AIRLINE & TRAVEL NEWS

Austrian Airlines announced that it will add six more F100s to its fleet, bringing its total to 15 aircraft. Including nine F70s from AAG and subsidiary Austrian Arrows, AAG will be one of the biggest F70/F100 operators in Europe. Dec 10, 2004

Blue Air, a Romania-based startup, said it will launch services with two 737-300s Dec. 13. It plans to operate a twice-daily service from Bucharest Baneasa to Timisoara. Five weekly flights to Lyon, Rome or Milan also are planned, as well as four weekly flights to Reus. Dec 2, 2004

Blue1 will open a new route from Helsinki to Rovaniemi in Lapland Jan. 31 2005, offering six-times weekly service using Avro RJs. The carrier also announced new flights from Copenhagen to Vaasa and Oulu. Dec 21, 2004

British Airways has opened a flight connections center (FCC) at Heathrow specifically for Oneworld passengers. It should make life much easier for people changing airlines at Heathrow. The new FCC is located between terminals 1 and 2 and replaces separate units operated by each airline. Only Cathay Pacific, who uses a similar setup in T3, and Aer Lingus are not in the scheme. With EI the plan is to integrate the airline in time. http://www.ba.com Dec 20, 2004

British Airways with franchise partner GB Airways introducing a daily flight from 10 January 2005 in parallel with its Gatwick services to Gibraltar is again to be linked to Heathrow. All flights will be operated out of T1 by Airbus A320 aircraft offering a choice of Club Europe and Euro Traveler cabins, including complimentary in-flight food and drink and a minimum 31" seat pitch. GB Airways is also to introduce BA services to Dubrovnik from its new Manchester hub complimenting British Airways own daily flights from Gatwick. http://www.ba.com Dec 6, 2004

Centralwings is the final name for LOT's proposed low-cost subsidiary, which is expected to start operations Feb. 1 from Krakow and Warsaw to London Gatwick using a fleet of five 737 Classics. Previously it had been designated Polish Wings. Further destinations will follow later. Dec 20, 2004

Chautauqua Airlines launched daily Delta Connection service between Orlando and Panama City and between Orlando and Savannah. It also began two daily flights between Ft. Lauderdale and Pensacola. Dec 2, 2004

City Airline, a Swedish Regional carrier, will start a twice-daily service from Gotenburg to Zurich from Jan. 31 using ERJ-135s/-145s. Dec 24, 2004

South Africa's latest attempt to get off the ground with an alternative operation to the BA, SAA, Virgin monopoly on the route between the Republic and the UK seems to have failed. Civair, an established air taxi and charter company was supposed to have started a three times a week operation back in October, postponed until the beginning of December. That has never happened, according to the company due to the withdrawal of backers. However Civair says that all fares and deposits will be reimbursed. http://www.civair.com Dec 13, 2004

Vodafone and Boeing, acting through its business unit Connexion by Boeing, intend jointly to trial the delivery of high-speed in-flight Wi- Fi connectivity to passengers. The trial, set to start this month, will test the Vodafone customer experience with the Connexion by Boeing in- flight Internet service. Vodafone represents the first global mobile telecommunications operator to undergo trials with Connexion. Dec 14, 2004