Headline News

Airguide Online, June 30, 2004

US Airways rolled out its new low GoFares in the Washington, D.C., market on 22 routes initially from both Dulles and Reagan airports. The fares start at $79 for advance purchases to Fort Lauderdale, Raleigh/Durham, Myrtle Beach and Orlando. Last-minute purchases start at $84 and never go higher than $499 one way. US Airways is slowing unveiling this new simplified fare structure, starting with Philadelphia in April. It is offering double Dividend Miles when booked through an agent, and triple of booked at usairways.com.

Virgin Atlantic, which celebrated its 20th anniversary the week of June 22 2004, is finally to fly to Australia the airline announcing that is has secured traffic rights over Hong Kong, and with a start-up date of 7 December well in time for the Christmas holiday rush. Flight time will be approximately 22 hours 30 minutes (12 hours to HKG, a 90 minute stopover, followed by a nine hour flight south) which could make the service the fastest ever scheduled operation between the two cities. All flights will be operated by 306-seat Airbus A340-600 aircraft with a configuration of 45 Upper Class, 28 Premium Economy and 233 economy seats. From a practical point of view timings allow for an evening departure from London arriving early morning two days later, and a late afternoon departure from Sydney getting into Heathrow very early the next day (all times local). Virgines long term plans call for the introduction of the Airbus A380 on the route. www.virgin.com/atlantic