World Travel News

Starting today, the Open Skies Treaty between the U.S. and the European Union goes into effect, allowing airlines to fly from any U.S. airport to any E.U. airport and vice versa.
The result will be a lot of new service options, especially to London's Heathrow, the premier business airport. Until now, only two U.S. carriers, American and United, have had flights to Heathrow, but soon they’ll be joined by Delta, Continental and Northwest Airlines.
Delta plans two flights a day from Atlanta and JFK, New York, to Heathrow, as well as a daily flight from Los Angeles. Northwest will launch daily service from Minnesota's Minneapolis-St Paul in late March and, later in the spring, from Detroit and Seattle. Continental will operate two flights a day from Houston and Newark, N.J., to Heathrow.
American and United also will step up their service. American will fly daily from Raleigh, N.C., and Dallas to Heathrow, instead of landing at London's Gatwick airport as they do now. United will add service from Denver to London. open skies

European carriers will have greater freedom in flights to the U.S. as well. British Airways is launching a new subsidiary airline with routes outside the United Kingdom. Beginning in June, its subsidiary, OpenSkies, will operate daily flights from Paris and Brussels, Belgium, to New York. Starting March 30, British Airways also will begin flying to Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston from Heathrow rather than from Gatwick.
Increased competition will result in lower fares -- but not immediately. Demand continues to be incredibly strong on transatlantic routes and it will take a while for supply to catch up. That, and record prices for oil, will keep fares up through 2008. But added capacity should help to lower fares in early 2009.
Talks on phase two of Open Skies begins in June. Those talks will focus on allowing European airlines greater ownership of U.S. carriers and to begin domestic service in the U.S. Those talks are expected to be very contentious. Some airline analysts predict the European carriers will cancel part one of Open Skies if agreement is not reached on part two, but others say that's unlikely.

DUBAI –– Dubai-owned Emirates airlines, the largest carrier in the Middle East, said on Sunday it would begin flying its fleet of Airbus A380 superjumbos in October.

Emirates is scheduled to fly the giant double-decker plane for the first time on October 1, on a non-stop flight from Dubai to New York after which the flight would become daily, a statement said. The company said it will open a daily Dubai-London service with the A380 starting December 1 2008 and from Dubai to Sydney and Auckland starting February 2009.

Emirates is the largest single customer of Airbus's A380 with 58 on order. It expects to receive the first five units later this year.

Aeroflot Celebrates 42nd Anniversary Of Signature Of Agreement Between The USSR And The USA.

November 4, 42 years ago USSR and the USA signed the agreement on air traffic between 2 powerful countries

Now Aeroflot has regular non-stop flights to: New York, Washington, Los Angeles.

All flights are operated on Boeings 767. Since 2001 Aeroflot has carried about 1 million 265 thousand passengers to/from the USA.

Joining of OJSC “Aeroflot” the global international alliance SkyTeam opened new cooperation opportunities with American members of the alliance – air companies Delta, Continental and NorthWest.

November 23, 2006, Moscow – "Aeroflot-Russian Airlines" becomes a winner of the "Company of the Year" prize in "Transport" nomination.
"Company of the Year" prize is founded by weekly Russian business magazine named "Kompania". Since 1999 the editors of this magazine keep holding annual Prize award ceremonies.

Trip planning, additional information and booking of tickets are available at toll free phone number: (800) 790-8960

Spring 2006.The U.S. State department rolled out a new passport embedded with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag containing the holder's digital photo and personal data. The U.S. "e-passport" will also have a new look, incorporating additional anti-fraud and security features.

A new design will reflect the varied landscapes of our country and each page will include a quote reflecting the hope and success that is the United States of America.

The image from the right is an example of the cover in the new U.S. e-passport

"E-passports" will be introduced over the next several months. By the end of October 2006, all new and renewed passports will be of the e-variety. Current passports will remain valid until the expiration date.

The high-tech ID is part of a lager effort to boost U.S. border security. It will help make sure the someone cannot simply use your passport and it may just speed up processing lines at the airports.

Facing high fuel costs, almost all airlines trimmed baggage weight limits for international flights. Coach passengers can check two 50-pound maximum bags to most destinations. Some airlines have a higher allowance for business- and first-class passengers. In what may be a sign of limits to come, starting this month British Airways will allow coach passengers only one checked suitcase on its intra-European flights; an extra bag will cost $113.

If your bag tips the scale, you'll pay an extra $25 to $50, providing it's less than 20 pounds over the limit. Heavier suitcases could cost $100 or more. Oversize luggage (more than 62 linear inches) will cost you $80 to $100, and if your bag is both overweight and oversize, you'll pay both penalties. Bottom line: Buy a lightweight suitcase, so you don't sacrifice 35 percent of your allotment on the bag alone. And don't over pack: Overstuffed luggage is more likely to burst open en route.