news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

British Airways, American Airlines and Spanish carrier Iberia have signed off on a long-awaited strategic alliance that will see them cooperate on flights between Europe and North America.

The three airlines won approval from the U.S. government and the European Union to work together in July.

Faced with mounting competition from low-cost, no-frills upstarts, the notoriously low-margin airline industry has been going through a period of rapid consolidation and analysts say American Airlines needs a merger partner if it is to keep up amid a wave of mergers in its home market.

source: Reuters.com

Lufthansa Group will be purchasing 48 new aircraft at a value of 3.5  billion Euros to add to the group’s fleet and to replace older aircraft.

Lufthansa Passenger Airlines will receive three Airbus A330-300s and  twenty Airbus of the A320-family, whilst Lufthansa Regional will receive  eight new Embraer 195 aircraft.

It seems almost too good to be true. A job where you get to travel the world and have people listen to what you think of the whole experience.

But that’s exactly what’s being offered by Finland’s flagship airline Finnair.

This month the airline is searching for four “‘Quality Hunters”’ to scour the globe and report back on all that’s good – and not so good.

The “‘Quality Hunters”’ will travel to cities in Europe, Asia and the US throughout October and November at the same time “‘assessing flights, airports and destinations.”’

source: The Independent

British Airways has changed its longstanding policy of banning lone male travellers from sitting next to unaccompanied children on its flights.

The airline had been sued by a traveller who said the policy was discriminatory – something BA denied. The case was settled and BA agreed to a review. From now on, unaccompanied children will be seated in a special area on BA planes.

In the UK, it is up to individual airlines to decide on how to treat unaccompanied minors.

source: BBC News

American Airlines is offering travelers a chance to sit in the front few rows of the coach section and the ability to board early.

But, like so many things in the airline industry today, it’ll cost you.

American Airlines announced that its “‘Express Seats'” option will let passengers pick any remaining seats in the first few rows of the coach section. It also lets them get on the airplane in the first boarding group along with elite frequent fliers, people sitting in first- or business class and full-fare customers.

source: dallasnews.com

Leading Latin American airlines LAN of Chile and Tam of Brazil have announced merger plans in a bold bid to position themselves for future growth a fast-consolidating global industry.

“‘As the world industry consolidates we cannot stand still,’” said Enrique Cueto, the chief executive of LAN who will also be chief executive of the new parent company, to be called Latam Airline Group.

The new group says it expects to achieve “‘real and achievable’” annual synergies of $400m through alignment of passenger networks, growth in cargo operations in Brazil and internationally and cost savings.

The two airlines carried a combined 45m passengers and 832,000 tons of cargo in 2009. Merged, they will operate 115 destinations to 23 cities, with a fleet of 220 planes and 40,000 employees.

source: FT.com

Debt-ridden airline Mexicana de Aviacion needs a cash injection of at least $100 million to keep flying, the company’s chief executive said on Tuesday.

Time is ticking for troubled Mexicana, which has ceased flying more than a dozen international routes and stopped selling tickets after requesting creditor protection last week under Mexico’s insolvency law, or ‘concurso mercantil’. The company has yet to be declared bankrupt.

Mexico’s air industry was hit hard in 2009 by a severe economic downturn in Mexico and an outbreak of the H1N1 flu that deterred travelers for months.

source: Reuters

Turkish Airlines has told 28 flight attendants that they must shape up or ship out.

The employees ” 15 men and 13 women ” have been given six months to lose weight. In the meantime, they’ve been placed on unpaid leave.

If the crew members fail to lose sufficient weight, they will be taken off flights and assigned to ground positions.

“‘Weight and height are important factors at all airlines. These criteria are important both in terms of appearance and the ability to move about,’” Turkish Airlines said in a statement.

source: Orlando Sentinel.com

Pressure from Twitter users has made Air Canada fix a terminally ill boy’s wheelchair after it was damaged during a flight, his family has said.

Appeals for help from the aunt of 10-year-old Tanner Bawn went viral on the micro-blogging website.

Air Canada spokesman said the airline had acted as soon as they had heard about the problem. The airline contacted an overnight repair centre after hearing about the boy’s problems from other Twitter users and had the specialised chair returned to Tanner a day later.

source: BBC News

Ten years to the day after Concorde plunged from the skies near Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, victims of the tragedy have been remembered.

Families of the 113 people killed gathered at Gonesse just outside the French capital where the supersonic jet crashed onto a hotel after take-off.

The Concorde programme itself never recovered. The mythical aircraft was finally retired in 2003.

Controversy still surrounds what went wrong. The verdict in a manslaughter case is due in December.

source: EuroNews