Swissair is withdrawing its six-times weekly scheduled service between Basle and New York Newark from 26 March, citing poor demand with an average load factor of less than 60%. The flights, operated using an Airbus A310 and codeshared with the Swiss flag carrier's regional subsidiary Crossair, were introduced a year ago. American Airlines will start daily non-stop flights between Chicago O'Hare and Rome Fiumicino in June. At the same time, it is moving the Chicago-Zurich service to Dallas/ Fort Worth. The airline is introducing a second nonstop daily flight between New York Kennedy and Paris Charles De Gaulle from May. El Al and Swissair have reached a codeshare agreement on their Zurich/Geneva-Tel-Aviv services, effective from 26 March. According to the agreement, the two airlines will operate 25 weekly flights between Zurich, Geneva and Tel-Aviv. British Airways is planning to switch its London Gatwick-Brussels services from a Boeing 737 to an ATR turboprop operated by CityFlyer Express, and will drop its six-times weekly Gatwick-Vienna services. Northwest Airlines and Malaysia Airlines have filed a joint application with the US Department of Transport for antitrust immunity for their recently concluded commercial co-operation agreement. The two airlines want to codeshare on each other's flights between the USA and Malaysia and possibly also on flights beyond their respective gateways in the two countries.
Source: Flight International
