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Qantas announced today (October 20th) that it has made history by launching the first Airbus A380 flights between Australia and the west coast of the USA.The airline's inaugural service departed Melbourne at 11:15 local time en route for Los Angeles, where it will be greeted by the celebrities John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.Geoff Dixon, chief executive officer of Qantas, said that the flight shows the airline's commitment to the transpacific market."We have operated air services between Australia and the United States since 1954 and have invested significantly over our 54 years of operation to develop these routes," he added."Today, we offer 47 services a week to the US, plus daily extensions to New York. In fact, we offer more services to the USA than any other international market with the exception of New Zealand."Qantas will launch A380 services from Sydney to Los Angeles on October 24th before deploying the superjumbo on a route to London via Singapore in January 2009.The Qa

Conde Nast Traveller magazine has announced the winners of its 2008 Readers' Choice Awards, which compiled the opinions of more than 32,000 regular travellers.For the seventh consecutive year, Sydney was voted the world's top city, followed by San Francisco, Florence, Cape Town and Bangkok.Other cities to receive high ratings included Buenos Aires, Chiang Mai, Rome and Melbourne.In the 'top islands' section of the awards, Maui was the overall winner, while the Maldives, Bermuda, Vancouver Island and Mykonos all came top in their regional categories.Conde Nast Traveller readers also gave their opinions on the world's top airlines, with Singapore Airlines taking the top award, followed by Emirates, Virgin Atlantic, Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines.Conde Nast Traveller editor in chief Klara Glowczewska said: "These awards celebrate the destinations, lodgings and modes of transportation that manage to exceed our expectations."The Readers' Choice Awards, with over 32,000 readers voting, ar

LOS ANGELES, CA (MARKET WIRE) WorldMate, Inc., the company that has paved the way for mobile travel innovation since 2000 and serves frequent flyers and road warriors around the world, today announces that it now services over one million users on Nokia's S60 platform. With more than 100,000 new Nokia owners signing up for WorldMate each month, more travelers than ever are managing their itineraries through their handsets.

As Midwest Airlines continues slashing costs, hundreds of experienced Midwest pilots who are about to lose their jobs will face stiff competition in a beleaguered industry that already has shed tens of thousands of workers this year.

Mokulele Airlines’ announcement this week that it would begin offering interisland jet service Nov. 19 shows that Hawaii just may be big enough for three jet carriers — again.

Merritt Island-based Comp Air Inc. will decide in first-quarter 2009 on a site for a permanent general aviation aircraft manufacturing plant that could create up to 2,000 jobs by 2012.

On a February day in 1910, more than 2,500 curious Texans witnessed the first airplane flight in Houston. The pilot, a barnstorming Frenchman named Louis Paulhan, flew a biplane from a field in South Houston for a fee of $20,000.

Qantas yesterday launched A380 service to the US West Coast when its inaugural Melbourne-Los Angeles flight, QF93, departed Australia at 11:15 a.m. local time and landed at LAX at around 7:30 a.m.

FedEx Express yesterday broke ground on its new European air hub at Cologne/Bonn.

American airlines' order for up to 100 787s for delivery between 2012 and 2020, announced last week (ATWOnline, Oct. 16), begins to answer questions about the program's potential production ramp-up.