- Airtran announced plans to begin service from Portland International Jetport from Baltimore-Washington International and Orlando International Airports in June. The service will begin June 7th with three daily roundtrips to BWI, followed on the ninth by a daily flight to Orlando. While the service is noted as seasonal, there is no note as to when it might stop. If it is successful, it may become year-round.
- Midwest Airlines will launch nonstop service between Seattle and Milwaukee beginning June 18th. This is in addition to planned service from Kansas City scheduled to start in April and is the only nonstop flight connecting the two cities.
- Iberia will launch nonstop flights from Washington-Dulles Airport to Madrid-Barajas Airport five times per week effective June 2nd. Service will be operated using 260-seat Airbus 340s. The flight is timed to allow onward connections in Europe.
- Delta will launch daily nonstop service between Salt Lake City, Utah and Salem, Oregon and Yakima, Washington using 50-seat CRJ200s. Salem has not had commercial air service since 1993 and spent over $1 million in the last year to secure an airline. Yakima has had only Horizon Air(Alaska’s partner) since United Express pulled out after 9/11 and has spent two years luring Delta. Both services will operate twice daily effective June 7th. Delta will also resume seasonal service from Salt Lake City to Steamboat Springs, CO, and Montrose/Telluride, CO.
- Midwest will also launch nonstop service from Eppley Field in Omaha to Los Angeles on May 1st. It will be the only carrier to operate this route. Midwest also offers the only nonstop service from Omaha to Washington-National and Milwaukee.
- Delta will offer daily nonstop service from Atlanta to Lagos, Nigeria effective December 3rd.
- Air New Zealand will offer new nonstop service three times a week from Auckland to Vancouver from November 2nd through March 28 to coincide with peak travel service. As part of this, they revealed a new pricing model for Canada, including the allowance of stopovers in the Pacific Islands and add-ons in New Zealand and in Canada.
- China Southern Airlines announced substantial customer service enhancements detailed here. They include free cocktails to all First Class passengers on all flights from Guangzhou to Beijing, Los Angeles, Paris, and Sydney. The airline has established new “Customer Experts” … airline ground staff specifically charged with meeting the personal travel needs of all First Class passengers. These new Customer Experts will be meeting all First Class passengers (with name signs) at each gate and will guide through any local connection service within China.
- Expressjet released its schedule and began selling tickets for new service from Kansas City, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Raleigh-Durham, Birmingham, San Antonio and Louisville. Expressjet will offer service on 50-seater ERJ-145 aircraft with valet carry-on bag service, complimentary recognized brand-name snacks, as well as full-service meals on longer flights. Expressjet will offer convenient nonstop or one-stop service throughout its route network.
