news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Wizz Air, Central and Eastern Europe’s largest low fare – low cost airline announced that it would significantly expand its operations from Katowice International Airport with the launch of 6 new routes in Summer 2007 and a major capacity increase of 50% versus 2006. The airline will also deploy an additional aircraft in its first and largest base, increasing local employment and contributing to the region’s economic development. The new Airbus A320 will be delivered in May 2007.

source: Easier

Italian Premier Romano Prodi said Tuesday that the situation at state-controlled Alitalia SpA was “out of control” and promised a new plan by January to save the cash-strapped airline from bankruptcy.

Prodi and key ministers were meeting with union leaders to discuss the airline’s future amid widening financial losses and a series of wildcat strikes that have forced Alitalia to cancel scores of flights in recent weeks.

source: Herald Tribune

A charter plane caught fire and skidded off the runway while landing at a Norwegian airport, killing three people on board, police and rescuers said.

Rescue officials said the 13 other people aboard were rescued without serious injury.

The jet, with a capacity of 83 passengers and six crew, caught fire upon landing at Stord Airport, said Anders Bang-Andersen, of the Norwegian Rescue Center.

The cause of the accident had not been determined.

source: WRAL.com

Australia’s Qantas Airways has been fined over fare advertising, the Commerce Commission said today, relating to similar charges that Air New Zealand faced earlier this year.

Air NZ was charged over advertising, mostly between 2001 and 2003, which did not include certain surcharges such as for fuel.

The airline has since moved to using all inclusive prices in its ads.

The penalty was one of the highest ever imposed under the Fair Trading Act for misleading advertising.

source: smh.com.au

JetBlue Airways will increase the number of flights between Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport and New York around the Thanksgiving holiday, officials said Monday.

The airline will fly into SRQ twice daily from Nov. 19-27.

source: Bradenton Herald

Gol Airlines has contacted families of 154 victims of Brazil’s deadliest air crash to discuss compensation for the tragedy.

“Gol deeply respects the mourning families, but cannot avoid its duty,” said the company, which put itself at the disposition of the families to open talks on indemnity immediately or when those involved see fit.

“The company must clarify the matter of indemnifications,” the airline said in a statement.

Gol “sought out families of those killed in the accident that downed flight 1907 to bring them up to date with certain actions that will be adopted in coming days,” the airline said.

source: DNA

The staff shareholding group at Aer Lingus and several third parties are preparing to block Ryanair’s â?¬1.4 billion takeover bid for the airline.

The body which holds the shares on behalf of staff, the Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT), has discussed various mechanisms to finance an additional purchase of shares. Putting its existing shares up as security for a loan has been discussed by trustees of the ESOT.

source: Irish Times Article

Low-cost carrier AirAsiaâ??s chief executive officer has ruled out plans of establishing a budget long-haul airline.

AirAsia chief executive officer Datuk Tony Fernandes scotched a report that the carrierâ??s management team was behind the new airline and would submit a business plan to the Government.

source: mtravel

Most U.S. airlines are expected to post handsome profits when they report third-quarter earnings this month, marking a long-awaited pullout from five years of painful restructuring and $40 billion in losses since 2000. The turnaround is the result of widespread layoffs and ruthless cost-cutting, not to mention half a dozen major bankruptcies. But U.S. carriers have also been the surprise beneficiaries of soaring overseas demand for modern jets, which has allowed troubled carriers to shed unneeded airplanes and tackle one of the industry’s chronic problems: too many seats.

source: US News

The United States and the European Union worked out a tentative deal Friday that will allow anti-terrorist officials in the United States to collect personal data on travelers flying to the United States from Europe while simultaneously ensuring the data-sharing would not violate EU rules on privacy.

The new deal succeeds a 2004 pact that was overturned by an EU court in May and was agreed to after a nine-hour videoconference Thursday. Both the U.S. and EU governments need to formally approve the deal, expected to occur as early as next week.