news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

First it was free flights, hotel rooms and magazine subscriptions. Now, Finnair Oyj, Finland’s biggest airline, has a new idea for attracting frequent flyers: free plastic surgery in exchange for air miles.

About 1.3 million flyers are enrolled in Finnair’s loyalty program. Earning the 3.18 million points for breast augmentation surgery requires 120 round-trip, business- class flights between Helsinki and New York, according to a points table on Finnair’s Web site. Miles earned with the airline are valid for five years.

source: Bloomberg

British Airways and Iberia could seal their merger agreement as early as next month, according to the Spanish carrier’s biggest shareholder, savings bank Caja Madrid.

The regional bank’s chairman Miguel Blesa gave no hint that strike threats by BA’s cabin crew were having any impact on the planned marriage.

source: dailymail.co.uk

Air France has introduced a new economy class seat which it claims will save 1,700 tonnes of fuel a year — the equivalent of 650 flights from Paris to Marseilles.

The new design, being introduced into the airline’s short-haul cabins from January 30, offers passengers 5 to 7.5 cm more leg room and is 40 percent lighter than previous seats used on the airline’s fleet of Airbus A319s, A320s and A321s. The reduction in weight is expected to reduce emissions by 5,200 tonnes of CO2 per year, as each aircraft will weigh approximately 750kg less.

source: The Independent

A new airline is to operate out of Glasgow Airport following the collapse of Flyglobespan. Kiss Flights, which operates from eight UK airports outside Scotland, will be offering 12 summer routes to Mediterranean destinations from April. They include Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey.

Flyglobespan was grounded on 16 December when its Edinburgh-based parent company, Globespan, was put into administration.

source: BBC News

Germanwings, a German low-cost airline, will be basing three aircraft at Hanover-Langenhagen airport, making Hanover Germanwings’ sixth base in Germany.

One of the first destinations for Germanwings out of Hanover will be London Stansted. Germanwings will also be serving 14 other destinations in Europe, One of the first destinations for Germanwings out of Hanover will be London Stansted. Germanwings will also be serving 14 other destinations in Europe, including Stuttgart, Vienna, Milan, Budapest, Moscow, Palma de Mallorca, Rome, Barcelona, Split, Zagreb, Bastia, Dubrovnik, Heraklion
and Zadar.

source: travelagentcentral.com

Lufthansa has become the first major European carrier in 20 years to launch a service to Baghdad.

The German carrier said it was planning to fly to the Iraqi capital and Erbil in the north from Frankfurt and Munich this summer due to high demand and security issues within the country easing.

Lufthansa first started flying to Baghdad in 1956 but halted operation in 1990 because of the Gulf War, when U.S.-led forces reversed Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

fuente: breakingtravelnews.com

Continental Airlines has joined rival Delta in boosting the price for checking bags on flights within the USA and to Puerto Rico, Canada and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Delta began charging $8 more for the first checked bag and $7 more for a second on Jan. 5. Continental did the same thing beginning with tickets sold Jan. 16. So far, no other big U.S. airline has followed suit.

Continental and Delta now charge $25 for the first checked bag and $35 for the second if the bags are checked at the airport. The fee is slightly lower for bags checked in online.

source: poughkeepsiejournal.com

In November, the U.S. airline industry had its best on-time performance in nearly 15 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. With 88.6 percent of flights arriving on time in the month, the performance beat the last high of 88 percent in September 2002.

No flights fell under the chronically delayed category of being late 80 percent of the time or more in the month, and no flights had tarmac delays longer than four hours. Two Delta flights had tarmac delays more than three hours long.

The improvements come as airlines have cut back on capacity and fewer people book trips by air.

source: ajc

Accountants chasing creditors of the failed airline FlyGlobespan have taken legal action against the company that was handling online ticket sales (E-Clear).

The administrators’ action comes on top of three other legal cases lodged against E-Clear. Finance Secretary John Swinney welcomed the move.

E-Clear has also been fighting an action raised by those winding up SkyEurope, a Slovakian airline. It is claimed E-Clear was withholding £13m in ticket sales when that company went under last summer.

FlyGlobespan’s collapse left thousands of holidaymakers stranded abroad.

source: BBC News

A battle for low-cost airline revenue in Asia intensified on Wednesday as Malaysia’s AirAsia and Jetstar, owned by Qantas Airways, finalised a passenger handling and aircraft maintenance deal they said would cut millions of dollars from annual costs.

The agreement signed by Jetstar and AirAsia stops short of equity participation, and will not involve code sharing – the revenue-generating arrangement under which airlines book passengers directly onto each other’s flights.

The deal also includes co-operation on airport passenger and ramp handling services, and reciprocal arrangements for switching passengers to available flights if one airline’s service is disrupted.

source: FT.com