Lufthansa is heading for new records after the third quarter 2006 with the highest ever booking numbers in the first nine months of a year. Lufthansa Cargo is also still on track after posting a marked rise in transported tonnage and utilization. From January through September, Lufthansa carried 40.2 million passengers, an increase of 3.6 percent from the first nine months of 2005. The passenger load factor fell fractionally to 75.4 percent because capacity, up by 1.2 percent.

Caribbean Star, based in Antigua, took delivery of a Q300 Dash-8 Model 315, completing a year-long expansion program that saw the carrier add four new Q300s to its fleet. Skip Barnette, president and CEO of Caribbean Star and its sister carrier, Caribbean Sun, said that “the smell of a new car is nice, but the smell of a new aircraft is on another level, particularly here in the Caribbean where it’s been several years since new aircraft have been put into service.”

Two international airlines have given the assurance that they will be operating non stop flights to Grenada during the coming year. As of December 2006, Excel Airways will be operating a non stop flight between Grenada and the United Kingdom while Condor Airlines of Germany will commence its year round service in November.

Worldspan and Delta Air Lines, Inc. have completed a new long-term distribution agreement, affirming Worldspan’s Super Access Product as a preferred distribution program for the airline through June 2013. The agreement provides for the distribution of Delta’s products and services, including fares and inventory from the Delta Shuttle and Delta Connection brands, through the Worldspan global distribution system (GDS).

Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson proposed last week changes to aircraft movements at busy airports and the way planes land under a plan he said would cut the world’s aviation emissions by up to 25 percent. Mr. Branson, who last week committed to spending all the profits from his airline and rail businesses to combat global warming, is lobbying airlines and airports to weigh his proposal to slash emissions.

JetBlue Airways is expanding its Caribbean network with daily nonstop service between Boston’s Logan International Airport and San Juan, Puerto Rico, effective December 13. Flights to San Juan, the low-fare carrier’s 22nd destination served nonstop from Boston, will operate for the peak winter season through April 30, 2007.