In Brief

BA Increases Long Haul Services

British Airways is increasing its long haul services to popular destinations around the world.

Flights between London Heathrow and Los Angeles will be increased from 14 return services a week to 17. The extra flights will depart London on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

Holidaymakers and business travellers would now have more choice of flights when flying to the Far East. From June 2, flights between London Heathrow and Hong Kong was increased from 14 return services a week to 17. The extra services will depart London on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. The airline is also increasing the number of return services a week to Beijing from four a week to five a week. The winter schedule, which starts at the end of October 2004, is still being finalised, but there will be additional services to Cape Town in South Africa.

Alok Sawhney, British Airways country commercial manager said, "We have increased the number of flights to some selected popular destinations to facilitate our customers' travel plans."

Jet Airways Joins UATP

Jet Airways has become a merchant party to the internationally recognised Universal Air Travel (UATP) programme card, the world's first corporate travel solution. The UATP card will be accepted at all city and airport offices on the Jet Airways network and the process for acceptance is similar to that of a credit card.

The world's first corporate travel payment system, UATP or Air Travel Card was established in 1936. UATP is owned and operated by the airline industry and is designed to provide maximum benefits to the carriers that issue and accept it. UATP supports the sale of air transportation and related services on a charge basis. As a form of payment for corporate air travel UATP card is issued by 15 major airlines and accepted by more than 200 airlines worldwide.

Hong Kong Hub Strengthened With CX Non-Stop NY Flight

Cathay Pacific Airways will strengthen Hong Kong's position as a global aviation hub with its launch on July 1, 2004, of daily non-stop flights to and from New York, said the director and chief operating officer Philip Chen. He further added, "New York and Hong Kong are half a world apart but are both global hubs for business, transport, finance and culture. Hong Kong is a global hub in Asia. Half the world's population is encompassed within a five hour radius. Hong Kong is also the international gateway to China."

Cathay Pacific will, from July 1, be the only airline to operate a daily non-stop service from New York to Hong Kong. And with a second one-stop service via Vancouver it will be the only airline to offer customers the choice and convenience of two flights a day.

The airline made the world's first non-stop flight from New York to Hong Kong over the North Pole on July 5, 1998. As part of the launch celebration, the airline also ran a lucky draw in which Cathay Pacific New York-Hong Kong tickets were on offer.

Gulf Air Launches Daily Service To London

Gulf Air will offer travellers flying from India to the UK an additional option when the airline launches a new service from Mumbai to London Heathrow with a brief stopover in Muscat, Oman on June 21.

The addition of this new daily direct service to London makes the airline the biggest operator to the Gulf from Heathrow. Flights, using one of Gulf Air's luxurious ultra-long haul Airbus A330 aircraft, will depart Mumbai international airport daily in the afternoon arriving at London Heathrow that evening. For the return leg, the flight leaves London in the evening arriving in Mumbai for the start of the next working day.

"Gulf Air is proud to be the first and only carrier to operate such a service, which further emphasises one of our core business objectives - to get customers where they want to go, when they want to go. Based on the very strong bookings for the summer period the public has been eagerly awaiting this service. The UK, and London in particular, has always been a popular destination among Indians. This service gives travellers more convenience and better options, which benefits both countries," said John Anderson, Gulf Air's general manager - India.

Another added benefit for travellers with a stop over in Muscat is the recent addition of the airline's luxury car transfer service for first and business class passengers flying from Muscat to any Gulf Air destination. Passengers will be picked up from any location in the Capital and driven to the airport in the spacious Limo service, which is also available for passengers arriving in London on Gulf Air first and business class.

Griffon Aviation Takes On GSA For Nationwide Airline

Nationwide Airlines (Airline of South Africa), which is South Africa's internal airline network, would now be represented by Griffon Aviation as the sole GSA (General Sales Agent) in the Indian market. Passengers flying any airline from India to South Africa, would be eligible to make their bookings on any air route within South Africa. Griffon Aviation has its office based in Mumbai and a representative office in Pune. Passengers in other cities can avail of the facilities through their local travel agents, who in turn would be connected to the GSA.

Nationwide Airlines, established in 1995, operates a domestic and regional schedule utilising a fleet of Boeing 727 and 737 aircraft. Commenting on the launch, Vivek Jain, managing director, Griffon Aviation said, "South Africa is a growing market especially amongst the Indian outbound. Hence, being the sole representative and GSA of the airline would prove to be a positive decision. Since our take off, the response has been extremely encouraging. The option of organising your internal travel in South Africa from India itself, definitely works to the advantage of the travellers."

The connections on Nationwide Airlines are as follows: Johannesburg - Cape Town, Johannesburg - Durban, Johannesburg - George, Johannesburg - Port Elizabeth, Cape Town - Durban, Cape Town - Port Elizabeth - Durban, Cape Town - Johannesburg - Mpumalanga, Mpumalanga - Private Game Parks, Johannesburg - Livingstone, Johannesburg - SunCity - Livingstone, Johannesburg - Livingstone - Kilimanjaro.