news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Lufthansa turned in another record year in 2006. The number of passengers and of operated flights as well as capacity and sales all ended the year at an all-time high.

In 2006, the airlines in the Lufthansa Group carried 53.4 million passengers, an increase on the year-earlier level of 4.2 per cent. Sales rose by 2.0 per cent on an increase of 1.8 per cent in capacity. The passenger load factor was up accordingly by 0.2 percentage points to 75.2 per cent.

source: boarding.no

American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp., four of the five largest U.S. carriers, raised round-trip fares by as much as $10 in the industry’s first major boost this year.

United increased fares across its network, a change matched today by Delta. AMR Corp.’s American changed prices only in markets where it competes with low-fare airlines, adding $6 to tickets for flights of 1,000 miles or less, and $10 on longer routes. Northwest adopted American’s change.

Ryanair today announced that it had taken a record 1,000,000 bookings between the 5^th and the 11^th of January. This is the first time Ryanair has sold more than 1m seats in a week and makes Ryanair the first European low fares airline to do so.

source: finfacts

Flybe has celebrated the first anniversary of its very popular Belfast to Manchester route with news that further expansion is on the way.

Flybe, which is the largest airline operating out of George Best Belfast City Airport, serves 16 destinations including the first direct scheduled service to the French city of Rennes.

source: Easier

A second new airline for the Caribbean has been born. It is to be called “‘LIAT, The Star of the Caribbean'” and will start up operation at the crack of dawn on Thursday February 1, 2007 – one month after the other new carrier, Caribbean Airlines, took to the skies.

source:  Caribbean360.com

The Mexican low-cost carrier Interjet has signed a contract with Airbus at the end of December 2006 for the acquisition of ten additional A320s, hereby converting their options into a firm order. These were part of an order for ten A320s plus ten options placed at the Paris Air Show in June 2005.

Interjet is based at Toluca airport near Mexico City, and recently celebrated its first anniversary of scheduled services in the Mexican domestic market.

source: luchtzak.be

Monarch have this week announced the introduction of new low cost air fares for economy flights from London to Larnaca for 2007, pushing Cyprus further up the property hotspot list for 2007.

Cyprus is already tipped as being one of the top 3 investment opportunities in Europe for the overseas investor in 2007, and this news will add more fuel to the buying frenzy.

source: UKPRwire

The German low-cost LTU International Airline will take over most of the collapsed carrier Air Madrid’s Latin American routes and about half of its staff, the Spanish Infrastructures Ministry said Tuesday.

Air Madrid suspended operations and its licence was cancelled mid- December over delays, security concerns and other problems, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded.

The ministry said LTU would take over Air Madrid’s routes from Spain to Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama and Peru. The agreement, which will not cover routes to Brazil and Colombia, was expected to go into force by the end of the month.

source: Playfuls.com

American Airlines might have lost out on its bid to fly to Beijing, but the airline on Tuesday announced two deals to swap passengers with airlines in Hungary and the Ukraine.

American said it applied to the Transportation Department for permission to begin a code share service with Malev Hungarian Airlines, under which the carriers would sell each other’s seats. The code sharing would begin March 25.

American would place its AA designator code on Malev daily flights between Budapest and New York JFK, as well as on flights to Budapest to and from London Gatwick, Frankfurt, Paris de Gaulle, Brussels, Rome and Zurich. Also included are flights beyond Budapest to destinations in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Malev would place its MA designator code on American’s trans-Atlantic flights between Malev’s European gateways and the United States, as well as on AA flights between New York and Toronto and other points in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and South America.

American and Malev also said they plan a reciprocal agreement allowing their frequent flyers to redeem their miles or points on each airline.

United Airlines won tentative approval Tuesday to operate the first nonstop daily flight between Washington and Beijing, a 14-hour trip that links the countries’ capitals as their economies become more intertwined.The Department of Transportation’s final OK would give UAL Corp.’s United a route coveted by executives and government officials and potentially worth $200 million a year.

Washington-based fliers who make regular trips to Beijing applauded the news.

source: Daily Southtown