For Barbados, Mexico, Jamaica, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, and St. Lucia, seasonal service begins in November 2008.

Plus earn one AIR MILES® reward mile for every $20 you spend when you or your travel agent book a flight online at WestJet's website.

Reward miles are awarded on the total fare excluding all taxes and Airport Improvement Fees. AIR MILES benefits are only available for Canadian residents at this time.

Based at Toronto's City Centre Airport (TCCA), Porter has confirmed that it would add two more planes to its fleet, which consists exclusively of Bombardier manufactured Q-400 turboprop planes.

Although the airline currently  has a very modest fleet comprised of only six planes, this total will rise to 12 and then to 16 within less than a year.

All of these aircraft are configured to comfortably fit up to 78 passengers and their most important quality in today's challenging business environment is that they are famous for their fuel-efficiency. 

Porter originally placed an order for 10 turboprop planes, for a price tag of $500 million.

Formed in 2006, Porter is a very young airline, but it has developed what appears to be quite a successful brand based on convenience and a high level of service.

Porter enjoys a virtual monopoly at the TCCA, since it is the only airline operating regularly scheduled flights from an airport that is a mere 10 minute ferry ride to Toronto's city centre.

Additionally, Porter is the only airline in Canada to offer complimentary light meals on all flights. The company, however, competes with Air Canada and WestJet on its short-haul regional routes.

www.flyporter.com

Winning union backing is crucial for the rescue plan led by a group of Italian investors who plan to buy the best parts of the struggling airline which filed for bankruptcy on Friday.

The investor group, led by Piaggio CEO Roberto Colaninno, formally submitted a bid for certain Alitalia assets on Monday, sources familiar with the matter have said.

"Agreement on the industrial themes is a prerequisite for starting talks over the eventual job losses," the unions said in a statement, a day after Italy's government kicked off talks to win their backing for the plan.

Italy's government has warned the unions -- who scuppered a sale to Air France-KLM earlier this year -- that they have no choice but to get on board with the rescue plan, with liquidation of the airline the only other option.

(Reuters)

The carrier, formed in 2005 from the merger of America West and the former US Airways, is expanding internationally while many US airlines have been cutting capacity, mainly on domestic routes, as they grapple with high fuel costs.

"We expect US Airways' presence in the US-Tel Aviv market to enhance economic growth and tourism opportunities for both the US and Israel," Rami Levi, director of the Israel tourism ministry's US Western region, said in a statement.

The ministry expects the new service to significantly add to an already record number of US tourists visiting Israel, which amounted to about 500,000 in 2007.

Israel is on track for a record year of tourism at more than 2.5 million in 2008.

US Airways last month said it had applied for both US and Israeli government approval to operate the flights, which will fly from its hub in Philadelphia to Tel Aviv. It also began flights to London Heathrow in March.

Tel Aviv will become the 21st transatlantic destination served by US Airways from Philadelphia and the first to the Middle East. The 5,700 mile flight will be US Airways' longest nonstop segment and will be made using long-range Airbus A330-200 aircraft that are slated for delivery in the spring of 2009.

US Airways would become the third US carrier to fly nonstop flights to Israel.

Continental flies two flights a day from Newark Liberty while Delta operates daily flights from both JFK New York and Atlanta.

American Airlines this week began adding its codes to flights on Israeli flag carrier El Al.

(Reuters)

The aircraft had been operating flight AF346 from Paris Charles de Gaulle, and landed at around 17:45.

At about 15min 12s into the recording controllers clear a WestJet aircraft, operating flight 204, to land on runway 24R.

But about 20s later the Air France crew, speaking in French, tells the tower that their jet has «exited the runway» and the aircraft's engines have been idled, and requests the attention of emergency services.

The tower controller responds by ordering WestJet 204 to abort its approach, climb on the runway heading to 3,000ft because of «traffic on the runway».

Images from the scene show the 747 with its nose-wheel off the right side of the runway, in the grass. The incident was relatively minor and no damage has been reported. None of the 490 passengers and 18 crew members said to be on board was injured.

