Caribbean Airlines, with its striking hummingbird logo on the tailplanes, is set to take over from ailing BWIA on January 1, heralding a new aviation era for the islands of the West Indies. The new carrier, based at Piarco, the international airport of Trinidad, will provide regional services within the Caribbean and to a number of major international destinations. It inherits the long, safe and respected experience of BWIA West Indies Airways, which, after 66 years of service, ceases operations on December 31. Chief executive officer, Peter Davies, says that an equity injection will allow Caribbean Airlines to operate “an effective, efficient and profitable customer-oriented service, reflecting the needs of the communities within the Caribbean”. The existing direct daily service from Port-of-Spain to London Heathrow will be replaced from March 28 with a three-times-a-week schedule to Gatwick (Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday), operated on a code-share basis by British Airways. On the remaining days of the week, Caribbean Airways will operate flights via Barbados. Flybe plans major expansion Flybe, which is in the process of acquiring BA Connect, is planning 13 new routes next summer, to include services to Hamburg, Dubrovnik, Split, Avignon, Rennes, Brest, Nice, Limoges, Glasgow, Belfast, Manchester, Newquay and Bergerac. More routes are due to be announced before the end of the year. The consolidated summer timetable reaffirms the airline’s dedication to its UK bases, with growing services from Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Exeter, Edinburgh, Newcastle, and Newquay, as well as showing its commitment to new and existing European hubs in France, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Croatia, offering more choice and cheaper fares from regional airports. Lufthansa boosts flights Lufthansa is stepping up its transatlantic services next year with new daily frequencies to Detroit and Denver. From March 25, there will be a second daily departure on the Frankfurt-Detroit route, with a service starting five days later from Munich to the Colorado gateway, in addition to an existing Frankfurt service. The German carrier will also become the first European airline to operate connecting flights from the UK to the South Korean port of Busan from the start of the summer schedule. Flights from the UK to Munich will provide onward connections to an Airbus A340-300 operating three times a week to Seoul, and then on to Busan. New Liberia link Astreus, the UK-based carrier recently acquired by the Icelandic investment company, Fons Eignarhaldsfelag, is launching a twice-weekly service between London Gatwick and Monrovia on January 15. The move is seen both asrecognition of Liberia’s post-war ability to attract overseas investment, and extending the airline’s reach in connecting the UK with West African nations, including Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Cape Verde, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea.
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