Star Alliance Member Carriers add over 750 flights to and from the Americas for Summer 2004

To meet with increasing demand for busy summer travel, Star Alliance member carriers have added more than 750 flights to and from the Americas throughout the summer 2004 schedule.

With the recent addition of US Airways to Star Alliance, Jaan Albrecht, CEO of Star Alliance, noted that passengers now have expanded service from the East Coast of the United States and the Caribbean via US Airways hubs in Philadelphia, Charlotte and Pittsburgh.  In addition, Albrecht said, "passengers can fly from any of 755 airports in 132 countries which Star Alliance member carriers serve as well as have access to 575 airport lounges worldwide".

Following are the additions to destinations served in the Americas, by Star Alliance airlines for summer 2004:

Air Canada

· With new double daily non-stop services between Montreal and three European gateways, Air Canada is doubling its services this summer to and from Canada's second largest city and Frankfurt, London and Paris.

· On August 1, 2004, Air Canada inaugurates the first ever non-stop service between Toronto and Hong Kong with A340-500 aircraft, the world's longest range airliner, featuring lie-flat seats and state-of-the-art entertainment amenities.

· Air Canada recently launched non-stop flights to Caracas, Venezuela; and Bogota, Columbia from Toronto, with convenient connections to and from Europe, becoming the only airline offering scheduled, non-stop service between Canada and these South American countries.

· Air Canada has increased non-stop services between Vancouver and the northeast United States with daily non-stop flights this summer to Boston, Washington Dulles and Chicago, in addition to its popular year-round daily New York's John F. Kennedy - Vancouver service.

United Airlines

· United Airlines has further expanded its extensive transcontinental service with the reinstatement of a daily flight connecting Sacramento, California's capital, with the nation's capital at Washington-Dulles International Airport. Additional growth in the transcontinental market has included the addition of a seventh daily flight between Los Angeles International Airport and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, and a third daily flight between Oakland and Washington-Dulles.

· United further strengthened its service to the Hawaiian Islands by adding daily, non-stop Boeing 777 service between Chicago O'Hare International Airport and Honolulu.  This complements United's existing service to Hawaii from its hubs in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Denver.

· United's international network has grown with the addition of daily non-stop flights between Chicago O'Hare and Osaka, Japan, between Washington-Dulles and Zurich, Switzerland, between San Francisco and Beijing, China, and between Chicago O'Hare and Bermuda as well as the addition of a second-daily Tokyo-Honolulu flight, operated in conjunction with Star Alliance partner ANA. 

US Airways

· US Airways is expanding its reach in both domestic and international gateways this summer by adding 22 new routes and 31 new daily flights.

· The airline has resumed its daily summer flights to Bermuda from Boston, Charlotte, Washington, New York and Fort Lauderdale, and for the first time, US Airways will fly to Bermuda from Baltimore and Orlando. From Philadelphia, the carrier has started non-stop flights to Glasgow, Scotland, and has also resumed summer seasonal service to Dublin and Shannon, Ireland. The airline will also increase flights between Charlotte and both Portland, Maine and Salisbury, Maryland.

VARIG

· VARIG has resumed its non-stop flights between Miami to Rio de Janeiro, four times a week.

· VARIG has upgraded its daily B-777 New York John F. Kennedy to Sao Paulo flight to the larger 70 seater Business Class cabin and also replaced its daily B-767 Miami - Sao Paulo flight with the larger MD-11 aircraft.

Air New Zealand

· Air New Zealand has launched thrice weekly, non-stop flights between Auckland and San Francisco. San Francisco is the first new international destination for Air New Zealand since 1995. The carrier also flies into Los Angeles from Auckland and Christchurch.

bmi

· bmi added Toronto to its North American flight schedule from Manchester, England.  bmi also flies to Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Lufthansa

· Since March 2004, Charlotte has been a new daily destination for Lufthansa from Munich.

· Lufthansa has also increased flights to major cities on the west coast of the United States, for example to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon.

Singapore Airlines

· In February 2004, Singapore Airlines started a daily, non-stop service to Los Angeles from Singapore, increasing its frequency to Los Angeles to 21 times a week. It also operates daily one-stop services via Tokyo Narita and Taipei, respectively.

· In June, Singapore Airlines commenced a daily, non-stop service between Singapore and Newark Airport, increasing its frequency to New York  to 14 times weekly.  It also operates a daily service to New York John F. Kennedy via Frankfurt.

South African Airways and TAP Air Portugal are scheduled to join the alliance in 2005.