-Peru and the USA have signed an open skies agreement to phase out flight restrictions over a period of four years for passenger services and two years for all-cargo services. From mid-June, both countries can increase weekly passenger flights from 42 to 63 (based on narrowbody aircraft).
-Japan Airlines (JAL) plans to launch a new twice-weekly service from Tokyo to Las Vegas from 2 October, using a Boeing 747-300. Las Vegas is JAL's sixth US continental destination and the first to be opened up to the Japanese flag carrier under the recently concluded US-Japan bilateral air services agreement.
-Middle East Airlines has added a sixth weekly service between London Heathrow and Beirut, using an Airbus A310.
-China Eastern Airlines will launch a new twice-weekly service from Shanghai to Okayama from 30 June, using a Boeing MD-90, and a twice-weekly Airbus A340 service from Beijing to Paris via Shanghai from 7 July.
-China Northern Airlines has inaugurated a new A300 service from Shenyang to Osaka and plans to fly to Sapporo, between Harbin and Niigata and from Dalian to Toyama.
-Lufthansa has added Doha, Qatar, to its route network from 15 June. The destination is being served from Munich in a codeshare deal with Qatar Airways, which flies the route twice weekly with an Airbus A300-600.
-South Korea's Asiana Airlines has launched a new service from Seoul to Yantai in China. It also plans to open new passenger routes from Seoul to Chongqing and Xian and cargo services to Shenzhen and Nanjing.
-Jersey European Airways will launch a new service from London Luton to Belfast , running three times a day from 1 August.
-The Taiwanese Government has rejected an application by China Airlines to begin flying from Taipei to Hanoi and increase domestic frequencies to Hsinchu and Koahsiung.
-Air France has started operating a weekly Paris to Havana, Cuba, service, using a Boeing 747-200.
Source: Flight International
