news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

All Nippon Airways (ANA) says if half its travelers used the bathroom before hopping on the plane, it would reduce carbon dioxide by 4.2 tons per month.

The unorthodox request is all part of the airline’s “‘e-Flight'” promotional program to reduce the amount of carbon that is expelled each day on its twice-a-day international flights to Singapore and its 38 domestic routes.

As another part of the program, the airline is using recycled paper cups and plastic bottles, and eliminating glass bottles. In-flight educational films also will be shown, and passengers are encouraged to pack light.

source: nydailynews.com

British Airways is understood to have joined Qantas and American Airlines in a three-strong investment consortium bidding to drag Japan Airlines (JAL) back from the brink of financial collapse.

Other offers to buy stakes in JAL are believed to have come from Korean Airlines and Air France-KLM.

The rehabilitation of JAL, which is bathed in red ink and has been allowed to operate with huge inefficiencies, poses a severe political challenge to the new administration of prime minister Yukio Hatoyama, who was only inaugurated two days ago.

source: Times Online

Design Q, a British design firm, has proposed a radical change in the manner in which you sit inside an aircraft.

The company has come up with an innovative, high-density configuration for new sideways seating on airplanes to cut airlines’ costs by maximising the number of passengers on board.

If the new design is implemented by cash-strapped airlines, you will see a row of seats facing inward (with your backs to the windows) on each side of the plane and two rows running back-to-back all along the middle of the aircraft. This will be for flights of one hour duration or less.

Military aircraft carrying soldiers already have such a seating arrangement.

source: rediff.com

German flag carrier Lufthansa has completed the takeover of rival Austrian Airlines following months of tense negotiations.

The Cologne based airline will pay around €166 million (£150 million) for private Austrian Airlines shares while also paying €350,000 for the stake presently controlled by the Austrian government.

In 2008, 10.7 million passengers flew with the Austrian Airlines Group to 120 different destinations. Austrian Airlines currently operates a fleet of 91 aircraft.

source: travelbite.co.uk

The global economic crisis took a heavy toll on travel to and from Britain last year, figures released on Thursday showed, while the first quarter of 2009 was also gloomy for the tourism industry.

Visits to Britain fell to 31.9 million, down 2.7 percent from 2007 and the first fall since 2001, when the 9/11 attacks and a foot-and-mouth outbreak dented global travel, a report by the Office for National Statistics showed.

Visits by Britons abroad also dropped in 2008, marking the first decline in two-way travel — both from Britain and to it — since the Gulf War in 1991.

In the first quarter of this year, visits by British residents abroad fell by 21 percent year-on-year, following a 9 percent fall in the last quarter of 2008.

source: Reuters

Branson, whose Virgin Group controls BA rival Virgin Atlantic, said in a statement that an alliance between BA and American would strangle airline competition on routes between London’s Heathrow Airport and the United States.

“‘If the proposed merger between BA and American Airlines is allowed to go ahead, then the result for passengers, employees, communities and for fair and healthy competition, would be disastrous,'” Branson said.

Virgin Atlantic has asked the U.S. Department of Transportation to reject the proposed alliance, which would allow BA and American Airlines to cooperate on schedules, fares and cost-cutting.

source: Reuters

BA and Virgin Atlantic are among five groups taking the lead in volunteering to be included in global climate change agreement that could open the way for extending the growing emissions trading system to the airline industry.

Environmental groups have strongly criticised airlines for their reluctance to take a climate change initiative. Airlines are estimated to account for just 2pc of global pollution but with the EU planning to include aviation in its emissions trading scheme from 2012 there is growing pressure for airlines to fall in line.source: telegraph.co.uk

The world’s airline industry is heading for more consolidation because of the global recession and drop in air travel, according to the chief executive officer of Etihad Airways, the United Arab Emirates’ state-owned airline.

Combinations such as Air France-KLM Group, Europe’s biggest airline, will probably become more common as companies seek to cut costs, James Hogan said. Etihad, based in Abu Dhabi, will seek ways to work more closely with Qantas Airways Ltd., Australia’s largest carrier.

“‘We are already seeing a number of airlines under huge pressure,’” Hogan said. “‘Airlines will have to make decisions as any other business does with regard to their network, their fleet and whether they rationalize, consolidate or continue to invest in expansion.’”

source: Bloomberg

Trials of a new generation of scanners are due to take place at a number of airports across the EU next year.

The move to scrap the restrictions, follows talks with the industry and pressure from the aviation trade body, the International Air Transport Association.

It is now hoped that the restriction will start to be removed in six months to a year’s time.

For more than two years passengers have had to display their toiletries in a clear plastic bag before being allowed through security.

source: telegraph.co.uk

Based on a poll of 2,000 British consumers, PwC notes that people were increasingly unwilling to commit to a holiday months ahead, even though they were still determined to take a holiday.

The PwC poll, however, indicated that people were preparing to wait for the late deals, which were performing well. Industry is doing its best to reverse the trend with exclusive deals, reduced capacity and increased differentiation in their product.

Consumer willingness to downgrade, but not cancel, their holidays was a sign that people looked forward to escape the recession, offering a sign of hope for the travel industry.

source: DI-VE