AIRLINE & TRAVEL NEWS.

Indian government announced that Jet Airways and Sahara Airlines will be allowed to fly to more international destinations. Currently, private airlines are allowed to serve destinations only in member countries in the South Asian Assn. for Regional Cooperation. However, now any Indian carrier will be allowed to take up any unused entitlements in current air services agreements. Nov 4, 2004

Aer Lingus has become the first 'low fare' airline across the Atlantic since the days of the Laker Skytrain (a claim no doubt to be challenged by other carriers). All fares on direct services are now being sold on a one-way basis, the minimum stay restrictions have been removed, changes are permitted on payment of a surcharge of Euro25 per sector and you can now change the name on the ticket for a surcharge of Euro50 per booking. The same goes for the European routes. The airline says it now has the most competitive Premier Class fares on flights from Europe to the US. Getting into the celebratory mood with a Guinness at Liverpool John Lennon Airport are, left to right, Kay Annals of Aer Lingus, passenger Adam Murphy from Dublin, Agnieszka Lojko of Aer Lingus and passenger Sinead Kenny from Dublin. Adam and Sinead had been visiting Liverpool for shopping and to watch Liverpool FC. http://www.aerlingus.com

Nov 15, 2004

Aer Lingus will introduce four additional routes to Europe in its summer schedule for 2005. The new services from Dublin to Seville, Naples, Marseille and Hamburg will commence at the end of March. Earlier this year, the airline announced four new services from Cork to Munich, Rome, Nice and Faro scheduled to start at the end of April. Since the end of 2001 it has more than trebled its network with the introduction of 42 new scheduled services. Nov 8, 2004

Air Berlin and its Austrian low-fare partner Niki signed an agreement with Airbus to purchase up to 110 174-seat A320s. The agreement includes 70 firm orders, with 60 joining Air Berlin's fleet and the remaining 10 going to Niki. The 40 option aircraft will be allocated at a later date. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in Sept. 2005. The aircraft will be configured in a single-class layout and will be used on both carriers' services from Germany and Austria to holiday destinations in the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands as well as on their scheduled network of City Shuttle destinations across Europe. Air Berlin's current fleet consists of 47 aircraft--five 737-400s, four 737-700s, 34 737- 800s, two BAe 146s and two F100s--while Niki's fleet comprises one A320- 230 and two A321-230s. Nov 5, 2004

Air New Zealand launched thrice-weekly nonstop service between Christchurch and Los Angeles. Nov 3, 2004

Air South West, the former Brymon Airways, and a subsidiary of Sutton Harbour Holdings Plc, is to introduce a twice daily Newquay &endash; Bristol &endash; Leeds service from 11 April next year which will also connect with the airline's flights from Bristol to Manchester. The daily Plymouth &endash; Bristol operation will also dovetail into the new Leeds route. At the same time the airline will begin daily services from Newquay direct to Dublin. Air Southwest recently took delivery of a third 50-seat Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft. Nigel Godefroy, managing director of Sutton Harbour Holdings is seen here launching Plymouth Airport's new identity. http://www.airsouthwest.com Nov 29, 2004

Norwich Airport is now linked by Air Wales to Cardiff on a Saturday and Dublin every day except Monday and Thursday. The one hour flight to Cardiff and the 1 hour 20 minute service to Dublin are both operated by 50 seat ATR42s. Passengers to Cardiff can also go via Dublin on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with a new direct Cardiff flight operating on Saturdays. These new services are part of a continued expansion for Air Wales which has launched several new routes over the last year and now operates services to and from Cardiff, Dublin, Newcastle, Amsterdam, Plymouth, and Cork. http://www.airwales.com Nov 22, 2004

Air Wales has introduced twice-daily return services from Liverpool to both Aberdeen and Cardiff airports. Travelers are also now able to connect to Plymouth at Cardiff. Operated by ATR42 aircraft flight times to Aberdeen are 1 hour 15 minutes and Cardiff 45 minutes. The new service is part of a continued program of expansion for Air Wales, which has launched several new routes over the last year. The airline currently operates on a network embracing 11 destinations &endash; Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Belfast, Cork, Dublin, Glasgow, Jersey, Liverpool, Newcastle, Norwich and Plymouth. Our photo shows Air Wales' captain, Simon Barker and flight attendant Denise Kestell welcome aboard their first Liverpool to Aberdeen passenger; Neil Roberts from Warrington. http://www.airwales.co.uk Nov 8, 2004

Air Zimbabwe last week inaugurated a twice weekly nonstop service between Harare and Singapore which then goes on to Beijing. The route is flown by a two class Boeing 767ER on the Zimbabwe &endash; Changi leg with a flight time of around 9 hours 30 minutes. The airline also has a three times weekly service to Gatwick, its only other long haul destination. http://www.airzim.co.zw Nov 29, 2004

AirTran will add seven daily nonstop flights from Chicago Midway to Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, Orlando, Sarasota/Bradenton and Tampa beginning Jan. 11 2005 as it seeks to expand its foothold at the airport, where it has agreed to purchase gate leases from bankrupt ATA Airlines. AirTran currently operates eight daily roundtrips between MDW and its hub in Atlanta. The new service announced is not dependent upon the deal with ATA being consummated, the carrier said. Nov 30, 2004

America West Airlines expanded its marketing agreement with Royal Jordanian. Effective Nov. 8 2004, America West began placing its code on Royal Jordanian flights between Amman and New York JFK, Chicago O'Hare and Detroit. Nov 12, 2004

