news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Budget airline flybe, formerly known as British European, today signed an order for £520 million worth of new planes, some of which will be based at Edinburgh.

The contract, with Bombardier Aerospace of Canada, involves 17 firm orders for Q400 turboprops and an option to take a further 20, making it the largest aircraft deal signed so far this year. The first of the planes will arrive in June this year, with the other 16 over the next three years.

source: Evening News

In a joint letter written to Continental Airlines employees, company chairman Larry Kellner and president Jeff Smisek say that a merger with United Airlines or any other air carrier will not take place.

More than 45,000 Continental employees received the letter by e-mail Sunday following a meeting with the Continental Board of Directors. The board unanimously supported a management recommendation that the company not pursue a merger with another airline.

The two executives say that Continental still plans to consider potential alliances and membership in SkyTeam, but alternatives will also be considered in place of SkyTeam.

source: My Fox

When Eos Airlines Inc. launched its first flights in 2005, the startup carrier named for a Greek goddess came with enthusiastic business travelers looking for more space who didn’t mind hefty fares for premium service across the Atlantic.

The airline reconfigured Boeing 757s meant for 220 passengers with 48 seats that could extend into a fully flat bed. Flights served wine, champagne, cocktails and gourmet foods. There were individual DVD players, and helicopter rides to the airport were offered to some travelers.

source: Associated Press

Italy’s failing flag-carrier, Alitalia, faces a crucial week when its future looks likely to be decided at least as much by politics as economics.

Having made the salvation of the group’s “‘Italianness'” central to his successful election campaign, Silvio Berlusconi has to deliver on the promise of an alternative solution to the bid tabled and then withdrawn by Air France-KLM. The group has only enough cash to stay airborne until about the end of May.

Representatives of the incoming and outgoing governments agreed to find a way to keep Alitalia going while its fate was decided. Sources close to the talks said it could include a line of credit worth €100m (£80m) to €150m.

source: Guardian.co.uk

Two disgruntled British Airways passengers have heaped more embarrassment on the airline by a posting a musical video mocking Terminal 5 on the internet.

Tim Soong turned to satire after BA managed to wreck his wedding plans by losing his luggage, leaving he and his best man, Andy Baynes, without their suits. His fiancée, Sokha Nhim, was also left minus her dress.

The video they made about the airline has become a runaway success on the video-sharing website YouTube and the song, which is likely to be released as a single, is getting repeated plays on London radio stations.

source: Telegraph.co.uk

Irish airline Aer Lingus is refusing to honour an online offer which mistakenly sold business class transatlantic flights for five euros (eight dollars, four pounds), a spokesman said Thursday.

The flights would normally sell for 1,775 euros one way, said Enda Corneille, Aer Lingus director of corporate affairs who apologised to the customers concerned.

“It is a genuine mistake, a fundamental mistake on our part. We rectified it as quickly as we could. We have contacted the customers and given them the opportunity to re-book,” he told RTE state radio.

source: Yahoo!

Low cost airline easyJet broke advertising rules by raising fares after promising a 25 per cent discount on all its routes, a watchdog said today.

Some passengers taking advantage of the Easter deal would have paid more for a seat than before it was introduced, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled.

It told easyJet not to use the claim again unless it made clear that prices, although discounted, could rise during the promotion.

source: scotsman.com

Ryanair and easyJet are threatening to withhold payments to BAA in a row over landing fees at Gatwick and Stansted.

Ryanair said yesterday that it will refuse to pay the latest price increases if BAA “‘continues to abuse its monopoly'”. EasyJet asked BAA chief executive Colin Matthews to accept a deferral of payments pending a judicial review of the increase in take-off and landing fees at Gatwick to £6.97 a passenger, with annual increases capped at 2% above inflation.

source: Guardian.co.uk

The Moroccan low-cost airline Atlas-blue launches carbon offset contribution dynamically calculated for every itinerary.

The Moroccan Low-Cost airline Atlas-blue subsidiary of Royal Air Maroc became the very first carrier in Africa and only the second serving the European continent, to offer carbon offsets as an integrated part of its booking platform.

source: 4hoteliers.com

Late flights and lost bags, to say nothing of higher fares, are making air travelers grumpy, an annual survey of airline quality says.

The industry posted declines last year in every area of the Airline Quality Rating, amid rising fuel prices, safety problems and bankruptcy filings that shut down three carriers last week alone.

The biggest change was in the rate of consumer complaints, up 60 percent overall. The rate more than doubled at US Airways and Comair, and rose for 15 of the 16 airlines included in the study. The exception was Mesa Airlines.

On-time arrivals dropped for the fifth straight year, with more than one-quarter of all flights late, according to the survey. The rates of passengers bumped from overbooked flights and bags lost, stolen or damaged also jumped in 2007.

source: thetimesonline.com