European Court of First Instance annulled the European Commission's ruling in the longstanding Ryanair/Charleroi state-aid case because it is "vitiated by an error in law," thus opening the door for other secondary airports to offer incentives to prospective airline tenants.
V Australia, the international long-haul arm of Virgin Blue, confirmed a launch date of Feb. 27 for its first 777-300ER service, a thrice-weekly Sydney-Los Angeles flight that will go to daily on March 20. Originally scheduled to begin flying this week, V Australia postponed launch due to the Boeing machinists strike ( ATWOnline, Oct. 3). It will take delivery of its first aircraft on Australia Day (Jan. 26), with arrival in Sydney scheduled for Feb. 9 after a special cabin fit-out.
TAP Portugal will launch five-times-weekly flights from Lisbon to Warsaw, Helsinki and Moscow Domodedovo in June. LIS-WAW will operate daily July 22-Sept. 6. EasyJet will launch flights from London Gatwick to Larnaca (four-times-weekly from March 31), Naples (daily from May 1), Dubrovnik (four-times-weekly from May 1) and Santorini (thrice-weekly from May 3).
Delta Air Lines and the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which manages Minneapolis-St. Paul International, reached a tentative agreement that will allow the airline to largely retain financial benefits that subsidiary Northwest Airlines received for maintaining its headquarters and primary hub there. In exchange, the combined carrier will base its "Delta North" headquarters in Minneapolis, keep 10,000 NWA/DL employees based there--1,500 fewer than were based at NWA HQ prior to the merger--and operate at least 400 daily flights at MSP.
American Airlines will launch daily Boston-San Diego on April 7 aboard a 757 as part of a service at BOS that will include additional daily frequencies to Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth, St. Louis and London Heathrow. Seasonal BOS-Paris Charles de Gaulle flights begin May 1 aboard a 767-300. Separately, AA announced the reopening of its 3,600-sq.-ft. Miami Flagship Lounge. It has similar facilities at Chicago O'Hare, LHR, New York JFK and LAX.
Some nine months after announcing plans for a new Brazilian airline, JetBlue Airways founder David Neeleman launched Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras yesterday with a noon Campinas-Salvador flight.