Pillows are out with American Airlines. Well at least on the short haul MD-80 fleet, the same aircraft that used to be called the DC-9 and now also masquerades as the Boeing 717. In an effort to reduce costs the Fort Worth-based airline last week removed pillows from its 334 MD-80s. The airline says the move will help speed up the turnaround. But don't expect there to be a mass of them in the local Texas version of a car boot sale. The pillows are being transferred to long haul services. MD- 80 passengers should be able to use the adjustable headrests in place of the pillows. American has around 700 aircraft. That's a lot of pillows. http://www.aa.com Nov 22, 2004

American Airlines started a major fare restructuring at its Miami International Airport hub, embracing a simplified structure offering dramatically lower walkup fares for mainline, American Eagle and AmericanConnection flights. The carrier said the new fares also were implemented at Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach where low-cost airlines, in particular JetBlue, Southwest and Spirit, maintain a presence. Tom Parsons, CEO and founder of Bestfares.com stated, "American had to make this move to take on the low-cost carriers." Under the new structure, the highest one-way walkup fares at Miami have been set at $499, $599 or $699 depending on trip mileage, while many are considerably lower. For example, AA's previous lowest one-way walkup fare from MIA to St. Louis was $1,110 and now is $282. The lowest fare to Reagan Washington National Airport was $712; it is now $109. The lowest walkup fare to Dallas-Fort Worth was slashed to $240 from $910. In addition, many restrictions, including Saturday night stay requirements, were eliminated and tickets for nonstop itineraries to and from Miami are available for one-way purchase. AA also reduced change fees from $100 to $50. "This fundamental restructuring of domestic fares for American Airlines and American Eagle in Miami further strengthens our competitive position in South Florida," Senior VP-Miami, Caribbean and Latin America Peter Dolara said. American and Regional affiliate American Eagle operate 128 daily flights to 38 destinations in the US and Canada from Miami. Nov 19, 2004

American Eagle will begin daily service between Dallas/Ft. Worth and San Luis Potosi Jan. 5 2005 using 44 seat ERJ-140s. Nov 3, 2004

ANA took delivery of its first 777-300ER Nov. 1. Aircraft is the first in Asia to be equipped with the Connexion by Boeing broadband Internet service. ANA will launch the service Nov. 15 2004 on a flight from Tokyo to Shanghai before transitioning the aircraft to long-haul routes. Nov 3, 2004

ANA will raise domestic fares by a maximum of [yen]300 ($3) per sector Jan. 11 2005 owing to higher fuel prices. For flights over 300 km., fares will increase [yen]300; for flights up to 300 km., fares will rise [yen]200. Nov 3, 2004

Blue1, a subsidiary of SAS Group, became the first regional member in the Star Alliance. SAS Group President and CEO Joergen Lindegaard said the company was "very proud," adding, "This way the airline will further strengthen its own and Star Alliance's position in the Finnish market." Star CEO Jaan Albrecht told ATWOnline in Helsinki that addition of Blue1 was a learning experience and "now we will be able to add more regional carriers to our alliance faster." New regional members from the Americas, Asia and Europe could join Star in the future. In Asia, SilkAir could be a possible candidate. In order to become a regional member, the prospective airline must be sponsored and have close ties to an existing member to achieve a quick and easy integration. Blue1 operates more than 110 flights per day with a fleet of nine Avro RJs and five Saab 2000s. In 2004 it expects to carry more than 1 million passengers between Finland and Scandinavia and the rest of Europe and is looking to expand, CEO Sveneric Persson told this website. "We still have some capacity in our fleet left which we want to optimize," he said. Croatia Airlines and Adria Airways will be the next two regional members of the Star Alliance. Nov 4, 2004

BMED is the official new name of the airline which was formerly British Mediterranean Airways. In fact 'BMED' is what the industry has been calling the airline since it was founded in 1994, becoming a franchise partner of British Airways in 1997. It has grown from one route and one aircraft, Beirut, to 16 destinations and six Airbus A320 series aircraft. Don't bother looking at the website unless you are actually interested in the routes or making a booking. It has not quite caught up with events. http://www.britishmediterranean.com Nov 22, 2004

BMI is to continue its brand new Manchester &endash; Las Vegas service through the summer reducing flights from three times a week to twice weekly. Speaking in Las Vegas new CEO Nigel Turner said that advanced bookings were strong enough for the airline to commit to an all year around service instead of the seasonal operation originally conceived. bmi operates an Airbus A330 on the route with economy, new economy (premium economy to everyone else) and its very competitive business class 2 - 2 - 2 setup. With Virgin also increasing its services from Gatwick the British are definitely making their mark in the 'City of Sin'. http://www.flybmi.com Nov 15, 2004

Bmibaby will withdraw its only remaining service from London Gatwick to Cork Jan. 31 2005. The route will be taken over by easyJet, which will commence a twice-daily service Jan. 28. This will bring the number of routes easyJet serves from the airport to 27. LGW is now the LCC's largest base in Europe. It also will launch one daily flight to Shannon and Knock from Gatwick Jan. 28 2005. Nov 12, 2004

British Airways experienced problems at Boston's Logan International Airport on Monday 15 November. None of the 219 passengers and 14 crew members on the Boeing 777 was hurt, but according to the airline five firefighters suffered from inhalation problems. It was unclear what caused the warning likes to go off, but it had "nothing to do with terrorism," according to an airport spokesman. Damage was restricted to an avionics bay at the front of the aircraft. http://www.ba.com Nov 22, 2004

British Airways has dropped its Heathrow services to Bilbao and will suspend flights to Caracas in Venezuela and Bogota in Columbia from 6 February 2005. Despite moving the flights from Gatwick last year clearly the budget competition to northern Spain has proven too much for BA. Code share partner Iberia continues with a single early evening departure from Heathrow. With the South American routes the withdrawal follows a downgrading of BA's priorities in this area, typically Chile now with no direct services from the U.K. BA had attempted to keep the operation going by moving the flights from Gatwick and downsizing from a Boeing 777 to a Boeing 767. http://www.ba.com Nov 15, 2004

