news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

The‘ Foreign Office’ has advised against all non-essential travel to Tokyo and the north of Japan, while airlines last night warned customers still travelling to expect cancellations and delays.

Although Tokyo has been largely unaffected by the 8.9-magnitude quake, transport has been severely disrupted, with little or no public transport running from Narita and Haneda airports to the capital.

The Foreign Office warned travellers to expect widespread power cuts and aftershocks from the quake.

In a statement, it said: “‘We advise against all non-essential travel to Tokyo and the north-east of Japan whilst we assess the damage caused by the 11 March earthquake.'”

source: scotsman.com

The study of airline efficiency was conducted by Atmosfair, a carbon offsetting company, and looked into factors such as how efficient an airline’s fleet was and how full its planes normally fly.

Monarch was judged the world’s most efficient airline, with Atmosfair praising its efficient aircraft and high seating density.

German carrier Condor, owned by holiday giant Thomas Cook, won second place thanks to its high occupancy and Canadian Air Transat was ranked third, making it the most efficient long-haul carrier.

Some of the world’s better-known airlines fared less well, with Emirates in 30th place, Delta in 33rd, Air France in 37th, Lufthansa 52nd, British Airways in 61st, American Airlines in 63rd and Virgin Atlantic in 99th place.

source: independent.co.uk

The ‘European Commission‘ has told Irish authorities to enforce rules which require internet based companies to provide a contact email address.

Ryanair does not have an email address listed on its website and instead customers are expected to contact the low-cost airline in writing, by fax or via a premium rate telephone number.

European Commission confirmed that the Ryanair’s communication policy, by not listing an email address, is ”incompatible” with Article 5 of the E-commerce Directive.

source: thisismoney.co.uk

The walkouts, starting in the run-up to Easter, would ground hundreds of flights and wreck the holiday plans of families hoping to grab some spring sunshine.

22 days of strikes are planned, starting on April 20 and continuing through May and June until the end of July.
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The Spanish dispute involves 12,500 ground staff employed by Aena, the state-controlled airports authority, which has been earmarked for privatisation.

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It threatens to shut down nearly every airport in the country, including those in the Canary Islands, a particularly popular destination at Easter.

source: telegraph.co.uk

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The Irish airline currently flies only Boeing 737 jets but it broke off negotiations with the US firm on a massive new plane order in late 2009 because the two sides could not agree on terms and conditions.

Russia’s United Aircraft and China’s Comac have provided jets mostly to their domestic carriers and are largely untested in Western markets, where Boeing and European rival Airbus dominate the market.

source: telegraph.co.uk

Delta Air Lines has been voted the world’s “‘most admired airline'” by Fortune magazine, managing to push the much-acclaimed Singapore Airlines into second place.

Delta has moved steadily up the ranks over the past four years to reach top spot, which was awarded to Singapore Airlines last year.

Other airlines in the top ten included major international carriers such as Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, Cathay Pacific Airways, Qantas, British Airways and ANA.

See the complete list here.

source: Independent.co.uk

The latest plan to put troubled airline Mexicana back in the skies has flopped after a tiny boutique investment firm interested in buying the company failed to inject the money needed to restart operations.

A business plan from relatively unknown PC Capital was chosen by a judge-appointed mediator in November as the best option to relaunch debt-ridden Mexicana. The pick was backed by Mexico’s communications and labor ministries.

Mexicana de Aviacion was one of Mexico’s two major airlines. It ceased operations in late August, swamped by its financial liabilities, grounding travelers in Mexico and abroad and leaving thousands of ground workers, pilots and flight attendants with no jobs. Its affiliated carriers, Link and Click, also stopped flying.

source: Reuters

Irish airline Aer Lingus returned to profit in 2010 despite a 10% drop in passenger numbers but higher fuel prices mean that 2011 operating profit is likely to be lower.

The yield per passenger rose 12% to €107.12 each so there was a 1% increase in overall revenue to €1.22bn. A 10% fall in operating costs helped Aer Lingus swing from a loss of €154.8m to a pre-tax profit of €30.4m in 2010.

source: sharecast.com

British Airways grounded two jumbo jets after a passenger complained of being badly bitten by bed bugs during two separate long-haul flights.

The airline fumigated one of the planes on which it confirmed there had been an infestation and apologised to the woman for her ordeal.

Businesswoman Zane Selkirk revealed her body was “‘crawling’” with bugs and “‘covered with bites’” during a ten-hour transatlantic flight from Los Angeles to London Heathrow in January.

Miss Selkirk, who works for internet company Yahoo!’s media group, said she set up her protest website “‘after two horrendous flights’”.

She used the site – www.ba-bites.com – to post graphic pictures of the injuries on her body.

source: iol.co.za

Irish Lowcost carrier Ryanair has agreed to display full inclusive ticket prices for its flights upfront on its website from June 1.

Ryanair will join lowcost rivals in improving price transparency including easyJet, Monarch Airlines, bmibaby and Flybe.

The UK regulatory authority said it has been working with airlines to improve the way compulsory fees and taxes are displayed up front.

source: travelweekly.co.uk