news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Etihad Airways, based in Abu Dhabi, UAE, is considering an investment in Air Berlin, Germany’s second-largest airline.

The company’s senior management has been intensively studying the idea for several weeks; no decision has been made.

The German carrier has a well-established, dense and non-centered European and domestic network currently served by a fleet of 112 aircraft. Its biggest bases are Duesseldorf and Berlin — two airports that Etihad does not serve. To a limited degree, Air Berlin could feed Etihad’s Munich services and to an even lesser degree its Frankfurt departures. Slot constraints make reshaping of the network difficult to achieve.

source: aviationweek.com

The ambitious consolidation strategy piloted by British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh started to unravel yesterday after merger talks with Australian rival Qantas were terminated.

Discussions to create a global airline based in London and Sydney have been under strain since they became public at the beginning of this month, with Qantas boss Alan Joyce warning of “‘significant hurdles'” to a deal.

Days earlier Walsh had extolled the virtues of creating a “truly global” airline, adding the simultaneous pursuit of deals with Spain’s Iberia and with American Airlines would not hamper progress.

source: Guardian.co.uk

Jet Airways have entered into a codeshare and frequent flyer partnership on the Dubai-Mumbai and Delhi sectors. The flight will be operated by Jet Airways and will also carry the Emirates designator and will offer Emirates customers better access to flights across Jet’s comprehensive Indian network.

Codeshares will also apply on some Emitares operated flights from India to DXB offering a reciprocal arrangement and smooth transfers to Jet’s clientele wishing to connect to an Emirates onward flight.

source: alternativeairlines.com

Brussels Airlines is to become a member of the Star Alliance. The airline alliance has voted at its annual board meeting to accept the application of the carrier to become a future member.

The move follows Star Alliance member Lufthansa’s purchase of a 45% stake in the carrier back in September. The German carrier also has plans to take full ownership within two years.

Glenn Tilton, chairman, president and CEO of United Airlines, in his role as chairman of Star Alliance, said, “‘Brussels Airlines further strengthens the Star Alliance by offering greater connectivity throughout Europe and Africa to better serve the international travel needs of all our customers’.”

source: businesstravelworld.com

Irish government opposition is weakening to Ryanair’s 750 million euro ($952 million) bid for former state airline Aer Lingus.

The government, which owns more than 25 percent of the loss-making flag carrier, opposed Ryanair’s 2006 bid for Aer Lingus, which was blocked by the European Union on competition grounds.

A spokeswoman for the transport ministry said it would not comment until Ryanair submits its formal bid for Aer Lingus. Europe’s biggest budget airline said on Thursday it would publish the formal bid within the next two weeks.

source: Reuters

British Airways is in merger talks with the Australian airline Qantas in a deal that could create the world’s first global airline.

BA has also been discussing a merger with Iberia, the Spanish national carrier, and hopes to expand its alliance with American Airlines. The combination of the four would create the largest airline in the world which would be capable of carrying 198 million passengers a year – nearly six times BA’s current traffic.

Historically, the aviation industry has been highly fragmented, with each country trying to operate its own flag carrier and guard against competition.

source: Times Online

Lufthansa has launched an Italian subsidiary based in Milan and will begin services to the city four times a day from Heathrow at the end of March.

The German airline’s move comes as Italian carrier Alitalia remains in bankruptcy protection as it undergoes privatisation and a restructuring that will lead to a significant reduction in its network.

Lufthansa Italia will commence operations at Milan Malpensa on February 2 with a fleet of six aircraft. It will fly from Barcelona and Paris Charles de Gaulle to begin, adding services from Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest and Madrid in early March, and from Heathrow and Lisbon at the end of that month.

source: travelweekly.co.uk

The budget airline Ryanair is to make a fresh takeover offer for the Irish flag-carrier Aer Lingus. The all-cash offer would value Aer Lingus at 748m euros ($950m; £619m).

Ryanair’s previous offer for Aer Lingus, which valued it at 1.5bn euros, was blocked by the European Commission on competition grounds.

Other major shareholders include the Irish government and Aer Lingus employees, both of which rejected the takeover offer last time.

source: BBC

British airline Flybe is in talks to buy British Midland’s subsidiary operations bmi regional and bmi baby, the Mail on Sunday reported.

Lufthansa took over British Midland last month, but the German airline has indicated it is more interested in bmi’s long-haul routes and valuable Heathrow slots than in the two subsidiaries.

Bmi regional is UK-focused, while bmi baby is a low-cost airline that flies to a number of European destinations.

source: Reuters

Low-cost carriers topped the rankings of U.S. airlines for being on-time and uniting bags with passengers, while the big guys such as American Airlines brought up the rear.

Hawaiian Airlines was rated best at being on-time, at 92 percent for the January-June period. AirTran Airways was tops at handling baggage, and Southwest Airlines Co. best in customer complaints, at one for every 300,000 customers. JetBlue Airways had the fewest denied boardings.

AMR Corp.’s American Airlines was the worst in on-time performance, at just 63.2 percent. UAL Corp.’s United Airlines had the highest rate of customer complaints, seven times more than Southwest.

AMR’s American Eagle, a feeder airline for American, was the worst baggage handler, mishandling luggage more than three times as often as AirTran.

source: iht.com