British Airways will suspend indefinitely its flights between Bogota, Caracas and London effective Feb. 6 2005. The airline said the decision was for "commercial reasons" as the flights have been making a "considerable loss over the last five years." Nov 5, 2004

Crete is the latest EU destination to gain flights from British Airways, albeit in the guise of franchise partner GB Airways. In fact the new services, due to start in May of next year, are the first ever scheduled operation from the UK to Heraklion. Flown by Airbus A320 series aircraft the flights will operate on Tuesdays and Fridays from Gatwick and will offer a choice of Club Europe and Euro Traveler cabins with the British Airways' full service product. http://www.ba.com Nov 8, 2004

BWIA West Indies Airways is to introduce weekly flights from Prestwick and Belfast International airports early next year. The weekly service from Prestwick will fly nonstop to Barbados, continuing to Port of Spain, Trinidad, with connections available to Tobago. The Belfast service will operate nonstop to Barbados and continue to Port of Spain. Both flights are scheduled to operate with an Airbus A340-300 aircraft in a two-class configuration. The Prestwick flight starts on Saturday 16 January, those from Belfast the day after. http://www.bwia.co.uk

Nov 8, 2004

Cathay Pacific Airways will increase its service between Beijing and Hong Kong from thrice-weekly to daily Dec. 3 2004. Nov 12, 2004

Croatia Airlines and Adria Airways yesterday signed contracts to become regional members of Star Alliance officially on Dec. 15. The carriers follow Blue1, which became Star's first regional member earlier this month. "With Adria Airways and Croatia Airlines as regional members, we are once again providing more choice for our travelers by extending the reach of our customer benefits to the network of these two carriers," Star CEO Jaan Albrecht said. Both airlines were sponsored for membership by Lufthansa, which also sponsored Blue1. Adria Airways, the Slovenian flag carrier, operates 180 weekly flights from Ljubljana to 20 mainly European destinations, while Croatia Airlines, the national airline of Croatia, serves 26 European destinations with 430 weekly flights using a fleet of 11 aircraft. Nov 19, 2004

Delta Air Lines, like its major competitors, struggling on in harsh economic times, says it has no intention of taking the easy way out and going into Chapter 11 with serious consequences for investors, staff and ultimately the public. It says restructuring is well on its way. As if to reinforce the position the airline confirms that it would like to introduce further ex-UK services for next year but is constrained by a lack of suitably equipped aircraft ex-domestic Boeing 767s those available earmarked for proposed South American services. If these routes were not to be approved an extension of the Gatwick and Manchester fights are the most likely scenario, but new UK gateways have not been ruled out. Delta says that its transatlantic services are profitable and also confirms that Song is performing as per budget. Just like everyone in the industry it is keeping an anxious eye on fuel prices. http://www.delta.com Nov 22, 2004

Delta Air Lines and Air Tahiti Nui have entered into an MOU to form a partnership that could include codesharing and reciprocal frequent-flier benefits as well as other areas of cooperation such as lounge sharing, cargo and assistance in facilities and passenger handling programs. The carriers also will discuss launching a codeshare flight from New York JFK to Papeete in 2005. Nov 5, 2004

Delta Air Lines will launch two weekly nonstop flights between Atlanta and St. Croix March 5 2005 using 737-800s. Nov 3, 2004

EasyJet launched 16 new routes with the start of the winter schedule Oct. 31 2004. About half of the routes connect more UK bases with Germany, Hungary, Italy and Spain and also are being used to add Estonia to the network, while the other half will expand the carrier's intra- continental network. Additionally, the LCC is launching a new London Luton-Basel service Nov. 1 and flights from Bristol to Valencia, London Stansted to Valencia and Luton to Warsaw Nov. 3. By the end of March, easyJet will operate 189 routes across 55 cities. Most of these routes will be operated by the 13 new A319s that are being delivered this winter, the airline said. Nov 1, 2004

EL AL has finally moved into the new state of the art Terminal 3 at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport. The Israeli national carrier has split the check-in areas into two with business and first class completely separate from economy. After the check-in area, passengers enter a huge shopping complex including restaurants, shops and seating areas where family and friends can stay with passengers before going through to passport control. On the other side of passport control, passengers will enter a walkway to an impressive round hall with a waterfall at its center. The hall offers a selection of duty-free shops, restaurants, coffee shops and service areas such as a mother-and-child room, a games room and a synagogue. For the first time TLV will have air bridges. http://www.elal.com Nov 8, 2004

Emirates will add a further five weekly services from Dubai to Paris Charles de Gaulle to complement its existing once-daily service. The expansion of services between the cities is the result of a new bilateral agreement reached between France and the United Arab Emirates and is effective from summer 2005. Under terms of the agreement, in summer 2006 Emirates will be allowed to offer double-daily frequencies on the route. Nov 25, 2004

Emirates will launch a second daily flight between Dubai and Birmingham (UK) June 1 2005 using an A330-200. Nov 12, 2004

Geneva and Hamburg are two new destinations announced by Emirates for the end of next year. On 1 December 2004, Geneva will become the second Swiss city to be served on a daily basis from Dubai, the airline introducing a parallel route to the current Zurich flights. Hamburg joins the carrier's route network on 30 October, making it the airline's fourth gateway to Germany. Emirates currently flies once daily to Dusseldorf, and twice daily to both Frankfurt and Munich. Also new from Dubai next year are thrice weekly services to the Seychelles from 2 January, and a daily flight to Seoul's ultramodern Inchon International Airport from 1 May. Most of the new routes connect over Dubai with the airline's five UK departure points Birmingham, Gatwick, Glasgow, Heathrow and Manchester. http://www.emirates.com Nov 8, 2004

