Thomas Cook Group plc will merge its stake in Condor Flugdienst GmbH with Air Berlin PLC. Air Berlin therewith becomes one of the leading European airlines and will with Condor be able to enlarge its long-distance flight business, which it runs since the acquisition of LTU.

British Airways in the summer of 2008 will expand its flight services between London’s Heathrow Airport and various U.S. cities, though the carrier is temporarily suspending routes between Heathrow and Detroit, with the aircraft being used on other more lucrative routes.

Iberia and the Consorcio de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (CZFB), a development promotion body which manages the city’s large duty-free industrial estate, will jointly build a maintenance hangar at Barcelona’s El Prat airport. The new facility will be the first in Catalonia to accommodate medium-range and long-haul airliners with more than 100 seats.

British Airways’ summer 2008 route network focuses on increased U.S. flights from Heathrow following the European Union-U.S. Open Skies aviation treaty, which comes in to effect in March 2008.

Air Jamaica has launched a new function on its Web site which enables passengers to check-in online four to 18 hours prior to scheduled departures from Kingston and Montego Bay, Jamaica; Miami; and Fort Lauderdale.

Trinidad-based Caribbean Airlines has acquired the remaining 51 percent of shares in Tobago Express and will begin operational management of the carrier’s “air bridge” service between Piarco Airport in Trinidad and Crown Point Airport in Tobago, effective October 1.