"Boeing 737 NGs are good planes. WestJet loves them and we love them," Mr. Morgan said in an interview yesterday.

The selection is a sharp upgrade from his original plans to acquire older McDonnell Douglas MD-80s for Calgary-based NewAir & Tours Group. With oil prices about $115 (U.S.) a barrel, the cheaper but gas-guzzling MD-80s didn't make sense for the startup firm, which expects to open for business by late November, said Mr. Morgan, NewAir's chief executive officer.

Leasing rates for Boeing 737 NGs have fallen in recent months as carriers around the world cancel routes and ground planes to help combat high fuel bills, he said. Mr. Morgan is a WestJet co-founder who was instrumental in the Calgary-based airline's decision to use Boeing 737-200s when it launched in 1996, and he helped oversee the transition to new Boeing 737 NGs before he resigned in 2005.

WestJet currently has a fleet of 76 Boeing 737 NGs in the 600, 700 and 800 series. For its first leasing order, NewAir has lined up a Boeing 737-700 NG, seating about 135 people. The tour and charter operation expects to lease another five Boeing 737 NGs by late 2009.

MD-80s once appeared to be the best bet because of their lower lease payments, but oil prices have nearly doubled since early 2007, when Mr. Morgan and three other former WestJet executives began contemplating ways to improve air service from smaller Canadian cities.

After developing a business plan last fall, Mr. Morgan said yesterday that he also considered the Airbus family of A318, A319, A320 and A321 planes. "I'm not down on Airbus by any means, but Boeing was easier for us to do, and works better for us," he said.

NewAir's largest shareholder is Westerkirk Capital Inc., a private equity firm that invests on behalf of the family of Victoria's Sherry Brydson, who is the niece of the late billionaire Ken Thomson.

NewAir's lawyers have registered "Canadiana" for possible use in future marketing campaigns, but a new name for the company has yet to be selected, NewAir communications vice-president Dean McKenzie confirmed.

Mr. McKenzie worked on contract for WestJet on the carrier's advertising campaigns from 1996 until early 2005. Also helping to launch NewAir are former WestJet executives William Lamberton, Gareth Davies and Alan Mann.

The Canadian Transportation Agency has determined that NewAir is an entity that is owned and controlled by Canadians, the first in a series of regulatory approvals expected within weeks.

Canadians living in smaller cities are NewAir's target market, as the company seeks to woo consumers by offering non-stop flights to sun destinations in winter and focus on domestic service in summer.

"NewAir's strategy is to open up and capitalize on new and uncontested market space in the airline and travel industries," according to NewAir's business plan. Air Canada Vacations and WestJet Vacations are among the established players, but Mr. Morgan said NewAir will concentrate on underserved markets.

Ottawa-based Zoom said it had tried until midday Thursday to secure a financial lifeline that would keep it aloft after rising jet fuel prices added USD$50 million in annual costs.

But creditors refused to give Zoom any more time, forcing it to file for creditor protection in Canada and Britain.

"We deeply regret the fact that we have been forced to cease all Zoom operations," Hugh and John Boyle, co-founders of the privately held company, said in a statement.

"It is a tragic day for our passengers and more than 600 staff," the statement said.

"We are desperately sorry for the inconvenience that this will cause passengers and those who have booked flights."

The carrier, which has operated since 2002, has 450 employees in Canada and 260 in the United Kingdom.

It flew to six UK destinations as well as to Paris and Rome. It also operated service to eight Canadian cities as well as New York, San Diego, Fort Lauderdale and Bermuda.

In Britain, Times Online reported the carrier's planes were grounded by the Civil Aviation Authority for failing to pay air traffic control fees, stranding hundreds of passengers.

In Calgary, 69 Zoom passengers bound for Glasgow, Scotland, and London's Gatwick Airport were stranded when the firm that had leased an aircraft to Zoom terminated the lease, local media reported.