Emirates will launch daily flights to Seoul May 1 2005 and to Zurich Dec. 1 as well as three weekly flights to Seychelles Jan. 2. Nov 3, 2004

European Aviation Air Charter, the Bournemouth Airport supplemental airline, and tied in with the Minardi Formula One Team, continues to fly under a creditors' voluntary arrangement. The carrier plans to go into 2005 with a fleet of eight ex-Sabena Boeing 737-200s and three former British Airways Boeing 747-200s. Current clients include regular Palmair and Corsair, part of the French New Frontiers tour operator. Managing director Trevor Whetter, who also runs the very successful European Aviation spare parts business at Ledbury, says the airline is looking into a replacement aircraft for the 737s. http://www.eaac.co.uk

Nov 22, 2004

Finnair will launch a thrice-weekly direct flight from Helsinki to Guangzhou Sept. 2 2005. Nov 22, 2004

Finnair will start a twice-weekly service from Helsinki to Kuresaare, Estonia, May 19 using an ATR 72 from its Estonian subsidiary Aero. Nov 15, 2004

Finnair will drop its intermediate stop in Bangkok on three weekly flights between Helsinki and Hong Kong next summer. The carrier will up Helsinki-Singapore service via Bangkok to daily from four times weekly. Nov 8, 2004

FlyBlu says that it is moving forward, slower than anticipated, and will formally open its on-line ticket sales on Wednesday 15 December 2004. These will be protected by an ATOL. Flights from Birmingham to Orlando and St Petersburg/Clearwater will come on-line from Easter 2005 and Fort Lauderdale July next year. At its launch Flyblu said it will initially use a pair of Boeing 767-300ER for the flights, and in an innovative move will offer a two-class layout, economy, called silver class featuring 2 - 3 - 2 and 38" legroom, as much as business class used to offer in times gone by. http://www.flyblu.co.uk Nov 8, 2004

Flynordic, the Swedish low-fare subsidiary of Finnair Group, is planning to launch service from Stockholm to Dublin, Berlin, Munich and Tallinn in March. Additional plans include service from Gothenburg to Munich and from Copenhagen to Tallinn. Nov 22, 2004

FlyWho appeared at World Travel Market. This new Birmingham-based paper airline as 'Flyblu'. It seems that people in the US are complaining about the name. According to chief executive Aden Murcutt JetBlue, the New York based budget carrier has objected. In any event the airline is anticipating opening its on-line ticket sales on Wednesday 15 December 2004. These will be protected by an ATOL. Flights from Birmingham to Orlando and St Petersburg/Clearwater will come on-line from Easter 2005 and Fort Lauderdale by July next year. http://www.flyblu.co.uk http://flywho.com Nov 15, 2004

Frontier Airlines will cease service from Denver to Washington Dulles Feb. 1 2005. In addition, it will halt its nonstop flights from Los Angeles to both Philadelphia and Kansas City Feb. 23. The airline said the changes are part of its ongoing efforts to "reallocate resources where they can maximize efficiency and enhance profitability." Nov 25, 2004

GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes will expand its Sao Paulo-Rio de Janeiro shuttle service with 10 new daily flights to meet growing demand. Nov 22, 2004

Gulf Air showed for the first time at World Travel Market the impressive new 'EVOLYS' business and first class seats by EADS company Sogerma. The airline's six A330-200s will be fitted out with eight first class seats and 24 in business class. Amongst the many benefits are a 'lay flat' capability, privacy screens, 10" video screens and an ability for two to dine restaurant-style at one table in the first class cabin. The new skybeds are to be installed as part of a complete cabin refurbishment, which starts in February 2005 and will include the enhancement of in- flight entertainment systems. The first refurbished aircraft will be in operation from March, serving destinations including London, Frankfurt and Paris. The full refit program will be complete by July 2005. http://www.gulfairco.com Nov 22, 2004

Gulf Air confirmed that its new first- and business-class Skybed seats are on schedule for rollout in Feb. The airline signed a contract in Sept. with EADS Sogerma to provide fully reclining seats for its first- and business-class cabins as part of a full refit program across its A330 fleet. The refitting of the six A330s represents a $10 million investment and should be completed in June. "We are seeking a very quick introduction of the new seats on our A330 fleet as part of our strategy to win the premium customer back," VP-Sales and Marketing John Butler told ATWOnline at the World Travel Market in London. He noted that premium passenger numbers in the first nine months of the year increased 44% compared to the year-ago period, while passenger totals rose 34%. Frequent-flier membership more than doubled. He added that Gulf Air is still "on track" for breakeven this year and would have posted a "healthy" profit if it were not for the sharp rise in fuel prices. Nov 9, 2004

Japan Airlines and American Airlines will launch a new nonstop daily codeshare flight between Nagoya and Chicago April 4. The service will be operated with an AA 777-200 with 236 seats in a three-class configuration. Nov 22, 2004

Japan Airlines extended its special domestic flights between Tokyo and Niigata to Dec. 21 2004. The airline launched the flights after the Oct. 23 earthquakes in Japan severed rail connections between the cities. JAL is operating four daily flights on the route using 298-seat A300s. Nov 22, 2004

Gatwick &endash; Manchester, hitherto the sole preserve of British Airways, is to be challenged by Jet2.com the budget airline, part of Philip Meeson's Dart Group Plc, which recently announced the establishment of a major base at the north west England airport. Jet2.com will introduce a three times daily service on Monday 17 January. British Airways currently flies six times daily between the two airports using similar Boeing 737 equipment as that offered by Jet2. http://www.jet2.com Nov 22, 2004

