Following the increased demand for some of its flights, Latvian airline airBaltic announced that it introduced additional flights from Riga to Chisinau, Moldova, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The company aims to help its customers travel between these capitals and further to other cities in Europe, the Middle East, and Russia/CIS. “As part of airBaltic ReShape […]
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Ryanair: How to Fly Right Financially
One of the world’s most competitive budget airlines, Europe’s Ryanair, reported better than expected profits today. The Dublin-based airline which made a name for itself with cost cutting, is now a favorite with travelers needing to do the same. On the news, Ryanair said net profit April to September jumped some 10%, while sales increased […]
easyJet Wins London to Moscow Route
According to news from easyJet, the low cost airline will begin operating flights between London and Moscow starting early next year. Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority having granted the license to EasyJet in preference to Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic, officials cite EasyJet fare benefits as the reason.
Airlines Credibility Takes Nose Dive Over Fees
In flight news , the Open Allies for Airfare Transparency organization has just released survey results showing the vast majority of online travel agency users want airline fee transparency.
Air Booking Site OneTwoTrip: Worth $9 Mil Funding?
When I saw that TechCrunch had announced Russian travel startup OneTwoTrip’s recent $9 million funding round, I have to admit I was skeptical. For one thing, even though the Russian Federation has some of the world’s best programmers and developers, in general web entities from there generally suck. And pretty bad too.
LOT Polish Airlines Transatlantic Deals
In news from LOT Polish Airlines, business class airfares from New York and Chicago to some 30 destinations in Europe begin as low as $2533, according to a press release by the company.
Warm Winter Spots: Freeport On A Budget
If your Winter is working out anything like ours here in Germany, it’s about time for a more tropical outlook. Using Atlanta, Georgia as an example starting point, just consider what 19°F with a 23 mph wind will feel like tomorrow morning. Without spending a king’s ransom, next weekend you and a co-conspirator could be warm and toasty, having fun in Freeport in the Bahamas.
Orbitz Worldwide & Travelport: Ups & Downs
Travelport and Orbitz are in the positive and negative news again today. Travelport for any number of announcements of business dealings, and Orbitz for a very negative S & P rating they just received. Since it was announced that Travelport needed to restructure its dept, it seems as if neither of these online travel giants can catch a break.
TravelRent – Underwhelming Russian Socialismness
A startup from Russia called TravelRent just launched aiming at the short term private accommodation niche that is so huge in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and elsewhere in the Russian Federation. We took a look at the new site, which ended up being a mix of good and bad features – but at least an improvement over previous Russian websites.
Google Flight Search Takes Off
Kayak and Expedia had better watch out – booking flights online just got a whole lot easier thanks to an excellent new tool from those geniuses at Google – the new Flight Search, a super-intuitive tool that is set to wrestle a huge share of the market from traditional flight finder services.
Tours4Fun and Hop2 Flight Search Partner
In budget travel news, sightseeing tour company, Tours4Fun, announced a new partnership with Hop2 Travel for offering direct access for affordable flights. The Los Angeles based tour company will also add Hop2 offerings like car rentals, hotels, and even cruises for their clients. Argo takes a look at this news bit to evaluate some OTA corporate moves – is this news or not? Let’s see.
Skyscanner Sets Sights on Asia Market
Travel search innovators Skyscanner, one of the world’s most useful travel search tools, has announced a year to year revenue increase of 75 percent. Also in their news, the company’s growth trajectory has also paved the way for expansion in Asia via operations in Singapore. With emerging markets being underutilized, can companies like Skyscanner gain a foothold?
Orbitz Stock Into Orbit With American Airlines Verdict
For all those investors who emailed to ask me if the American Airlines slash Orbitz fight would be a game changer, the news today of skyrocketing Orbitz stock prices is as good an answer as any. Orbitz Worldwide Inc. bounced shares upward on an Illinois court reversal of their case against American Airlines. The court ordered American to resume selling flights via the online travel agency.
Yapta Releases Airfare Tracker API
Yapta.com has released a beta version of the API for its suite of traveler tools in hopes that bloggers, travel sites, travel agencies, and others will embed the tools in their sites. The current Yapta APIs are available to developers who register and request an API key. The API uses a price-tracking system to give […]
Hopper Building Advanced Travel Search System
Hopper, a full-text search engine for travel, is now in early alpha testing for its new natural-language-based search technology. The company is the brainchild of Frederic Lalonde and Joost Ouwerkerk; Lalonde is also the chairman of Tnooz. The developers working on the project are former Expedia geeks, and the tool they are trying to create […]
Russia’s SAT & Agoda Join Forces
Agoda.com, Priceline.com’s Asian global hotel booking site, announces partnering with Russia’s SAT Airlines. The resulting collaboration will allow SAT travelers instant access to Agoda’s over 150,000 hotels.
Amadeus Enters the American Airlines Ticket Wars
American Airlines started an online ticket war late last year they may not be able to finish. Now Amadeus is firing warning shots across the cockpits of airlines poised to go it via “direct connect” rather than relying on OTA’s to sell seats. In a bold but quiet move, one of the world’s biggest travel players takes sides with Expedia and Orbitz.