In addition, Zoom is reported to have owed the Western Canadian city's airport authority CAD$400,000 (USD$380,000) in landing fees.

Zoom advised those who have paid for future reservations to contact their credit card companies to apply for refunds.

It also said it would advertise details of other carriers that fly the same or similar routes.

Surging fuel prices have led several airlines to seek legal shelter from creditors as their costs have soared. Established players, meanwhile, have been forced to chop staff, reduce capacity and impose new fees to deal with the burden.

In addition, numerous Canadian start-up carriers have failed while trying to undercut bigger carriers Air Canada and WestJet Airlines on fares.

In the last eight years, such airlines as Canada 3000, Jetsgo, CanJet and Harmony Airways have all been forced to scrap scheduled service.

Canadian Industry Minister Jim Prentice said in Inuvik, Northwest Territories that he had yet to be briefed on Zoom's collapse, but acknowledged the tough times in the sector.

"I have had discussions with representatives of both Air Canada and WestJet about fuel costs and what that is doing to the industry," Prentice said.

"If we find passengers in difficult circumstances, everybody is going to have to work together to deal with that."

American on Wednesday became the first airline to offer mobile broadband service. The service, called Gogo, is provided by Broomfield-based Aircell LLC.

Fort Worth-based American offers Gogo on its Boeing 767-200 aircraft. Once the plane reaches 10,000 feet, passengers can turn on their Wi-Fi-enabled devices and sign up for Gogo.

The broadband service costs $12.95 on flights lasting more than three hours. Although Internet access is now available, cell phones and VoIP are not part of the plan.

Delta Air Lines Inc. of Atlanta announced earlier this month it would be soon start offering Aircell's Gogo service on its domestic fleet.

Gogo will be offered initially on Delta's fleet of 133 MD88/90 aircraft and will expand to the remaining domestic fleet of more than 200 Boeing 737, 757 and 767-300 aircraft throughout the first half of 2009.

The airline expects to have more than 330 aircraft updated with the Wi-Fi service by next summer.

(Denver Business Journal)

Brian Keller, a former vice-chairman of the Ontario Labour Relations Board, will make a decision in the next four weeks on the so-called adjustment program, and that ruling will be binding, Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn said.

Air Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the carrier's flight attendants, requested the arbitrator.

In June, Air Canada said it will cut 2,000 jobs and reduce its capacity by 7 percent to cope with high fuel prices and a slowdown in travel, especially in the United States.

(Reuters)

In December, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had said Air India planned to sell up to 15 percent of its equity in an initial public offering to raise funds for expansion.

But turmoil in local and international share markets has limited investor appetite for new issues, forcing at least 10 Indian firms to delay or shelve IPOs worth about USD$4 billion this year. The outlook remains downbeat for the rest of the year.

"The ministry is not actively looking at it," secretary Ashok Chawla told reporters on the sidelines of a conference when asked about a share issue.

Air India, which was merged with state-run Indian Airlines in August 2007, holds 18.3 percent of India's domestic passenger market, according to the latest government data.

Analysts expect the Indian government to revive its privatization drive after it won a confidence vote in July and parted ways with communist allies, who were opposed to selling stakes in state firms.

Chawla said Air India was likely to seek INR10 billion - INR15 billion rupees (USD$228 million - USD$342 million) in government funds, partly in the form of loans, as it needs money to run its operations.

"Air India is still debating internally and in their board. We expect them to come with some proposal... I think it will come in next two weeks or so," Chawla said.

National Aviation, which runs Air India, on August 12 said it had tied up about USD$214 million through loans to part-finance its purchase of eight Boeing aircraft.

(Reuters)

In an interview with the newspaper Tim Clark also repeated the company was not interested in ailing Italian carrier Alitalia or in Austrian Airlines.

"We are able to grow on our own," Clark told the newspaper.

"This year we expected profits to grow by about USD$500 million to nearly USD$2 billion but the rise in crude (oil prices) already costs us more or less that amount. We too are enacting a cost reduction plan," he added.