JetBlue Airways has launched daily services between John F. Kennedy International Airport and Nassau, in The Bahamas. Nassau becomes the carrier's 30th destination, and third international destination following a successful launch last June from JFK to Santiago and Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. Departure time is 08800 for the three hour trip and arrival back at New York is 1440, comfortably to catch onward services to other parts of the US and Europe. There is a daily light to Nassau from Heathrow by British Airways. JetBlue, which made its first commercial flight in February 2000, operates a fleet of 66 new Airbus A320 aircraft and plans to add another three A320s to its fleet in 2004. The airline has 100 Embraer E190 aircraft on order with options for an additional 100 with deliveries scheduled to begin in mid 2005. All JetBlue aircraft feature -leather seats each equipped with free live satellite television, offering up to 36 channels. http://www.jetblue.com

Nov 8, 2004

Kenya Airways is to offer from 12 December a twice weekly through service to the increasingly popular leisure areas around Mombassa. The airline's late evening wide-body flights from Heathrow on Thursday and Friday will stopover at Nairobi for 70 minutes before departing on the short one hour hop to the Indian Ocean resort. Northbound departure passengers on Saturdays and Sundays can enjoy wide-body service all the way with Boeing 767 on the Mombassa &endash; Nairobi route and either the 767 or a 777 for the London leg. http://www.kenya-airways.com Nov 15, 2004

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines signed a new code share agreement with Gulf Air that will allow the Dutch carrier to put its code on Gulf Air flights from Abu Dhabi to Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore and Muscat from Dec. 6 2004. KLM code sharing also will be available on Gulf Air flights between Bahrain and Muscat. Nov 30, 2004

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is to begin operating services to Khartoum (Sudan) and Addis Ababa ( Ethiopia) at the start of the 2005 summer schedule. Whilst there are alternative means of getting to Khartoum from the UK, typically Cairo, Amsterdam is a good connecting point from the British regional airports. The flights will operate twice weekly with Boeing 767-300 ER equipment. The introduction of these new services is part of the ongoing process of network harmonization between KLM and Air France, with neither of the new destinations served by the French national airline. Since it is KLM's 75 anniversary year we have used a photo which epitomizes the airline. http://www.klm.com Nov 22, 2004

KLM will begin twice-weekly Amsterdam-Khartoum-Addis Ababa-Amsterdam service March 31 2005 using 767-300ERs. Also, the airline will change the departure time from 9:30 a.m. to 11:25 a.m. for its flight from Amsterdam to Newark effective Jan. 10. The schedule change will not affect the return flight. Nov 15, 2004

London City Airport says that its Jet Centre, located just off the roundabout on the entrance to the airport, successfully outperformed expectations in just two years. Today the Jet Center operation accounts for 10% of the airport's overall traffic. The original forecast indicated that by 2007 the Jet Center would be handling 7,000 annual aircraft movements. LCY says that this target will be achieved in 2004. Fractional ownership aircraft, where businesses buy a percentage of an aircraft, represented in flight hours, have drastically reduced the cost of private air travel and now account for approximately 35% of the Jet Centre's business. The airport believes that executive aircraft movements will double by 2007. http://www.londoncityairport.com Nov 29, 2004

LOT Polish Airlines' new low-fare subsidiary Polishwings looks set to take off in Feb. 2005. Initial fleet will consist of five 737 Classics that will fly from Warsaw and Katowice, where it will go head-to-head with Wizz Air, with the focus on serving cities in Eastern Europe. The airline also will take over LOT's charter operations and is evaluating the possibility of cooperating with Germanwings, the low-cost subsidiary of Eurowings, linking up at the latter's bases at Cologne and Stuttgart. The new company is capitalized at eur1 million ($1.33 million). Nov 30, 2004

Lufthansa adds perks, mulls new services for top fliers. The steady evolution away from international first class in favor of enhanced business class provides a market opportunity for those carriers that remain committed to a three-class service product, Lufthansa Group Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber said yesterday at Frankfurt Airport. Speaking at the unveiling of the carrier's new eur14 million ($18.2 million) first-class terminal and two new first-class lounges, Mayrhuber explained that "With more carriers dropping their first class and [the end of] Concorde, we know that we can grow in this segment if we offer a very good product." Lufthansa is enjoying double-digit growth in its first-class business and is evaluating a revamp of its top service class to coincide with the arrival of its A380s in 2007, Executive VP- Marketing and Sales Thierry Antinori told ATWOnline. The carrier may redo its economy class at the same time. To enhance its product for ultra-premium passengers further, the airline is evaluating cooperating with private executive jet operators. "If one of our top clients is coming maybe from Singapore and wants to go, for example, to Shannon [Ireland] or a destination in Romania, we want to offer him a solution for the exclusive continuation of his journey," Antinori said. If launched, the first hub where small executive jets will feed the network will be Munich. Further information regarding this project will be announced in a few weeks. The new first class terminal at FRA will go into regular operation on Dec 1, as will the new lounges, which are in Terminal 1 in sectors A and B. Including the lounges, LH has invested eur30 million to please its top customers. The new terminal offers separate rooms furnished as offices or luxury suites including full bathrooms. There is a separate restaurant as well as a cigar lounge. First class passengers will be transferred directly from the lounge to the aircraft via Mercedes S-Class and Porsche Cayenne automobiles. In addition to first-class passengers, members of the new HON Circle status within Lufthansa's Miles & More loyalty program may use the lounges. To achieve HON Circle status, a member must collect 600,000 HON Circle miles within a period of two calendar years. These are status miles that are collected aboard flights operated by Lufthansa, Lufthansa Regional, Austrian Airlines Group, LOT Polish Airlines, Air Dolomiti, Air One or United Airlines. Nov 18, 2004

