Continental Airlines will launch weekly nonstop service between Newark and Curacao, beginning Dec. 17. The Saturday flight will depart Newark at 9 a.m. and arrive in Curacao at 2:40 p.m. The return flight from Curacao to Newark will depart at 3:30 p.m. and arrive in Newark at 7:30 p.m. "New York is our number one U.S. market, and our travel partners and customers have been asking for nonstop service for some time," said Jim Hepple, Curacao´s executive director of tourism.

LAN Airlines´ Board of Directors okayed the acquisition of 25 short-range Airbus A318 and A319 aircraft. In addition, the company will also subscribe 15 options for the purchase of similar aircraft. The new aircraft will operate flights within Latin America, including routes in Argentina, Peru and Chile. The estimated amount of the investment for the 25 aircraft is approximately US$750 million. The aircraft will gradually be added to the fleet starting in the second half of next year.

Passenger traffic increased in June over the same month a year ago at both Air Canada and WestJet. Figures released by the airlines show revenue passenger miles, which measures the number of paying passengers multiplied by distance flown, grew by 7.3 percent to 3.99 billion at Air Canada and by 22.4 percent to 615.4 million at WestJet. Both airlines also increased passenger capacity over June 2004.

Talks aimed at settling the Boeing-Airbus subsidy dispute are unlikely to resume as long as World Trade Organization litigation moves forward, European Union spokesman Anthony Gooch said Friday. The U.S. and the EU have filed dueling complaints about aid to Boeing Co. (BA) and its European rival Airbus. The U.S. wants to block development aid for new Airbus planes, while the EU wants to rein in indirect support like local tax breaks and government research contracts.

Chilean airline LAN, one of South America´s leading carriers, announced last week the purchase of 25 Airbus for regional and domestic routes, an operation involving $750 million. LAN also has the option for another fifteen A318s and A319s, plus the nine A319s the company will be receiving somewhere between 2005 and 2008.

Spirit Airlines will launch nonstop daily Airbus service from New York City´s LaGuardia Airport to Nassau, in the Bahamas, beginning November 10 this same year. The low-cost carrier already serves Nassau with daily nonstop flights from Fort Lauderdale, in South Florida.