AIRLINE NEWS.

American Airlines will open a second U.S. gateway to Belgium with a daily nonstop service between New York's JFK International and Brussels. American currently provides daily nonstop service between Chicago's O'Hare International and the European Union's capital city. The new daily service from New York will be flown on board a Boeing 767-300 aircraft with seating for 28 Business Class and 182 Coach Class passengers. The flight from New York departs at 6:25 p.m. landing next day at 7:55 a.m. in Brussels. The return flight leaves Brussels at 10:00 a.m. with a same day landing at JFK airport in New York at 12:15 p.m.

China Southern Airlines is now selling e-ticket packages that bundle air tickets with passes to scenic spots along the Lijiang River in Guilin. Li Kun, vice president of the airline, said passes to scenic spots, such as Yuzi Paradise, Guanyan and Earthly Paradise, are cheaper when purchased through the airline. "This new cooperation will improve the process under which these leisure destinations have partnered with travel agencies in the past and developed new product opportunities for the airline, while developing new customers and increasing visitors to the world-famous Guilin vacation destinations."

China Airlines and Delta Air Lines will start bilateral code share cooperation on transpacific services between the U.S. and Taiwan. Delta will begin placing its code on China Airlines flights between Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu and New York-Kennedy, and Taipei on May 1. Delta will also place its code on China Airlines' new service between Seattle and Taipei set to launch on June 22. China Airlines began the first phase of code share cooperation last June by placing its code on Delta flights between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Atlanta, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Salt Lake City and Cincinnati.

JetBlue Airways has been ranked number one for 2003 in the annual Airline Quality Rating released by researchers at Wichita State University and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The rating looks at ontime performance, passenger complaints, baggage handling and denied boards, and applies a formula to weigh these factors. This is the first year JetBlue, ATA, AirTran and Atlantic Southeast Airlines were included. The report said the performance measures show an increasing gap between the performance of the legacy and the low-cost carriers. The 14 airlines were ranked as follows: JetBlue, Alaska, Southwest, America West, US Airways, Northwest, Continental, AirTran, United, ATA, American, Delta, American Eagle and Atlantic Southeast. US Airways was the top carrier in 2002. Overall, the airlines performed slightly better last year due to a large drop in customer complaints. Northwest saw the best improvement, going from ninth to sixth.

Qantas and British Airways are adding interline e-ticketing within the oneworld alliance at the end of the month on their routes between Australia and Europe. E-ticketing is still not offered across the entire network of the two airlines, but will be eventually. Qantas introduced interline e-ticketing in November with American. The oneworld alliance wants to extend this by the end of this year.

Qantas is celebrating 50 years of serving North America. The 84-year old Australian flag carrier launched Sydney to San Francisco and Vancouver via Fiji, Nadi International Airport in 1954. To commemorate this half-century heritage of flight, Qantas will embark on celebrations across North America. The carrier will also use the celebration to announce first-ever nonstop service between Los Angeles and Brisbane, as well as an additional four new weekly services between Los Angeles and Sydney.

Spirit Airlines was selected as a 2004 Business of the Year in an awards ceremony sponsored by the South Florida Business Journal and Union Planters Bank. The Fort Lauderdale-based carrier has grown from 439 South Florida-based employees to more than 1,000 in the region and nearly 3,000 in the 16 markets served by the airline in North America.

US Airways will become a full member of the Star Alliance on May 4 2004. Jaan Albrecht, CEO of Star Alliance, said, "US Airways will significantly strengthen our network and product offering especially into and out of the eastern U.S. seaboard and the Caribbean via its hubs in Philadelphia, Charlotte and Pittsburgh." US Airways customers will then be able to accrue and redeem miles on any of the 15 member airlines.

US Airways is reducing flights to/from Pittsburgh. US Airways President and CEO Bruce Lakefield has informed Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell of business changes the company is forced to make, which likely will necessitate fewer flights and fewer destinations served out of Pittsburgh. Lakefield told Rendell on May 5 that the airline was entering into labor negotiations in which it will be discussing more point-to-point flying and lower operating costs. US Airways intends to continue to be the dominant carrier in Pittsburgh, and Lakefield said as negotiations continue, things could change, but there will not likely be any significant changes in its Pittsburgh fall schedule.