Lufthansa launched four weekly flights between Kuala Lumpur and Munich. The A340-600 used for the service features the airline's FlyNet onboard Internet service. Nov 8, 2004

Maersk Air will start five weekly flights from Berlin to Copenhagen March 27 2005 using 737-500s/-700s. Nov 3, 2004

Northwest Airlines will launch three daily flights between Detroit and Latrobe, Pa., April 4 2005. The service will be operated with Northwest Airlink partner Mesaba Airlines' Saab 340s. Nov 30, 2004

Northwest Airlines will operate seasonal nonstop service between Memphis and Nassau Feb. 16-April 30 2005. The daily service will be flown by Airlink partner Pinnacle Airlines using a CRJ. Nov 12, 2004

Northwest Airlines launched six weekly flights between Guangzhou and Tokyo using a 757-200 in a two-class configuration. Nov 2, 2004

Qantas has significantly boosted capacity between Australia and the UK with the introduction of new Sydney &endash; Hong Kong &endash; London and Perth &endash; Singapore &endash; London services. These flights compete head on with increased schedules by various airlines in the Middle East and the December introduction of Virgin Atlantic flights also via Hong Kong. Australia is now linked to the UK by QF with 27 weekly flights. Qantas will add a fourth weekly service to the UK via Hong Kong in 2005 and has approval to operate a further three services from April 2006. Qantas is now also once again visible in Paris following a code share with Air France. Customers will fly on Qantas services between Australia and Singapore and then connect to daily Air France flights between Singapore and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. http://www.qantas.com.au Nov 8, 2004

Qatar Airways has launched daily nonstop scheduled services between Gatwick and Doha, capital of the State of Qatar. The new route marks an expansion of the airline's operations in the UK where it already serves Doha from Heathrow twice daily and Manchester four times a week. The Gatwick operation is flown by an Airbus A330-200 in a two class configuration of business and economy, featuring the latest in-flight entertainment system and Video on Demand. Gatwick is one of six new winter routes being launched from Doha over the next six weeks, increasing Qatar Airways' global reach from 53 to 59 destinations. Flights between Doha and Beijing were launched last week, Seychelles comes on line on 1 December, Yangon joins the network on 8 January and both Johannesburg and Cape Town will feature on Qatar Airways' global map from 16 January. http://www.qatarairways.com Nov 29, 2004

Qatar Airways and Yemen Airways signed a bilateral codeshare agreement that went into effect Oct. 31 2004. Under the deal, Qatar will place its code on Yemen Airways' Sanaa-Aden-Doha flights while Yemen will begin codesharing on Qatar's Sanaa-Doha flights. Nov 12, 2004

Qatar Airways will launch new routes to Osaka, Melbourne, Tunis, Algiers, Athens and possibly New York next summer as it unveiled a codeshare agreement with bmi. Under the accord, Qatar's QR code will be placed on bmi connecting services from London Heathrow to nine onward bmi destinations in the UK and Europe and on bmi connecting flights from Manchester to three Scottish destinations. Nov 12, 2004

Qatar Airways will launch daily service to London Gatwick Nov. 26 and four weekly flights to Johannesburg and Cape Town Jan. 15 2005. The airline already operates two daily flights to London Heathrow and four weekly flights to Manchester. All routes will be operated using A330- 200s/-300s. Nov 1, 2004

Ryanair has had a busy week announcing that from March 2005 it will base up to four 189-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft at Liverpool to operate fights to 13 destinations. Currently operating to Dublin and Gerona the airline is adding Cork, Granada, Limoges, Milan, Nimes, Murcia, Pisa, Reus, Rome, Shannon and Treviso (Venice). From Blackpool, 60 miles to the north but also in Lancashire, Girona will join Dublin and Stansted as Ryanair routes. The airline has also stepped in to help with the crisis created by the failure of Volare. The airline has announced a new twice daily service from Paris (Beauvais) to Treviso which is Ryanair's 65th international route. Ryanair now flies on nine of the 11 international routes previously flown by Volare from Italy to other EU destinations. Ryanair is operating most of these routes with greater frequency and lower fares than those sold by Volare. Except for Christmas week, where many of the flights are already sold out, the Irish airline is offering free seats to Volare ticket holders except for taxes, subject to availability and first come first served. On the negative side the airline will close the Stansted &endash; Erfurt route on 19 January 2005 and Girona &endash; Turin on 1 March 2005. http://www.ryanair.com Nov 29, 2004

Ryanair announced that following a periodic review of its route network it will stop operating its London Stansted-Erfurt route Jan. 19 and its Barcelona Girona-Turin service March 1 2005. Nov 25, 2004

Ryanair announced an expansion of its routes in Italy "to assist the many hundreds of thousands of passengers disrupted as a result of the collapse of Volare". As part of the expansion, the Irish LCC will launch a new twice-daily service from Paris Beauvais to Venice Treviso March 23, bringing its routes to and from Italy to 65. In addition, Ryanair said it invited all Italian airports affected by Volare's problems to meetings in Milan this week to discuss the possibility of offering domestic flights within Italy on what had been Volare routes. "We expect to announce further route expansion to and from these airports in the not-too-distant future subject to the successful conclusion of satisfactory agreements with these airports," Deputy CEO Michael Cawley said. Cawley also reiterated statements the carrier's CEO, Michael O'Leary, made earlier this year that this winter would be a "bloodbath" resulting in the collapse of loss-making low-fare airlines. "With intense competition all over Europe and high oil prices, only the strongest low-fare airlines will survive," he said. "Volare will not be the last [to collapse]. We have enjoyed enormous growth in the Italian market over the past three years and we expect that Ryanair's pro- passenger response to the collapse of Volare will enable us to continue to grow and expand in the Italian market." At present, Ryanair flies on eight of the 11 international routes previously operated by Volare from Italy to other EU destinations. It is offering free flights (excluding taxes and airport charges) to all passengers booked to travel Volare on any of these routes from Dec. 1 to March 17 2005 excluding the peak Dec. 22-Jan. 4 Christmas period. Nov 25, 2004

