news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

U.S. airlines received more bad news: Fewer people are expected to fly this Thanksgiving.

The ‘Air Transport Association of America’ forecasts that about 2% fewer people will fly during the 12 days surrounding the holiday, a drop of 440,000 from 23.6 million Thanksgiving passengers last year. But airplanes will still be packed, the trade association says, because airlines are selling fewer seats to save money.

An airline industry at the brink of profitability will welcome the holiday boost. In the first nine months of 2011, 10 of the nation’s largest carriers earned $913 million, or 66% less than the same period last year, the ATA said.

source: wsj.com

Ryanair has ambitious plans to increase the number of passengers flying with Europe’s leading low-cost airline each year from 70m to up to 130m over the next decade, by buying as many as 300 aircraft.

Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s chief executive, announced that he was looking to take a large delivery of aircraft between 2015 and 2021, and was in talks with US, Chinese and Russian manufacturers.

source: FT.com

Travel professionals from around the world have voted Lufthansa as the best ‘Business Class Airline in Europe for 2011’ in the fourth annual ‘Business Destinations Travel Awards’.

The awards are chosen by a vast and diverse cross section of primary users and purchasers of corporate travel and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) who also assess online presence (website design and ease of use), sustainability practices, environmental awareness and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

TripAdvisor is seeking verification after Howarth House, a hotel in Lytham St Anne, said a review posted on the property was fake.

The consumer reviews giant says its US-based content integrity team is seeking further clarification from the reviewer to ensure the posting has been placed against the correct property.

Tripadvisor adds that a review has been removed from the Howarth House listing pending feedback from the reviewer.

source: tnooz.com

The total revenue airlines receive from “‘extras'” such as baggage charges, in-flight meals and car hire is expected to rise by 44 per cent this year.

A study by Amadeus, a travel technology provider, predicted that “‘ancillary’” revenue for airlines around the world will total more than £20 billion in 2011, up from just over £14 billion last year, and less than £10 billion in 2009.

source: Telegraph.co.uk

Shares of American Airlines parent AMR Corp. fell Friday, and an analyst predicted the company will wind up in bankruptcy unless it gets a break from lenders or more cash.

The shares dropped 19 cents, or 6.6 percent, to close at $2.69 and fell as low as $2.59 during the session.

Other major U.S. airline stocks also fell, as higher oil prices signaled rising jet fuel costs, but they declined less than half as much as AMR.

source: washingtonpost.com

U.S. plane maker Boeing Co predicted more sales cancellations for its delayed Dreamliner 787, after a Chinese airline scrapped 24 orders, but said the overall order book for the new long-range aircraft remained strong.

A day after news of China Eastern’s cancellations, a Boeing executive said some orders would fall through as it adjusted delivery dates and that the pace of production of the fuel-efficient aircraft would pick up.

Analysts said other Chinese airlines might also now decide to cancel Dreamliners as they re-assess the long-haul market.

source: Reuters

Animal lovers plan to rev up a nearly 2-month-old search at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday for Jack the cat, a fluffy orange feline whose disappearance at the hands of American Airlines has spawned a Facebook page and a PR headache for the airline.

The date has been declared ‘Jack the Cat Awareness Day’ by organizers of the afternoon search at the cargo area of JFK where Jack was last seen Aug. 25. That’s when Jack’s owner, Karen Pascoe, checked the 18-pound cat in for their flight to California, where Pascoe was to begin a new job.

The airline notes that its efforts since the end of August have included hiring a pet detective, flying Pascoe back from California to help search, and placing food, water and humane traps in the cargo area — all to no avail.

source: latimes.com

Air France claims to have completed the world’s lowest CO2 emissions flight, using a mix of sustainable biofuels, optimised flight procedures and reduced onboard mass.

The commercial 80-minute flight from Toulouse to Paris pumped out only half the greenhouse gases of other flights of the same length, according to the airline.

source: Travelmole.com

China’s largest airline by fleet size kept up pressure on the European Union over carbon trading rules as it took delivery of the country’s first European A380 superjumbo on Friday.

China Southern, which has ordered five of the world’s largest airliners built by Europe’s Airbus, said it would fly the first two aircraft on busy domestic routes before putting the planes on foreign routes next year.

It has not yet decided whether to operate the aircraft to Europe or the United States.

China and the European Union have clashed over the trade bloc’s plans to force airlines to adopt a carbon trading scheme from Jan. 1 next year, a move which airlines say would effectively tax the airlines that fly the longest routes.

Source: Reuters.com