news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Spirit Airlines will penalize travelers checking a second suitcase by charging a $10 fee for the second bag.Once known for its liberal baggage policies, the second-largest carrier at Detroit Metro Airport will now have the strictest among U.S. airlines.

Spirit Airlines will penalize travelers checking a second suitcase by charging a $10 fee for the second bag.

Once known for its liberal baggage policies, the second-largest carrier at Detroit Metro Airport will now have the strictest among U.S. airlines.

When the inaugural Sky Express flight took off from Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport for Sochi last Monday afternoon, the low-cost airline phenomenon familiar in Europe and the United States finally came to Russia.

The brainchild of Boris Abramovich, general director of the country’s third-largest carrier, KrasAir, Sky Express is the first budget airline to start operating in the country. With a handful of competitors expected to follow, the airline looks set to change the face of domestic air travel by offering tickets for as little as 500 rubles ($19).

source: St Petersbourg Times

Maldives can expect to see a rapid growth in the number of tourists from China, Hong Kong and Macau following the introduction of direct flights from the region with a new budget fare airline.

Viva Macau is the latest entrant in the fast-growing low-fare sector of the airline industry. Maldives is one of the new airline’s launch destinations and Viva Macau believe it will be an increasingly popular route.

It is the only airline in Greater China that offers non-stop direct flights to Maldives, offering customers an opportunity to enjoy the country’s renowned dive sites and beaches.

source: Minivannews

As BA announces more cabin crew strikes and flight cancellations next week, low cost customer friendly airline Thomsonfly is offering flights at taxes only on BA affected routes to Prague and Salzburg.

Thomsonfly wants to ensure no one misses out on their travel plans, so has dug deep and released first-come first-served tickets to fly with them instead, paying just taxes and charges. This applies to selected flights from London Gatwick, London Luton and Bournemouth airports.

source: Easier

leeds-based low cost airline Jet2 is claiming an industry first by rolling out hand-held entertainment systems for passengers across its network.

The airline has piloted the service on a number of routes from Leeds-Bradford Airport ahead of today’s announcement.
The digital devices, available to hire from £5, offer a choice of more than 50 TV programmes, 50 music videos and 100 CD albums.

source: Leedstoday

Already preparing to launch flights to four new cities this year, Spirit Airlines’ CEO says the carrier could add at least that number or more in 2007 as it continues its push into Latin America and the Caribbean.

Spirit plans to start service from Fort Lauderdale to St. Maarten, Port-au-Prince and Caracas, Venezuela, in April. Flights to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, start in March. CEO Ben Baldanza told The DAILY he is in final discussions on more destinations, which he will unveil in the coming weeks.

The carrier’s focus on international spots from its Fort Lauderdale base to Latin and Central America, as well as the Caribbean, should move the carrier’s international capacity from 25% at the end of last year to 50% in 2007, Baldanza said. The airline is taking delivery of six Airbus aircraft in 2007 and three in 2008. Aircraft arriving in the next two years are part of a previous Airbus order. Earlier this week, Spirit tapped Airbus for 30 more A319s for delivery in 2009 through 2013.

source: Aviationweek.com

GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, Brazil’s low-cost, low-fare airline, finished 2006 as one of the largest e-commerce companies in Brazil, effecting R$ 3.7 billion in gross ticket sales through its website, www.voegol.com.br . Internet sales accounted for 82% of the Company’s R$ 4.6 billion total gross sales during 2006. Gross operating revenues from passengers flown in 2006 were approximately R$ 3.7 billion, and total net operating revenues were approximately R$ 3.8 billion.

source: Yahoo!

Low-cost airline Ryanair has launched a campaign offering 1 mln free flights to passengers who write to UK chancellor Gordon Brown to voice their disapproval about the forthcoming 10 stg air passenger duty bill.

The government, which raised the charge from 5 stg, said the increase is a response to growing fears the aviation industry is a significant contributor to global warming.

source: Forbes

Jetstar, the low-cost unit of Australia’s Qantas Airways, will shift its focus from short-haul flights to long-haul services this year, the carrier’s chief executive said Tuesday, becoming the latest airline to turn its attention to the emerging market for cheap, long-distance flights.

Jetstar’s long-haul service, which includes flights from Melbourne and Sydney to destinations such as Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand, as well as Honolulu and Bali, Indonesia, broke even in December 2006 after one month of operations, Chief Executive Alan Joyce said at a conference on the Asia-Pacific budget airline industry.

source: Forbes

Imagine flying round trip between New York City and Rome for less money than you’d pay to take a shuttle flight round trip between New York and Boston. Imagine flying your family of four — or any group of four — on a springtime trip to the Eternal City for a total airfare cost of less than $1,200 for the entire group.

This spring, you’ll be able to make that round trip from New York for $299 per person from April 21-May 8 aboard an Italian airline called Eurofly. This promotional airfare might be the lowest per mile in aviation history.

Eurofly has been operating throughout the world for more than 15 years, but it did so in the past as a charter airline for Alitalia. Last year, it began flying the Atlantic for the first time as an independent carrier under its own name, from New York to Italy’s Rome, Bologna, Naples and Palermo, Sicily. The $299 round-trip fare, which will be guaranteed to at least 1,000 passengers, is obviously an attempt by the Italian company to make a big splash, impressing its name on the minds of American travelers.

source: SFGate.com