news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

A new study from the University of California, Irvine suggests that it might pay to shop around before booking that Southwest ticket. The report concludes that last-minute airfares are more expensive on Southwest, on average, than on other airlines when consumers use online searches such as Orbitz or Travelocity.

The study’s author says his conclusions deflate the long-standing belief that Southwest, the dominant airline at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, is always the low-fare leader on last-minute flights.

source: Baltimore Sun

More options for travellers out of Hamilton International Airport.

Low-cost European style carrier Flyglobespan has launched its service between Hamilton and 13 destinations in the United Kingdom.

Federal Transportation Minister Lawrence Cannon was among those on hand for the launch, calling it the first example of the federal government’s “blue sky” policy at work. The open-skies agreement has eliminated certain restrictions on International travel.

source: AM 900

Four JetBlue employees and a city corrections officer have been charged with stealing credit card numbers from several unsuspecting airline passengers.

Prosecutors said the five used the cards to go on a spending spree at restaurants, liquor stores, and shops including Bloomingdale’s and Victoria’s Secret.

Investigators began looking at the group after one traveler rushing to catch a flight accidentally left his credit card behind at a JetBlue counter at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Later, someone used the card to run up $508 in charges, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said.

source: USA Today

Ryanair opens new routes from Dublin to Alicante, Spain, and Bydgoszcz and Gdansk in Poland today.

Alicante becomes Ryanair’s twelfth Spanish route from Dublin while the addition of Bydgoszcz and Gdansk brings Ryanair’s Polish routes from Dublin to eight.

source: hemscott.com

Three international airlines have stopped or changed their flights to Sri Lanka following air raids by Tamil Tigers near the capital’s international airport, officials said yesterday.

Hong Kong’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific and Dubai-based Emirates said they had suspended all flights to the island in the wake of Sunday’s pre-dawn air strike by the rebels.

fuente: gulf-times.com

The Latvian airline airBaltic carried 129,689 passengers in March 2007, or 34% more than in the same month in 2006, when airBaltic transported 96,851 passengers.

During the first quarter of 2007, airBaltic transported a total of 338,217 passengers, or 28% more than during the same period in 2006, when the total number of passengers was 264,803.

source: Boarding.no

Travel to Latin America has been on the upswing as countries there look to tourism for economic growth, and tour operators in the United States and Canada offer exotic vacations to the south. But until recently, getting around within Latin America ” even in popular countries like Mexico ” was a hassle often involving multiple plane changes or long bus rides over rough roads.

Now, thanks to an increase in low-cost airlines in Brazil and Mexico, which account for 60 percent of the Latin America’s air traffic, it’s getting easier to jet around.

In the last two years, at least five new low-cost carriers, including Click Mexicana, InterJet and Volaris, have started service in Mexico, according to ALTA, the Latin American Air Transport Association. And the low-cost airlines GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes, BRA and WebJet now account for more than 40 percent of Brazil’s domestic market.

Even some budget carriers from the United States have begun expanding to Latin America. Spirit Airlines started service to San Jose, Costa Rica, on April 5 and plans to serve Guatemala City from Fort Lauderdale and Los Angeles starting May 10 and 11 respectively. It also has filed for service to Caracas, Venezuela, and to Lima and Chiclayo in Peru.

source: The New York Times

Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline, has launched its first ever flights from Cardiff direct to the French capital city of Paris.

With fares from £34.99 one way including taxes and charges, travellers from Wales have been snapping up seats, bagging a bargain break to the city.

Flybe has the direct service to Paris following the recent acquisition of BA Connect earlier this year, adding the Welsh capital to its list of UK bases and providing the people of Wales, especially from its South West region, with a low cost and convenient travel alternative.

Air France–KLM said yesterday it would raise its fuel surcharge on long-haul flights due to the rise in oil prices.

The airline said Air France would increase its fuel surcharge by five euros. The rise would not apply to short-haul and medium-haul flights.

“‘Valid on tickets issued in France as from May 3, 2007, this increase will be withdrawn as soon as the price of the barrel drops below $65 for 30 consecutive days,”‘ the airline said in a statement.

Delta Airlines is set to emerge from 19 months of bankruptcy protection in another sign that one of the bleakest chapters for the US airline industry may be coming to an end.

The third-largest US carrier could exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy as early as Monday after a judge approved the final details of reorganization, leaving Delta with some 2.5 billion dollars in financing.

Delta and Northwest Airlines filed for creditor protection on the same day in September 2005, which at the time left four of the top six carriers in bankruptcy.

source: France24