news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

India’s largest private airline, Jet Airways, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Belgium’s Brussels Airlines to provide travellers a seamless connection between Europe, the US, Canada, Africa and India.

Jet Airways has signed a MoU with Brussels Airlines implementing code-sharing, a frequent flyer partnership and through check-in facilities, a company statement said adding, Brussels Airlines would code-share on Jet Airways’ flights between Brussels and Mumbai, Delhi and Toronto.

Virgin Atlantic said it plans to launch twice-weekly direct services between London Heathrow and Mauritius on October 28.

Sir Richard Branson’s airline said the new service to the Indian Ocean island would bring its total number of destinations to 29, with Kingston in Jamaica being the 30th route to be launched two days later.

source: hemscott.com

Clickair will start operating to Malta twice weekly from this month to October with a capacity of 15,000 passengers both ways. It is estimated that this airline will be carrying this year over 5,000 passengers one way – about 80 per cent of them tourists.

The Minister for Tourism and Culture Francis Zammit Dimech addressed a press conference at the Malta International Airport (MIA) on the occasion of the commencement of Click Air operations from and to Barcelona. He said that adding another low cost airline to the network of airlines operating to our country was good news for our tourism industry.

British low-cost airline easyJet reported a 13.8 per cent increase in May passenger numbers today, and said it would offset falling revenues per seat by cutting costs.

Average loadings fell 0.3 percentage points to 83.6 per cent of capacity. “‘Strong load factors, which were broadly in line with last year, were supported by targeted promotional activity and low lead-in fares,'” it said in a statement.

“‘For the second half we anticipate total revenue per seat to decline in the region of 5 per cent to 10 per cent versus last year,'” it added.

source: ireland.com

Wizzair, Central and Eastern Europe’s largest low fare airline and Italian low-cost carrier Air Italy, have become the latest airlines to add to Stansted Airport’s growing route network.

Air Italy will link the romantic city of Verona, famous as the home of Romeo and Juliet, and Wizzair has launched its first service to the old Polish capital of Katowice.

Flights to Brussels also return as Ryanair relaunches services to Charleroi.

Australian airline Jetstar will double its direct services between Sydney and Bali to four times weekly from 28 October, in response to the bounce back in Australian traveller demand and the ongoing recovery of the island’s tourism industry.

The additional two weekly A330 services from Sydney will see the low cost carrier operating six flights a week between the Australian east coast and Bali.

source: MICEBTN

A new long haul, low-cost airline, seeking to capitalize on the presence of a strong migrant population residing in the UK that likes to travel to the Indian sub-continent in order to maintain family and country ties, is likely to begin operations this summer. The start-up, Air Sylhet, will initially fly direct to Asian and Middle Eastern destinations, and expand operations in subsequent stages.

source: domain-b.com

Ryanair Holdings PLC posted a record full-year 2006 profit Tuesday amid higher fuel prices and strong competition, but offered a cautious forecast for 2007.

The Dublin-based airline said net income, excluding exceptional items, rose 33 percent to 401.4 million euros ($541.7 million) in the 12 months through March 31, while sales rose 32 percent to nearly 2.24 billion euros ($3.02 billion).

But chief executive Michael O’Leary said he expected to post less stellar growth in 2007, with overall profit growth slowing to 5 percent, mirroring the percentage drop for an average ticket.

source: WTOPnews.com

Korean Air has confirmed that it is to launch a new low cost carrier within the next 3 years.

Since 2005, Korean Air organized a special task force to study the feasibility of operating its own low cost carrier. For the new airline, Korean Air is considering using one of its Hanjin Group affiliates, Korea Airport Service, which has charter flight operation experience, rather than setting up a new company. Korean Air is part of the Hanjin Group, one of the world’s largest transportation conglomerates.

source: asiatraveltips.com

Ryanair came in for renewed criticism from environmental campaigners yesterday after it launched a route in direct competition with Eurostar.

Europe’s largest low-cost carrier reopened its Stansted to Brussels service yesterday, taking on the cross-channel train operator, whose passengers generate a tenth as much carbon dioxide per journey as plane travellers.

source: Guardian.co.uk