Ryanair is to fly Stansted to Brno (Czech Republic), Granada (Spain), Wroclow (Poland), as well as from Gatwick to Knock (Ireland), all the routes starting from the early months of next year. Also from Stansted, Cork is going up to four daily as is Shannon and to complement the existing Luton daily operation Nimes is also to be served from the NE London airport. On Monday morning (22 November) Michael O'Leary himself is due to hold a press conference at Liverpool Airport (Ryanair already flies three a day to Dublin) where he is expected to unveil more routes. easyJet is the biggest operator presently at Liverpool. http://www.ryanair.com Nov 22, 2004

Ryanair will launch new daily service from London Stansted to Brno, Granada and Wroclow as well as a new daily flight from London Gatwick to Knock. Flights to Brno and Wroclaw will begin March 24 while Granada service commences Feb. 7. Service to Knock will begin Jan. 19. In addition, the carrier will increase flights from Stansted to Cork from three to four daily Jan. 19 and to Shannon from two to three daily Jan. 19 and to four daily on March 24. It also will launch a second daily summer service from Stansted to Nimes March 14 2005. Nov 22, 2004

Ryanair, has began to rollout its new In-flight Entertainment System (IFE), allowing passengers to catch Hollywood movies, cartoons, sports, comedy and music videos. The facility stem will initially be available on five Stansted-based aircraft and will be introduced across the entire route network over the winter period. Videos are available at [pounds sterling]5 per flight using hand held Digeplayer 5500. Air New Zealand is another airline trailing such as system this week introducing personal DVD's on the Auckland &endash; Melbourne route Ryanair has also announced its half years result, 15% up, [pounds sterling]139m on a [pounds sterling]500m turnover. http://www.ryanair.com

Nov 8, 2004

Bratislava is to gain more Stansted services from SkyEurope Airlines following Austrian Airlines decision to pull off the route. In September LOT Polish Airlines canceled their Bratislava &endash; Warsaw operation in another example of national carriers unable to compete with the new breed of budget airlines on European point to point routes. EasyJet comes on line with a single daily flight from Luton from 8 December. SkyEurope currently operates a fleet of 13 aircraft out of 4 bases in Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Warsaw and Krakow. Its network includes 35 routes to 19 destinations in 12 countries. http://www.skyeurope.com Nov 29, 2004

SkyEurope, the low-cost airline from Slovakia, almost doubled its passenger figures in the first nine months of 2004. It transported 713,600 passengers, up 91% compared to the same period last year. It serves 19 destinations with a fleet of 13 aircraft. Nov 24, 2004

SN Brussels Airlines concluded a code share agreement with Tarom that will see SN adding its code on Tarom's 737 flights between Brussels and Bucharest from Dec 1 2004. Also, SN Brussels is resuming flights to Abidjan from Dec 9. Flights were suspended on Nov. 7 owing to civil unrest in the Ivory Coast. Nov 30, 2004

SN Brussels Airlines added its code on all flights operated by Air Malta between Brussels and Malta's Luqa Airport on Oct. 31. Air Malta flies the route four times weekly with 737-300s or A319s/A320s in a two-class configuration. Nov 8, 2004

Southwest Airlines continues to expand at Chicago Midway. Beginning April 3 2005, the airline will launch a third daily flight between Midway and Hartford and two additional daily flights on the Midway- Phoenix route for a total of eight. The flights will add to the previously announced new flights that will begin in the first quarter of 2005. In addition, also on April 3 Southwest will begin a third daily flight on both the Phoenix-Seattle/Tacoma and Phoenix-Portland routes. Nov 23, 2004

Spirit Airlines launched service from Ft. Lauderdale to Santo Domingo with connecting service from Atlantic City, Cancun, Chicago O'Hare, Detroit, New York LaGuardia and Reagan Washington National Airport. Nov 25, 2004

Star Alliance has confirmed that Finnish airline Blue1 has joined the alliance as its first regional member. In order to qualify under this category, aside from meeting certain requirements, the prospective carrier must be sponsored by and have close ties to an existing Star partner to achieve a quick and easy integration. The sponsoring airline represents the regional member. Blue1 is owned by Star Alliance member SAS. It operates more than 110 flights per day and is expected to carry more than 1.1m passengers in 2004. Blue 1 has a fleet of nine Avro RJ and five Saab 2000 aircraft. Adria Airways and Croatia Airlines have also been approved for regional membership. Joining dates for those two airlines have yet to be finalized. http://www.staralliance.com Nov 15, 2004

bnew business class only service between Zurich and Newark New York moved a step closer last week when executive aviation specialist PrivatAir took delivery of the first Boeing Business Jet 2 (BBJ2). In fact this aircraft represents the fifth Boeing in PrivatAir's fleet, in addition to four Airbus. One Boeing 757 and two Boeing Business Jets are based in Geneva for private charter; another BBJ operates the six times a week Lufthansa service between Munich and Newark, configured with 48 all-business class seats. The routes operated out of Dusseldorf are served with two Airbus A319LR, linking the German city with Chicago and Newark nonstop. The new BBJ2 will be equipped with 56 lie-flat business class seats, the first all business class aircraft to be so configured. http://www.privatair.com Nov 22, 2004

