news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Delta Air Lines and Comair, along with their fellow carriers, dramatically improved their on-time flight averages in September.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report ranked Delta 12th of 21 airlines in September, with 82 percent of its fights arriving on time, compared to 69.6 percent in August.

Comair ranked 13th, moving its on-time average to 80.2 percent from 67.2 percent the month before.

source: Business Courier

The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) has awarded Jetstar the “CAPA Low Cost Airline of the Year” in the Asia Pacific region, the second time the value based carrier has won the prestigious annual award in its short operational history.

Jetstar Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce was in Singapore to accept the award at CAPA’s Gala Awards Dinner and to participate in the Centre’s annual conference featuring the Asia Pacific region’s pre-eminent aviation leaders.

source: e-Travel Blackboard

Singapore Airlines has informed travellers that there will be a strict ban on any sexual liaisons onboard its Airbus A380 flights.

Singapore Airlines has taken the unusual step of placing a pre-emptive ban on any sexual activity onboard its Airbus A380 flights.

Fears that some passengers could get a little too comfortable on flights were based on the fact that first-class suites on the superjumbo will include a double bed and be separated from the main part of the plane.

However Singapore Airlines stressed that the suites are not soundproofed and activities of a certain volume would be noticeable to other passengers.

Police have arrested the co-pilot of a Virgin passenger jet on suspicion of being over the legal alcohol limit.

London police boarded the Virgin Atlantic Airbus on Sunday morning and arrested a 42-year-old first officer, minutes before the flight was due to depart.

The flight, bound for Miami, was delayed for several hours while substitute crew members were found.

source: News.co.au

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says that in 2011 the air transport industry will handle 2.75 billion passengers (620 million more passengers than in 2006) and 36 million tonnes of international freight (7.5 million tonnes more than in 2006) in its latest passenger and freight traffic forecasts projections.

IATA traffic forecasts are based on a comprehensive survey of airline expectations for major route areas.All figures are provisional and represent total reporting at time of publication plus estimates for missing data.

International passenger demand is expected to rise from 760 million passengers in 2006 to 980 million in 2011 at an annual average growth rate (AAGR) of 5.1 per cent. This will be lower than the 7.4 per cent AAGR recorded during 2002-2006, largely due to slightly slower global economic growth.

source: Domain-b.com

Air travel across the pond is set for a major shake-up. After decades of dominance by European national airlines and a handful of American carriers on lucrative transatlantic routes, the U.S. and the European Union signed the so-called Open Skies Agreement in April to unshackle air travel. Among other things, the agreement will make it possible for, say, a Spanish airline to shuttle passengers from Britain to the U.S., or for American carriers to drop off passengers in one European country, then pick up more and relay them to another destination.

Now, at last, the reverberations from the agreement, which takes full effect in March, 2008, are starting to be felt. On Oct. 17, Delta Airlines and Air France-KLM announced a landmark deal to share costs and revenues on transatlantic routes. Under the agreement, Air France will give three of its slots at London’s Heathrow airport”Europe’s most important hub to the U.S.”to Delta to use for flights to New York and Atlanta. The French carrier also will start a new service between London and Los Angeles.

source: BusinessWeek

Budget airline Fly Monarch, best known for flying hundreds of thousands of British holidaymakers off to Spain and other popular European holiday destinations, has announced that it is adding PayPal to its accepted payment methods.

The first airline in the UK to do so, Fly Monarch joins US airlines including US Airways, Southwest and Northwest Airlines in accepting PayPal as a payment method alongside credit and debit cards.

source: ITpro

Airlines are embracing self-service check-in technology as passengers seek to avoid congested airport terminals.

More than half of the airlines surveyed by air transport IT services company SITA now offer online check-in facilities while 89 per cent expect to offer the service within the next two years.

Among the low-cost airlines surveyed and the top 25 airlines (in terms of passenger numbers), the implementation of web check-in is 100 per cent.

The survey found on average 21 per cent of passengers use online check-in and this is expected to increase to 35 per cent by the end of 2008.

source: silicon.com

Budget airline easyJet has unveiled a brand new look for its cabin crew – designed by the mile-high workers themselves.

The stylish and more formal self-desgined uniform replaces the previous black trousers and orange shirts worn by cabin crew on flights.

It is made up of a number of different pieces, including a black suit, orange or white shirt, waistcoat and orange necktie, so that crew can create their own combination in which they
fell most comfortable.

source: biggleswadetoday.co.uk

The regional airline Flyglobespan has had one of its flying licences suspended as a result of serious concerns about its operations.

Several of the Edinburgh-based firm’s services to North America have been affected.

The firm has had its ‘ETOPS’ licence, which lets it fly over large expanses of water with two engines, suspended.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it is the first time in 15 years a UK operator has lost ETOPS approval.

source: BBC