Clark said he expected oil prices to stabilize at between USD$65 and USD$85 a barrel around the middle of next year.

(Reuters)

"We think the ownership structure is secondary -- the focus should be on strengthening the regulatory system," a spokeswoman said.

"That is the way to create the capacity which is most needed -- especially at Heathrow," she added. The British carrier supports the introduction of a license system which would help to measure an operator's performance and impose sanctions if targets were are not hit.

The Competition Commission said earlier on Wednesday that BAA, owned by Spain's Ferrovial, should sell two of its three London airports and one of either Edinburgh or Glasgow.

It also criticized the regulatory regime under the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which will also come under review.

(Reuters)

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"There were 178 passengers on board including the crew," said Valentin Narro, a government official at the interior ministry's office for Madrid. "There are 45 dead and 44 injured."

He could not confirm whether the aircraft had caught on fire after television footage showed clouds of white smoke billowing over the runway.

Olivia Acosta, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross on the scene at Barajas airport, said 22 ambulances had rushed to the scene, and a makeshift hospital had been set up.

"There are teams of psychosocial workers to help the victims in a difficult moment," she said, adding that the accident had happened during take-off.

The Scandinavian airline SAS, which owns Spainair, a struggling low-cost carrier, confirmed that an incident had taken place at Madrid airport involving Spanair flight JK5022 from Madrid to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.

It said that it was doing "everything possible to help passengers and next-of-kin and to assist Spanish authorities at this difficult time." Spanair said the incident happened at 2:45 p.m. local time.

Spanair said that the flight was a codeshare flight with Lufthansa LH 2554, and that it had set up an emergency number for relatives.

The plane, an MD-80, had been headed to Gran Canaria, the biggest island in Spain's Canary island chain, a popular vacation destination off the West African coast.

Spanair, which lost 515 million Swedish crowns, or about $81 million, in the first half of this year, is based in the Baleric island of Palma de Mallorca.

It is one of the biggest drags on earnings at SAS, which tried unsuccessfully to sell the subsidiary last year.

It has said that it plans to revive the company before restarting the divestment process, and has announced plans to cut capacity by 25 percent and shed 1,062 jobs.

More than 104 million passengers have flown with the company since it was founded in 1986.

(International Herald Tribune)

This capacity increase is the largest percentage increase for the airline since November 2006.

The airline flew over 86,500 more guests in the month, an eight per cent increase over the 1.1 million flown in June 2007.

«In the first six months of the year, we took delivery of five of our seven aircraft slated for 2008,» said WestJet president Sean Durfy.

«This represented a significant upfront investment in capacity that will bear fruit for us in the remainder of 2008 and beyond. Despite huge challenges in the airline industry, due to unprecedented and unrelenting fuel prices and an overall environment of economic uncertainty, WestJet continues to lead in terms of growth and demand for our service.»

He added, «At a time when other airlines are cutting capacity, our cost structure and considerable growth opportunities are enabling us to proceed with our strategic plan.

I remain confident in the continuing demand for our exceptional guest experience and growing network in Canada, the United States and internationally.»

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This memorandum of understanding is the first step that will see both airlines, by late 2009, have the ability to commence codeshare flights across both networks.

In the near future, southwest.com will become a distribution channel for WestJet's existing Canadian and transborder flights.

Other potential opportunities within the agreement include purchasing, ground handling, marketing and selling to corporate accounts and other areas of mutual gain.

Sean Durfy, President and CEO of WestJet commented,

This is a defining moment for WestJet.

Clearly, we are delivering on our strategic plan with this announcement today. It marks an important step forward for our guests and their ability to fly to more destinations in the United States conveniently and cost effectively.

When you examine our network in Canada and Southwest's network in the United States, and the potential to significantly improve both organizations' market access, this is indeed a great day.

It is an honour to partner with one of the great airline success stories of the world,

The effort put forth by Gary Kelly and his management team to negotiate this relationship is most appreciated and I look forward to building a great bond with Southwest.