United Airlines said its daily nonstop service between San Francisco and Nagoya will begin March 26 rather than the original start date of June 1. In addition, it will launch a second daily service between Los Angeles and Tokyo Narita June 7 2005. Nov 15, 2004

bofficially launched its new premium service, p.s., on a flight between Los Angeles International and New York JFK last week. The product uses reconfigured 757s that feature lie-flat seats in first class, an upgraded business class and an all-Economy Plus main cabin, with laptop power connections installed throughout. Once fully implemented, the service will be available on seven daily flights between LAX and JFK and six between JFK and San Francisco. Nov 1, 2004

United Airlines began daily nonstop service between Chicago and Buenos Aires with connecting service to Montevideo. It also began daily nonstop service between Chicago and Shanghai. Nov 1, 2004

US Airways, just like Delta, is finding transatlantic operations more than worthwhile. New for next summer are Barcelona and Venice both from Philadelphia, whilst Dublin, Shannon and Glasgow are all back for the season with daily flights operated by two class Boeing 767-200ER aircraft. The airline now serves 13 European destinations. http://www.usairways.com Nov 29, 2004

US Airways will begin nonstop daily seasonal service to Venice and Barcelona in summer 2005. Service from Philadelphia to Venice will start May 9 and to Barcelona May 16 2005. Nonstop service to Dublin, Glasgow and Shannon will resume on May 7, May 14 and May 8 respectively. All seasonal flights will operate on a daily basis through Oct. 29 using 203-seat 767-200ERs. Nov 22, 2004

Valuair, the Singapore-based new budget airline, plans to launch daily flights to Perth from Wednesday, Dec. 1 2004. This will be the first Australian destination for the carrier which currently flies Airbus A320s to Bangkok, Hong Kong and Jakarta. Unlike most other so-called low cost carriers, Valuair will offer light meals, coffee and tea, audio and video entertainment and a 20 kilo baggage allowance. Passengers should be comfortable on the 5 hour 40 minute flight. The Airbus fitted out with 150 seats at 34" pitch, instead of the usual 180. The airline will compete head on with both Qantas and Singapore Airlines, as well as Royal Brunei via its Bandar Seri Begawan hub. http://www.valuair.com.sg Nov 8, 2004

Vietnam Airways is in a positive frame of mind to introduce services from London to Hanoi for the winter season 2005. The carrier, who took space on the National stand at WTM last week, in fact dates back to 1956 and has a modern fleet including ER version of both the Boeing 767 and Boeing 777. The airline is a lead customer for the Boeing 7E7. Currently Vietnam Airways only European destination is Paris from which it has nonstop flights from both Hanoi and Ho Chi Min City (formerly Saigon). http://www.vietnamair.com.vn Nov 15, 2004

Virgin Atlantic has confirmed plans to launch direct services from Gatwick to Cuba and the Bahamas as well as increasing its existing schedules to Las Vegas, Grenada and Tobago from July 2005. The new flights will operate twice a week to Havana in Cuba, starting from 21 July, and once a week to Nassau in the Bahamas, starting from 18 July. This will bring the airline's total number of destinations to 25 by summer next year. An additional service to Grenada and Tobago will double the airline's services to two per week to the islands following the launch of services May 2003. The services will form part of a 20% increase in capacity to the Caribbean routes and will be operated by Boeing 747-400 aircraft. Virgin Atlantic will also be increasing its services to North America by adding another service per week between Gatwick and Las Vegas bringing the number of weekly flights up to five. http://www.virgin-atlantic.com Nov 15, 2004

Virgin Blue secured a deal to become the first carrier outside North America to introduce live satellite television. The airline announced last week that it entered into an arrangement with LiveTV to deliver the Live2Air service to its passengers. JetBlue, which owns LiveTV, and WestJet currently operate the service in the US and Canada. Passengers will be able to use the seatback video service for a small fee and Virgin Blue will offer a choice of 24 channels. CEO Brett Godfrey said it will begin phasing in the IFE system from the middle of 2005, subject to approval from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. Nov 8, 2004

Volare, a budget airline and Italy's third-largest carrier, was grounded last Friday affecting not only passengers but the whole of the Italian air market. Volare's failure will help Alitalia, itself under extreme financial difficulties but the market is further muddled with the establishment of Myair.com a new carrier about to be launched by ex- Volare executives, the target date 17 December. Volare currently has 21 aircraft including 18 Airbus A320 and three Airbus A330. http://buy.volareweb.com http://www.myair.com Nov 22, 2004

Hungarian low-fare carrier Wizz Air will introduce several new routes from March 27 2005, building service from Katowice, Budapest and Gdansk. New destinations include Frankfurt-Hahn from Katowice and Budapest, Barcelona Girona also from Katowice and Budapest, Athens from Budapest and Stockholm from Gdansk. Seasonal service will be offered from Katowice and Budapest to Palma June 15-Sept. 14 2004, while Budapest, Katowcie and Gdansk will be linked as well. Nov 30, 2004

Wizz Air, the east European airline, has become one of the first of the new breed of budget carriers to introduce its summer schedule 2005 including new destinations and increased frequencies on existing routes. Starting from 27 March 2005 Wizz Air will add from Budapest: Frankfurt- Hahn, Barcelona-Girona, Athens and Katowice. From Katowice, Hahn and Gdansk join the network, whilst from Gdansk as well as Katowice, Stockholm is added. Wizz Air has become the biggest low cost carrier in Central and Eastern Europe just a couple of months after its start in May this year. Since the launch of the airline about half a million passengers have been carried. It flies to Liverpool and Luton in the UK. http://www.wizzair.com Nov 29, 2004

Wizz Air will launch service from Budapest and Katowice to Frankfurt Hahn March 27. Details of the schedule and the airline's summer 2005 destinations will be announced next week. Nov 24, 2004