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An influential group of corporate travel managers has asked the U.S. Transportation Department to reopen its decision-making process for new services to China now that United and Continental are in preliminary merger talks, a group spokesman said on Thursday.

A decision is expected soon by the department on the competition among AMR Corp.’s American Airlines , Continental Airlines Inc., Northwest Airlines Corp. and UAL Corp.’s United Airlines for the new single route.

Each carrier has proposed a different U.S. departure city with service scheduled to begin in March.

source: Reuters

JetBlue Airways Corp. said Tuesday it launched new daily nonstop service to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Boston for the winter season.

The service will operate through April 30 and is the low-cost carrier’s 22nd nonstop destination from Boston.

JetBlue has recently scaled back its growth plans as part of its goal to return to consistent profitability.

source: MSN

The new route sees Thomsonfly’s low-fare routes from the airport up to seven, with other destinations from Cardiff including Jersey, Faro in Portugal, and Alicante, Malaga, Ibiza and Palma in Spain.

“‘The introduction of flights between Cardiff and Barcelona is a very exciting milestone for both Cardiff and Thomsonfly, this is the first time a major new international route has been launched from Cardiff Airport with the support of the Welsh Assembly,'” said Guy Stephenson, Thomsonfly’s commercial director.

The airline says it plans to work closely with the airport and the Welsh Assembly to develop more routes in future.

source: travelbite.co.uk

SriLankan Airlines introduced an additional flight between Colombo, Doha and Bahrain from December 6, as part of an ongoing initiative to improve service in the Middle East region.

The circle flight operating on Fridays, adds to the two non-stop flights from Doha to Colombo and another two flights via Bahrain.

source: ameinfo.com

bmibaby has launched phase two of it’s exciting rapid expansion programme at Birmingham International Airport for Summer 2007. The expansion plan breaks down into three key initiatives: the introduction of four new routes to Barcelona, Lisbon, Marseille Provence and Rome (Fiumicino); a ramping up of frequencies on key Mediterranean routes; and an increase in frequencies on key domestic routes.

source: Easier

A new low-cost, high-frills French airline entered the cutthroat transatlantic market on Friday with an all-business class service aimed at cost-conscious “‘Paryorkers'”.

The made-up catchword, derived from Paris and New York, is the slogan for a daily round-trip service between the two cities to be operated by start-up airline L’Avion from December 27.

The airline began taking reservations on Friday and changed its brand name from Elysair after market research found, to the airline’s surprise, that Americans as well as French people warmed to the simple French word for “aeroplane.”

source: Yahoo!

Flyglobespan, the Scottish low-cost airline, will begin flying between the United Kingdom and Hamilton, Ont. this spring.
In addition to distributing its own glossy route maps, the four-year-old airline will tout access to the vast European networks of two of its biggest discount rivals – Ryanair and easyJet – from London’s Stansted airport, now a Mecca for thrifty European air travellers. It will be the first daily flight by a low-cost airline from Canada to Stansted.

source: canada.com

Frontier Airlines will offer daily, nonstop flights from Connecticut’s Bradley International Airport to Denver for as low as $99 one way beginning in March, the low-cost carrier and airport officials announced Tuesday.

source: Denver Daily News

West Virginians planning to travel to Myrtle Beach for summer vacation now have another option to loading up the car.

Low-cost carrier Southern Skyways announced Wednesday that beginning March 2 it will offer direct flights to the vacation spot from Charleston’s Yeager Airport.

source: thetandd.com

AirTran Airways is expected to announce today that it will grow its route map to Phoenix, the result of the Orlando-based carrier’s recent online survey that asked consumers where they want AirTran to fly next.

The new service between Atlanta and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport will begin on Feb. 15.

“We are excited to expand to Phoenix and bring our growing route network to the Southwestern United States,” said Kevin Healy, vice president of planning for AirTran Airways.

source: Orlando Sentinel