Together we will demonstrate that low-cost, high-value airlines represent the future success of air travel.

Southwest Airlines Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly said,

A company's dedication to Culture and Customer Service are very high on our priority list when considering a relationship of any kind.

We are confident that we've found a perfect fit with WestJet, and we are excited to work toward opening our expansive U.S. network to include Canadian destinations.

We are quickly moving forward with our plans to enter the international market with an airline partner that we hold in high esteem.

We have a very talented group of Employees who will continue to work diligently over the next year to develop and deliver a superior international codeshare product into the marketplace.

The airlines plan to introduce a distribution plan in 2008 with a codeshare agreement in place in late 2009.

Certain details of the codeshare and elements of the partnering relationship are subject to approvals by both the U.S. and Canadian governments.

Subject to receipt of these approvals, the airlines plan to announce flight schedules and additional features regarding the partnering relationship in late 2009.

About WestJet

WestJet is Canada's leading high-value low-cost airline offering scheduled service throughout its 49-city North American (including Hawaii), Mexico and Caribbean network.

Named Canada's most admired corporate culture in 2005, 2006 and 2007, WestJet pioneered low-cost flying in Canada.

WestJet offers increased legroom and leather seats on its modern fleet of 75 Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft, and live seatback television provided by Bell ExpressVu.

With future confirmed deliveries for an additional 46 aircraft, bringing its fleet to 121 by 2013, WestJet strives to be the number one choice for travellers.

About Southwest Airlines

After 37 years of service, Southwest Airlines, the United State's leading low-fare carrier, continues to differentiate itself from other airlines-offering a reliable product with exemplary Customer Service.

Southwest Airlines is the most productive airline in the sky and offers Customers a comfortable traveling experience.

Southwest offers a very comfortable ride with all premium leather seats and plenty of legroom with a young all Boeing 737 fleet.

Southwest recently updated its gate areas and improved its boarding procedure to make flying Southwest even more convenient and simple.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), the nation's largest carrier in terms of domestic passengers enplaned, currently serves 64 cities in 32 states.

Based in Dallas, Southwest currently operates more than 3,400 flights a day and has more than 34,000 Employees system wide.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

WestJet
Media Relations
Gillian Bentley
1-888-WJ 4 NEWS (1-888-954-6397)
Email:

gbentley@westjet.com
Website: www.westjet.com

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Sean Durfy, WestJet President and Chief Executive Officer, said these designations are a continuing expression of the government's confidence in WestJet to provide Canadians with high-value, low-cost travel.

«This announcement today is another step forward in our strategic plan, which includes significant international expansion,» he said. «Our ability to deliver our exceptional guest experience to Mazatlan and San Jose del Cabo has now resulted in further designations from the Transport Minister. We appreciate the minister's confidence and look forward to providing service to these new and exciting destinations in Mexico.»

Included in this announcement are designations that apply immediately and some that apply in December 2009. As WestJet's fleet continues to expand, the airline remains well positioned to serve these destinations on a scheduled basis.

Specific information regarding dates and fares will be available in the coming weeks.

WestJet received the following designations effective immediately:
Vancouver-Mazatlan
Calgary-Puerto Vallarta
Edmonton-Cancun
Edmonton-Puerto Vallarta
Winnipeg-Mazatlan
Winnipeg-Puerto Vallarta
Halifax-Cancun

WestJet received the following designations effective December 2009:
Vancouver-Cancun
Vancouver-Puerto Vallarta
Calgary-Cancun
Winnipeg-Cancun
Toronto-Cancun
Toronto-Puerto Vallarta
Montreal-Cancun

Durfy said today's news is exciting for both WestJet and its guests. «Our network connectivity into major Canadian cities, our comfortable, Next-Generation 737s, the incredible packages that WestJet Vacations offers and, of course, our fun and friendly service... they are all reasons why more and more Canadians are choosing WestJet each and every day.»

In Chicago, police estimated ...

Any link involving Continental would come ...

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