Routes

AirTran Airways has begun a daily service from its Atlanta hub to Grand Bahama Island. The US low-cost carrier has also added Pittsburgh as the 34th destination in its network. Air Zimbabwe is operating a Boeing 767 under a codesharing agreement with Lignes Aériennes Congolaises (LAC) on the Harare-Lubumbashi-Kinshasa route. The flight then continues with an LAC flight number to Paris and Brussels. Philippine Airlines has begun a three times weekly flight between Laoag and Hong Kong. Continental Airlines will increase the frequency of its Houston-São Paulo, Brazil, service from four times weekly to daily from 2 March. Virgin Express has inaugurated a daily service between Brussels and Malaga. Gill Air will take over services between Newcastle and Dublin in January from Aer Lingus, despite plans by British Airways to begin operating the route. Delta Air Lines has begun codesharing on SkyTeam partner Air France's Paris-Istanbul service. US regional CommutAir has begun operating as a Continental Connection carrier to 22 destinations in the eastern USA. South African start-up African Star Airlines is preparing to launch operations between Cape Town and Manchester via Munich and Johannesburg in April. Three flights a week will initially be operated, using Boeing 747-300s. US low-cost carrier Vanguard Airlines will expand services from its Kansas City, Missouri, hub beginning 7 January, adding flights to Austin, Texas; Buffalo, New York; and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. American Eagle will launch a "shuttle-style" regional jet service between Boston and New York Newark on 31 January, offering seven daily round trips using Embraer ERJ-135s. Cyprus Airway's charter operator Eurocypria Airlines is to start a service between Cyprus and Iceland. Flights from Larnaca to Reykjavik will begin in April, operating every 15 days.

Source: Flight International