AIRLINE & TRAVEL NEWS

Airguide Online, Nov, 2004

Japan Airlines extended its special domestic flights between Tokyo and Niigata to Dec. 21 2004. The airline launched the flights after the Oct. 23 earthquakes in Japan severed rail connections between the cities. JAL is operating four daily flights on the route using 298-seat A300s. Nov 22, 2004

Gatwick &endash; Manchester, hitherto the sole preserve of British Airways, is to be challenged by Jet2.com the budget airline, part of Philip Meeson's Dart Group Plc, which recently announced the establishment of a major base at the north west England airport. Jet2.com will introduce a three times daily service on Monday 17 January. British Airways currently flies six times daily between the two airports using similar Boeing 737 equipment as that offered by Jet2. http://www.jet2.com Nov 22, 2004

JetBlue Airways has launched daily services between John F. Kennedy International Airport and Nassau, in The Bahamas. Nassau becomes the carrier's 30th destination, and third international destination following a successful launch last June from JFK to Santiago and Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. Departure time is 08800 for the three hour trip and arrival back at New York is 1440, comfortably to catch onward services to other parts of the US and Europe. There is a daily light to Nassau from Heathrow by British Airways. JetBlue, which made its first commercial flight in February 2000, operates a fleet of 66 new Airbus A320 aircraft and plans to add another three A320s to its fleet in 2004. The airline has 100 Embraer E190 aircraft on order with options for an additional 100 with deliveries scheduled to begin in mid 2005. All JetBlue aircraft feature -leather seats each equipped with free live satellite television, offering up to 36 channels. http://www.jetblue.com

Nov 8, 2004

Kenya Airways is to offer from 12 December a twice weekly through service to the increasingly popular leisure areas around Mombassa. The airline's late evening wide-body flights from Heathrow on Thursday and Friday will stopover at Nairobi for 70 minutes before departing on the short one hour hop to the Indian Ocean resort. Northbound departure passengers on Saturdays and Sundays can enjoy wide-body service all the way with Boeing 767 on the Mombassa &endash; Nairobi route and either the 767 or a 777 for the London leg. http://www.kenya-airways.com Nov 15, 2004

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines signed a new code share agreement with Gulf Air that will allow the Dutch carrier to put its code on Gulf Air flights from Abu Dhabi to Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore and Muscat from Dec. 6 2004. KLM code sharing also will be available on Gulf Air flights between Bahrain and Muscat. Nov 30, 2004

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is to begin operating services to Khartoum (Sudan) and Addis Ababa ( Ethiopia) at the start of the 2005 summer schedule. Whilst there are alternative means of getting to Khartoum from the UK, typically Cairo, Amsterdam is a good connecting point from the British regional airports. The flights will operate twice weekly with Boeing 767-300 ER equipment. The introduction of these new services is part of the ongoing process of network harmonization between KLM and Air France, with neither of the new destinations served by the French national airline. Since it is KLM's 75 anniversary year we have used a photo which epitomizes the airline. http://www.klm.com Nov 22, 2004