HEADLINE NEWS.

Low-frills airlines in Europe currently hold 18 percent of the market share, and that could go to 32 percent in just the next few years, according to Kark Garnadt, senior vice president-Network for Lufthansa. Speaking at the 13th annual Phoenix Aviation Symposium, Garnadt said that how quickly they grow depends on the response of the legacy carriers, which have been complacent in responding to the new competition. Michael Whitacker, vice president of alliances, international and regulatory affairs for United, said airlines no longer fit neatly into buckets of domestic and international and low- cost and point-to-point carriers. Most experts agreed that global aviation would eventually evolve into a system of three global alliances with many partners, and then many smaller operators.

According to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, record gasoline prices will not stop Americans from hitting the road this summer. The report predicts that the increase in domestic summer travel will create an increase of 5.3 percent in revenue per available room for hotels.

Honolulu media are reporting that a person suspected in a ticket scam involving Hawaiian Airlines transpacific tickets turned himself in to Honolulu police. According to reports, consumers may have lost $200,000 thus far, but that dollar figure could rise if additional victims come forward. Hawaiian Airlines had issued a warning to would-be travelers earlier this month that an individual was offering consumers five roundtrip tickets between Hawaii and the U.S. mainland for $250 each and promising a sixth ticket for free. In its warning, the airline noted that the first ticket was legitimate but the subsequent ones were not. Consumers who think they've been scammed should file a police report and call Hawaiian Airlines' customer advocate line at 808-838- 3500 to confirm ticketed reservations.

Access America, a travel insurance company, has partnered with Continental to offer trip protection to passengers whom book from Continental.com. The insurance will be available starting next month. It will offer Airline Ticket Protector, which provides trip cancellation and interruption coverage, and 24-hour global emergency assistance. A site www.etravelprotection.com/continental has been developed exclusively for Continental's customers.

American is doubling its AAdvantage miles on flights from New York Kennedy to San Francisco and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The offer is good for San Juan from now through May 31, and for San Francisco between April 16 and May 31 2004. Travelers must register prior to travel at www.aa.com/offers and enter the promotion code for San Juan or San Francisco, or by calling the AAdvantage dial-in system at 800-882-8880.

Cathay Pacific Airways completed installation of its new business class cabin on all of its long-haul aircraft, which include 747-400s, A340s and three-class A330s.

China Southern Airlines is adding weekly service between Changchun and Tokyo. The route expansion follows the launch of Changchun-Sendai service by China Southern Airline Company Jilin Branch, which is a subsidiary of China Southern Air Holding Company.

For more details please go to: www.cs-air.com/en

Continental Airlines announced it has increased the fuel surcharge on certain tickets, effective immediately. The surcharge has been raised from $10 each way to $15 each way for travel in the U.S., and between the U.S. and Canada. The higher surcharge will help offset higher jet fuel prices. Last week Continental reported a first quarter net loss of $124 million. Had jet fuel prices been at Continental's five-year average (1999 to 2003) price, the company's fuel expense for the quarter would have been $102 million less.

Continental will eliminate paper tickets entirely by the end of this year, including interline tickets. Those airlines that have not implemented electronic interline capabilities, 50 in all, have had their interline ticketing and baggage agreements eliminated, the airline said. David Grizzle, senior VP of corporate development, says the airline is "quite serious about our paperless objective" and it will eliminate issuance and acceptance of paper tickets for all of its flights. It currently has 20 e-ticket partners and has more than 180 interline ticketing and baggage agreements with airlines. It said it looks forward to bringing e-ticket technology to each of those interline agreements.

Iberia will install Tenzing's new high-speed e-mail and instant messaging service in business class on its long-haul fleet of A340-600s and A340-300s beginning in Oct. 2004.

Independence Air is telling potential new customers that it will begin selling tickets sometime in May 2004, and its iCLUB members, hose registered on its site at www.flyi.com, will be emailed the exact date ahead of the rest of the world. The airline says it is driven to offer a product that is less expensive and easier to fly than most airlines, while giving them a straightforward fare structure with limited restrictions. Independence Air, which is now Atlantic Coast Airlines, will launch June 16 from Washington-Dulles Airport. By the end of the summer, it expects to be flying to 35 cities. Customers who sign up to the airline's iCLUB will receive $25 off their first roundtrip flight if it is booked by Sept. 30 and flown by Dec. 31 2004.

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 on-time 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.

JetBlue Airways launched online check-in for its passengers through its website. It said online check-in is available 24 hr. in advance of but no less than 90 min. prior to the scheduled departure time.

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.

Spirit Airlines said it reduced its ticket change fees from $75 per ticket per passenger to $25, effective immediately. The carrier said the policy applies to all tickets including those purchased before March 15 2004.

Travelocity has introduced a "new look and feel" with its now easier to use Web site. The company said its site now has faster download speeds and more dropdown menus, as well as more personal information on the home page. The new home page loads almost twice as fast, Travelocity said. Its new logo includes "guiding stars" and a new color scheme.