Chicago service - All Nippon Airways is to launch Tokyo-Chicago services on 13 April. The daily non-stop service will be run with Boeing 747-400s, seating 319. It will be the sixth US destination for ANA, after New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC and Honolulu. Round the world - South Korea's Asiana Airlines launched a round-the-world cargo service on 11 January that has it connecting New York with Brussels for the first time. The Boeing 747-400F service leaves Seoul on Mondays, bound for New York via Anchorage. It then departs New York for Seoul via Brussels. No more Atlanta - Japan Airlines is to discontinue Tokyo-Atlanta services and replace them with Dallas services on 15 March, as it prepares to enter into its wide-ranging code-sharing partnership with American Airlines. Boeing 747-400s will fly on the new route three times a week. The Atlanta service had been operated for 13 years. Heading heading - American Airlines signed a code-share deal with Air Pacific in December, under which American will sell seats on the Fijian carrier's four-times-weekly flights linking Nadi with Los Angeles. Taiwan's EVA Airways is planning to launch services to Canada following the granting of permission for Air Canada to operate new services between the two countries by its government. EVA says it plans to offer Vancouver services by May or June, in competition with Canadian Airlines and Mandarin Airlines, a subsidiary of China Airlines. Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is launching Kuala Lumpur-Manchester services on 29 March. The struggling carrier halted unprofitable Vancouver services on 11 January and boosted frequencies to Amsterdam, Brisbane, Cairns, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. On 30 November, MAS reported a surprise net loss of 436 million ringgit ($115 million) for the half year to September. EVA Airways was to have launched the first all-cargo service between Taiwan and India on 17 January. The new Taipei-Mumbai service would then carry on to Brussels, before making its return to Taipei via Mumbai and Singapore. All Nippon Airways and United Airlines were to have expanded their code-share agreement on 19 January to include Tokyo-Bangkok services. The carriers said they were to have been their first joint intra-Asia flights, and the expansion was the first since their code-sharing agreement took effect on 20 routes between Japan and the USA in October. Brazilian approval - Continental Airlines has won preliminary approval from the US Department of Transportation to fly between Houston and Sao Paulo. Continental already serves the Brazilian city from New York Newark. Mesaba codeshare - Mesaba Airlines, which operates as a Northwest Airlines affiliate, has signed a codeshare with Continental Airlines. The agreement includes all flights in and out of Detroit and Minneapolis/St Paul which connect to Continental flights at its hubs in New York Newark, Houston and Cleveland. Delta nonstops - Delta Air Lines is adding four new European destinations to its 1999 summer schedule. They include nonstop services from Atlanta to Athens, Barcelona and Istanbul and from New York to Dublin, which will continue to Shannon. Delta has also announced that it is suspending service between Portland, Oregon, and Seoul, South Korea, citing the Asian economic crisis. California dreaming - America West is expanding services to California and Texas with four daily nonstops from its Phoenix base to San Luis Obispo and three to Carlsbad. It will also increase its daily Phoenix to El Paso service from four to six flights. Northern partners - Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, which formed a marketing agreement with American Airlines at the end of 1998, have struck a partnership with Canadian Airlines. From 1 April, the airlines intend to codeshare and reciprocate frequent flier programmes. Pro Air expands - Startup carrier Pro Air is expanding service from its Detroit City Airport base to include Chicago Midway and New York LaGuardia. The airline intends to begin with one daily flight to LaGuardia and four daily flights each week day to Midway. Boston linkup - American Airlines is starting a new daily service between Boston Logan and New York's Kennedy Airports. The service is timed to connect with American flights from New York to South America as well as allow Bostonian to catch a later connecting flight to London Heathrow. Washington focus - United Airlines intends to increase its number of flights from Washington Dulles International Airport by 60% as part of an expansion plan for that region. From April the airline will add service to 13 US cities from Dulles and it is also looking at stepping up international service. Star co-operation - Star Alliance partners SAS and Air Canada are starting a five days weekly service between Toronto and Copenhagen in May. It will be operated by Air Canada, using a 767-200 wide body aircraft. BA cedes to Qantas - British Airways is expanding its codeshare with Qantas between London and Melbourne, replacing its daily two-stop flights with a three times weekly one-stop service operated by Qantas by March 31. Dutch in China - KLM will start flying three times weekly out of Amsterdam to Shanghai on March 29, adding to its existing Chinese routes to Beijing and Hong Kong. Its partner Braathens will take-over the carrier's Amsterdam-Bergen route.
Source: Airline Business
