news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

The airport security union representing workers at Brussels South Charleroi Airport signed an agreement with the Wallonian regional government which guarantees a minimum level of service in the event of future strikes.

The agreement guarantees that, in the event of a grievance, all other avenues of dialogue will be exploited before a strike is called.

The agreement comes following reports last week that Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair was to suspend flights from the airport from November following a series of ‘wildcat’ strikes.

source: Reuters

The Vatican is to set up its own charter airline service to fly pilgrims to shrines and holy sites.

The first flight, which is already sold out, takes off from Rome at the end of August and will fly to Lourdes.

Other routes to places of pilgrimage around the world are also expected to be introduced.

The Airbus A380, the world’s biggest passenger plane, is to enter service on October 25 with launch client Singapore Airlines, the companies announced today.

After an 18-month delay to the delivery caused by manufacturing problems, the plane is to carry its first paying passengers on a longhaul route between Singapore and Sydney.

source: News.com.au

Sweden has suspended its commercial flights to and from Iraq following a report that an aircraft traveling to Stockholm was targeted by attackers, a spokesman for the country’s Civil Aviation Authority says.

Eva-Mari Lofqvist, the agency’s information officer, told CNN that the move was made Friday and will be in effect “‘until further notice.'”

Last Wednesday, a Nordic Airways flight carrying around 120 passengers was headed from Sulaimaniya in the northern Iraqi Kurdish region to the Swedish capital, Stockholm, when the incident occurred.

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

British Airways relinquished a top airline of the year prize – plunging from first place in 2006 to tenth in this year’s popularity table.

But there was some consolation for beleaguered BA when it was named best airline in Europe and best transatlantic carrier in the 2007 awards by research company Skytrax.

source: scotsman.com

Two people were killed and four others seriously injured on Thursday in an explosion at an airport in the California desert, news reports said.

The Bakersfield Californian newspaper reported that two people had been killed and four others were in critical condition following the blast at Mojave Airport.

Private spaceship designer Burt Rutan, who has partnered with Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen and British airline tycoon Richard Branson to form a space tourism company, has facilities at Mojave Airport.

source: Reuters

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

Business class carrier Eos Airlines has opened its new departure lounge at Stansted Airport.

The gate-side facility, named Club 48, features two 50-inch widescreen TVs, computers, Wi-Fi, a bar and catering services.

Furnishings are finished in leather, granite and frosted glass, while closed-off seating areas offer privacy for customers.

A Brazilian TAM airliner skidded off a runway on landing at a Sao Paulo airport on Tuesday and crashed into a building, bursting into flames and killing up to 200 people, according to one official.

“‘There’s 200 killed over there,'” Manuel Antonio da Silva Araujo, a colonel in Sao Paulo’s fire department said, according to the online edition of the Folha de Sao Paulo daily. He said none of the 176 people aboard Tam Airlines Flight 3054 could have survived such a crash.

Late in the night, 16 people who were in the building at the time of the crash were confirmed dead, with 12 more injured, officials said as rescue operations continued.

source: Canada.com