news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

A new airline is taking to the skies over Saudi Arabia after being set up by Mango Aviation Partners, a UK based advisory business which specialises in the start-up of low fare airlines. Mango was awarded the contract to set up Sama by HRH Prince Bandar bin Khalid al Faisal, founder and chairman of the newly launched airline.

Mango was founded in 2004 by former senior executives of Go and Easyjet, and has worked on low fare airline start-ups all over the world.

source: pressdispensary.co.uk

JetBlue Airways has been named Best Low Cost/No Frills Airline by OAG, the global travel and transport information company, as part of their 2007 OAG Airline of the Year Awards. This marks the second year running that JetBlue has been named top airline in this category. The New York-based low-fare, low-cost carrier was among 42 airlines and airports that received nominations in 15 regional and global categories during the 25th Anniversary ceremony this week in London.

source: Webwire

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released its annual Safety Report, which says that 2006 was the safest year on record. There were 77 accidents in 2006, compared to 111 in 2005. Of these 77 accidents, 46 involved jet aircraft and 31 involved turbo-props.

“‘The safety results for 2006 are impressive. Air transport remains the safest form of travel. But we must do even better. With demand for air travel increasing at 5-6% per year, the accident rate must decrease just to keep the actual number of accidents in check. The goal will always be zero accidents. And the interim target is to reduce the industry rate to 0.49 accidents per million flights in 2008-a 25% improvement,'” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and CEO.

source: domain-B

British Airways has shrugged off its recent difficulties to be named airline of the year for the first time in almost 20 years.

The company was also voted top airline in three other categories – best transatlantic airline, best Europe to Asia and Australasia carrier, and best airline based in western Europe in the Airline of the Year Awards organised by travel information company OAG.

Last month figures showed that BA had lost more bags in 2006 than any other major European carrier.

The airline was also the hardest hit by the counter-terrorist measures introduced for passengers’ luggage last August, which led to BA having to cancel hundreds of flights. And last Christmas, the carrier had to put up with thick fog which wrecked schedules at Heathrow.

source: Guardian

Four days after acquiring Sahara Airlines, the Naresh Goyal promoted Jet Airways India Ltd. announced on Monday that it will operate the troubled rival as a separate company, which will be profitable in its first year.

New Delhi-based Air Sahara will be renamed Jet Lite, Goyal said on the sidelines of a news conference in Mumbai yesterday to unveil a new corporate identity of Jet.

source: indiainfoline.com

Ryanair is due to outline its opposition to the planned new terminal at Dublin Airport during an oral hearing in the city today.

The airline is one of seven objectors making submissions to An Bord Pleanala in relation to the planned development.

Yesterday, the Dublin Airport Authority made its case in favour of the terminal, which its plans to build for just under €400m.

source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk

UK regional airline Flybe said it has closed one of the operating bases of BA Connect, the loss-making former UK regional operation of British Airways PLC that it purchased last month, as it announced the appointment of a new chief financial officer.

Flybe said last month that it plans to cut about 200 jobs as part of the integration of BA Connect, which will lead to the closures of BA Connect’s head office in Manchester and an engineering centre on the Isle of Man.

The reductions are part of a plan to make cost savings and revenue gains of more than 40 mln stg a year to staunch similar annual losses accumulated by BA Connect in its last 12 months of operations, the FT said.

source: Forbes

Brazil’s TAM said it is about to become the first airline to promote itself in the Second Life online virtual world by offering cyberspace flights that correspond to its real-world international service.

Second Life, created by US-based Linden Lab, has millions of registered users and its own economy and currency, known as the Linden dollar, which can be exchanged for US dollars.

Several companies are already active in Second Life, including car maker Toyota, IBM and Reuters Group, which has a virtual news bureau there.

During this week, American Airlines was subjected to a legal act by the widow of Taisuke Matsuo, the passenger that on April 2005 was found dead in the toilette of an airline’s plane departed from Tokyo only two hours after the landing.

The man, that apparently had a hearth attack during the first leg of the trip to Indianapolis, was found only two hours after the arrival to the final destination, the O’Hare international airport of Chicago.

source: Avionews

India’s Jet Airways said on Thursday it had agreed to buy Air Sahara for INR14.5 billion rupees (USD$340 million), about 34 percent cheaper than an earlier deal it had abandoned.

The price includes INR5 billion that Jet had paid its smaller rival last year as a bank guarantee pending an acquisition, as well as INR4 billion that Jet will pay on or before April 20, said Harish Salve, a legal counsel for Jet.

The balance will be paid in equal, interest-free annual installments from March 2008 to 2011, he told reporters.

source: Airwise