In a significant move, Menzies Aviation has recently announced that it has secured the contract for ramp handling and cabin cleaning by Virgin America at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport with effect on 5th August. This move makes it the third awarded location among the seven destinations served at present by Virgin America.

Notably, Menzies Aviation presently offers ground handling & cabin cleaning services for Virgin America in Los Angeles and in San Francisco. Inaugurated in August 2007, Virgin America is a California based airline featuring attractive fare, high-end service and a portfolio of fun, attractive features like mood-lit cabins, custom-made leather seats, power outlets and a video touch-screen at every seatback offering 25 films, video games, live TV, seat-to-seat chat and an on-demand food ordering system in addition to several others.

Vice President Commercial and Corporate Services-Americas at Menzies Aviation, Phil Harnden, observed, "We are delighted to have been chosen by Virgin America for ground handling and cabin cleaning services in Seattle. Since their inception in 2007, Virgin America continues to impress travelers in the domestic airline market with their innovative and high-value customer experience. These values drive Menzies Aviation to partner with Virgin America as a safe, reliable, and trusting provider that they can depend on as they grow their airline to future destinations."

In a highly significant move, V Australia, the newest international airline of Australia has announced that it will introduce non-stop direct flights connecting Los Angeles and Brisbane. Notably, Brisbane is renowned as the Queensland Australia. The present move by the airline will give American travelers direct access to the most popular sunshine state of Australia. Most interestingly, Queensland is home to a range of natural wonders including The Great Barrier Reef and the heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest.

The Los Angeles-Brisbane route is the second route operated by the airline with the inaugural flight on this route scheduled to take off on 15th December 2008. In this route, the airline will operate three flights a week commencing from 1st March 2009, employing Boeing 777-300 aircraft configured to a three-class cabin providing International Business Class, International Premium Economy Class and International Economy class. Interestingly, only one another airline offers its flights in this route, giving way to a stiff competition between these two companies.

V Australia Executive General Manager, Scott Swift observed, "We are excited to be linking the City of LA directly with Brisbane city, the second Australian destination to be added to the V Australia network. This will be tremendous for US travelers keen to experience tropical Queensland. Importantly, this new flight will also provide another direct link from Australia to Los Angeles, equating to approximately 1000 additional seats per week in the market from Brisbane alone, which will increase visitors to North America and help to boost business and tourism opportunities."

In an interesting move to prepare the ground for the launch of its first ever non-stop air service from Dubai to Los Angeles and San Francisco, Emirates Airline has accomplished a road show stopping at five locations along the west coast of the United States. The scintillating feature of the road show was the newly designed First Class Private suite of the airline that is actually one of the several new products demonstrating the airline's excellent commitment to customer service and comfort.

The event was led by the executives, featuring a presentation centred on Dubai and Emirates Airline with a live entertainment programme and a rare chance to sit in the new Boeing 777-200LR First Class Private Suite. Most notably, the new suite provides a comfortable extra-large fully-reclining seat that can be turned into a flat bed in addition to a 23'' wide LCD screen and more than 1000 entertainment channels. The aircraft is furnished with a coat closet and an individual storage compartment, in addition to a mini-bar and a vanity desk.

Nigel Page, the airline's senior vice president for commercial operations in the Americas said, "The San Francisco Bay Area is undoubtedly one of the most innovative high-tech business centres in the U.S., if not the world. Emirates' direct route will create a new, highly convenient opportunity for Bay Area companies to do business in Dubai. Our new Los Angeles service will connect travellers to the capital of the world's entertainment industry. Coinciding with the establishment of a growing media industry in Dubai, the L.A. route represents excellent access for growing business connections."

Tickets for the Qantas' new Airbus A380 flight went on sale today, before the carrier's first A380 operation between Los Angeles and Melbourne on the 20th of October.

The senior executive vice president of Qantas, the Americas and Pacific, Mr. Wally R. Mariani, said that the A380 would fly on selected routes from Los Angeles to Sydney and Melbourne, and would be gradually employed on selected services on the routes from Sydney to London and Singapore from early next year.

He said, "The first Qantas A380 will operate two round-trip services each week between Los Angeles and Australia - one to Melbourne, starting on October 20 and one to Sydney, starting on October 24, 2008.

Aer Lingus, the Irish-based carrier, has said that it is stopping its services on the route from Dublin to Los Angeles from the month of November. This is not a surprising news due to the fact that fuel prices are rising and lots of airlines around the world are forced to drop many flights and routes, which is further creating problems for passengers as the travel fare is rising.

The carrier mentioned concerns over record levels of fuel prices as well as doubt over the stagnating international economy and the weakness of the US dollar as the main reasons for the suspension of its services.

On Friday, the prices of oil reached historic high levels, increasing by around 9 per cent to $139.12 per barrel, prior to slipping slightly during trading on Monday morning. So, the problems of the airlines and passengers are still not solved.

After just four weeks of the news that Emirates would start offering its services to Los Angeles, the airline uncovered its plans to introduce one more flight to the U.S. West Coast.

From 26th October 2008, Emirates, one of the world's fastest growing airlines, will operate non-stop flights from Dubai to San Francisco. With the introduction of this service, the total number U.S. destinations served by the airline will reach to four.

The first airline to provide an air link between the two cities, Emirates will use Boeing 777-200LR to serve the route. A total of 266 seats will be available in three classes. Additionally, it will also offer 10 tonnes of cargo capacity in each direction.

As part of a significant expansion of its network, Emirates, the premier international airlines is launching brand new services to connect to the West Coast of the U.S. With effect from 1st September 2008, the company will open its third gateway to the U.S. offering non-stop flight services connecting California of Los Angels with Dubai.

