news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

German airline Deutsche Lufthansa said it would initiate further cost-cutting in 2012 with details it will reveal in the first quarter of the year.

“‘In the new and constantly changing environment in which we operate, it takes an enormous effort simply to aim to grow with the market,'” Lufthansa Chief Executive Officer Christoph Franz said in a company newsletter.

Franz said the company would post a profit in 2011, but the numbers were “‘well below'” what it needed to maintain the current operation strategy.

source: upi.com

The merger of two major Latin American airlines has been approved, creating the largest carrier in the region.

Brazil’s anti-trust authorities said they approved the merger of the Brazilian airline TAM with Chile’s LAN, first proposed in 2010.

The new airline, LATAM, is valued at about $14.5bn (£9.4bn) and will represent 6% of global air transport.

Last year, TAM and LAN flew more than 45 million passengers and 754,777 tonnes of cargo.

The combined airline would fly to 115 destinations in 23 countries, with a 40,000-strong workforce.

source: bbc.co.uk

Delta Air Lines Inc. is boosting its flying out of New York’s LaGuardia airport, adding routes that target American Airlines and put it in a better position to compete against United.

Delta says the additions make it the biggest airline between the New York area and cities in the U.S. That should help it grab more business travelers.

The list of added cities reads like a map of the hubs of competing airlines. Delta is adding Miami and Dallas, both American Airlines hubs. It will also fly to Houston and Denver, which are both United hubs, and Charlotte, which is a hub for US Airways.

source: abcnews.go.com

Travelling alone on an aircraft can be a lottery. But now the Dutch airline, KLM, is offering passengers the chance to pick who they sit next to by using Facebook and LinkedIn profiles.

It is developing an internet service known as “‘meet and seat’” which will give fliers access to to their fellow travellers’ Facebook and LinkedIn profiles.

The scheme will be launched next year and KLM admitted that many details still have to be worked out.

source: Telegraph.co.uk

The owner of British Midland International (BMI), Lufthansa, has said it has not yet decided on a buyer for the carrier.

In November the German airline signed an agreement with BA owner, International Airlines Group (IAG), to work towards a final deal.

However, the agreement was not exclusive and Lufthansa has now said it also has a deal with Virgin.

It means that both carriers still have a chance of buying BMI.

source: BBC.co.uk

Customers flying with bmi, British Midland International, will now enjoy a better inflight dining experience, as the airline has launched a new range of products onboard its flights.

A new bespoke and elegant crockery range, contemporary cutlery and a new set of glassware have been introduced in the Business Class cabin. Customers travelling in Economy will also benefit from new dining ware and cutlery designed to enhance the dining experience.

British Airways has launched a new digital magazine for members of its ‘Executive Club’ to celebrate the services relaunch.

Sporting a clean design and simple navigation ‘’The Club” is designed to be easily accessible to millions of Club members.

The Club is published by Cedar Communications, who already oversee BA’s inflight magazines ‘High Life’, ‘Business life’ and ‘First Life.’

source: thedrum.co.uk

Students at the ‘Miami School of Advertising’ have developed a concept for airline Virgin Atlantic that allows people to book holidays according to their weather preferences, rather than by country or city.

The Virgin “‘Book By Weather'” application would allow users to select a holiday destination based on the preferred temperature, cloud cover, average rainfall, wind speed, humidity and UV strength. The students — Otilia Dobrea and Glen Hansen — propose that this could take the form of a dashboard with a sliding scale for each of the weather conditions which customers could use as an alternative to the traditional search functionality.

source: wired.co.uk

For US Airways, the merger-hungry fifth-largest U.S. airline, a bankrupt American Airlines may present an irresistible takeover target, but many in the aviation world think the headaches and hassles of consolidation are not worth the payoff of such a tie-up.

American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday in a bid to shed some of its uncompetitive costs and restructure its debt.

Bankruptcy leaves the company vulnerable to potential takeover attempts from would-be suitors like US Airways, whose chief executive Doug Parker has long promoted consolidation as a means to slim down an industry plagued by overcapacity. US Airways once tried and failed to buy Delta Air Lines as it restructured in bankruptcy.

source: Reuters

British Airways and Iberia parent IAG  said its transatlantic joint venture with American Airlines would continue to operate as normal after AMR Corp, the carrier’s parent company, filed for bankruptcy protection.

“We have every confidence in the future of American Airlines. We are pleased they are taking this step which shows commitment and determination,” IAG, which has a joint venture with American Airlines on transatlantic routes, said in a statement on Tuesday.

source: Reuters.com