months.

source: Boarding.no

German charter airline LTU said Saturday it reached a new wage agreement with its pilots, averting the threat of a strike.

LTU said the deal with the Cockpit union calls for pilots to receive a 3 percent pay rise this year and 2 percent next year.

The union last week had voted 96 percent in favor of a strike if a new agreement could not be reached.

Pilots had been seeking a 6 percent raise, while the airline had offered 3 percent.

fuente: iht.com

Ulster travellers could pay almost £15 less for a long weekend in Spain than for four days in central England.At least that’s what the Belfast Telegraph discovered yesterday, after a lengthy internet search, aimed at finding a cheap and cheerful city break in mid-December.

A low-cost airline plans to begin providing non-stop service from Milwaukee to the vacation destination of Cancun, Mexico, later this year. Today Frontier Airlines is announcing plans to begin flying from Mitchell International Airport to Cancun on Dec. 15.
Denver-based Frontier would be the only regularly scheduled carrier offering non-stop service from Milwaukee to Cancun throughout the year. The only other airlines offering that route are charter carriers, such as Milwaukee-based Funjet Vacations.

source: JS Online

The airline’s expansion to Bucharest and Gdansk represents the airline’s commitment to growth in Central Eastern Europe, whilst the addition of Innsbruck to the network will continue to position the airline as the first choice for independent skiers.

This announcement follows the recent news that the airline will also expand with new services from; Bristol to Madiera and Lisbon (starts 29 October and 31 October respectively); Gatwick to Lisbon (starts 1 October); Stansted to Madiera (starts 29 October); Edinburgh and Bournemouth to Krakow (starts 29 October and 30 October respectively).

source: Boarding.no

Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd. on Wednesday named its new long haul international airline “V Australia,” which it hopes will commence flights between Australia and the U.S. west coast late next year.

Virgin Blue, the Australian branch of British mogul Richard Branson’s budget airline, received Australian regulatory approval Monday to fly 10 services a week to destinations expected to include Los Angeles and San Francisco.

However, under the existing bilateral rights agreement between the countries, U.S. regulatory approval is still needed.

source: Forbes

Flybe’s new rewards system gives its passengers two points per return flight, or four points for its “‘economy plus'” upgraded service per return flight, with half as many points offered for single flights.

For 16 points Flybe will give customers a free return flight, and for 20 points the airline offers a year’s free access to its VIP airport lounge.

source: travelbite.co.uk

Australian airline Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd said on Wednesday it planned to invest A$70 million ($62 million) in a new long-haul carrier it hopes will be flying on lucrative United States routes by late 2008.

The new airline, called V Australia, still needs U.S. regulatory approval for its plan to operate 10 weekly services between Australia and the United States, which requires changes to existing bilateral air service agreements.

source: Reuters

Air India Express, the low-cost international subsidiary of Air India (the new carrier being formed by merging Air-India with Indian Airlines), has finalised plans to fly limited domestic routes in the southern and eastern sectors.

Starting this October, Air India Express will fly Cochin-Chennai, Cochin-Hyderabad, Cochin-Bangalore, Bangalore-Chennai, Chennai-Kolkata, Hyderabad-Kolkata and Kolkata-Agartala.

“‘These services will be point-to-point domestic services and not seamless operations to international destinations. We have plans to start daily services on the Cochin-Bangalore-Chennai route later,’” said an official spokesperson.

source: business-standard.com