The above said service will provide non-stop daily flight operations employing its Boeing 777-200LR on the route. The service will mean 266 seats available now in the three-class configuration besides up to 10 tonnes of cargo transported from L.A.

The Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, observed, "Los Angeles represents Emirates' commitment to the American market. We have evaluated the U.S. for expansion opportunities and have carefully examined our existing services in Houston and New York- both of which have been very successful. We look forward to recreating this success by connecting Los Angeles to Dubai and beyond."

Confirm your bookings by 18th March and enjoy discounted flights to a number of locations in Australia and New Zealand. Air New Zealand is presenting cut-priced tickets on its flights to a range of places in both Australia and New Zealand offering one-of-its-kind opportunity to its passengers.

Return tickets to Australia are offered at a price starting from just £945 per head. Ticket prices also include a tax of £267 (an estimated amount) for non-stop journeys. The journey is required to be completed by 31st January, 2009.

And, the return tickets for flight to New Zealand are offered at a price stating from just £797. A tax of £225 (an estimated amount) is also included in the available fare.

United Airlines has uncovered its plans to improve its on-board dining experience for the international passengers traveling with the carrier on a first class ticket. This would be a great improvement for the first-class passengers.

From the month of August, passengers travelling in the first class cabin of the carrier will be able to make their own choice for the items they want to take in their food and the time at which they want it the service-they need to look for a set service schedule for a limited choice of items.

In addition, the carrier will be making more improvements in its in-flight dining for first class passengers by introducing specially produced service tableware and sheets.

American Airlines, US-based carrier, is offering cut-priced tickets on return-journey flights from Manchester, London Heathrow and London Stansted this April. Bookings can be made by the 6th of March.

All the taxes and fees are included in the quoted fares. The offer prices are available for midweek travel (from Monday to Thursday), and for the weekends (Friday and Sunday), seats are available for little higher prices.

For travel between 1st April and 30th April, the fares available in the offer are:

After signing up of a joint venture agreement between Delta and Air France in October, the clients of Delta Air Lines will be able to make reservation for nonstop travel among Los Angeles International Airport LAX and London's Heathrow Airport.

As a result of this agreement, the two airlines will share both costs and revenues on foreign flights starting in April 2008.

With this Los Angeles route, Delta will provide customer service on four daily Heathrow flights starting in March: twice daily from New York-JFK, once daily from Atlanta and once daily from Los Angeles. All Heathrow service from Atlanta and New York-JFK will be conducted by Delta whereas service between Los Angeles and Heathrow will be conducted by Air France.

America Inc.'s Volkswagen today made an announcement that the company has associated with Carbonfund.org to neutralise one year of carbon emission from each new vehicle that Volkswagen will be selling in the US between September 1, 2007 and January 2, 2008.

Adrian Hallmark, executive vice president, Volkswagen of America said, "We developed this partnership to help bring our customers to the forefront of environmental initiatives:.

Hallmark also said, "Vehicles are an important and necessary part of our society, but there are actions we can all take to help ensure a cleaner environment for future generations".

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has repeatedly asked to accelerate things; the last month's average national peak waiting time was 13.77 minutes-longer than last year's average by one minute and 20 seconds.

In addition, according to experts, the national average can be puzzling. According to the TSA, the average peak waiting time at central terminal in Atlanta on a Monday morning last year was 35 to 50 minutes. However, it was between 5 and 24 minutes in Los Angeles.

If there are any incident of terrorist attack abroad, like the recent attempted bombings in London, things slow down here due to an increase in security.

An American Airlines flight on its way London from Los Angeles was diverted to New York due to security concerns. But according to US authorities, the incident was subjected to a 'misunderstanding', reported the US media--one of the few incidents where authorities had to ground the plane just due to suspicion.

CNN television reported that the police had boarded the plane in New York, and a passenger of Middle Eastern descent was removed. The entire operation took place after the flight crew spotted the passenger in an employee bus.

It was appearing that the removed passenger did not have his correct identification and was showing himself an employee, CNN said.

According to Councilman Eric Garcetti, the tourist at LOS ANGELES Echo Park will be able to drive the paddleboats on the lake for which some of the reforms of funds inside the Recreation and Parks Department are appreciable.

The paddleboats were set to be shut down this summer, due to shortage of finance. These paddleboats are still famous with the visitors who come to enjoy the Echo Park, and this annoucement is surely going to make these visitors very happy.

Garcetti says, "After all this city and this community have invested in Echo Park, it would be shames to let one single summer weekend go by without boats on the lake". This statement clearly shows and underlines that popularity and enjoyment of these boats that visitors here love to have. It is indeed be a exciting decision by the councilman.

Private rail operator GrandLuxe Rail Journeys is all set to offer luxury accommodations on select Amtrak routes to San Francisco and Chicago from various parts of US.

The new service is called GrandLuxe Limited. It uses a separate, private, seven-car luxury train attached to Amtrak trains and has dining, lounge and sleeping cars. San Francisco will have these luxury trains from Chicago and from Denver. There are some other routes that will be offered by these luxury trains, including: Los Angles to Chicago and Washington D.C. to Miami. The routes are expected to start from November this year.

The routes between San Francisco and Chicago and Los Angles and Chicago will involve a journey of two nights and three days; whereas, the route of  Washington D.C. and Miami will include a journey of one night and two days. The route between San Francisco and Denver would again involve a journey of one night and two days. There is another similar route planned by GrandLuxe Limited which will involve one night and two days journey from Denver to Chicago.