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Hawaiian, AirTran and Delta Lead This Week's New Route News

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Hawaiian Airlines:
Alright we might have mentioned this earlier in the week, but the star of the show this week has to be the announcement from Hawaiian Airlines. The carrier filled with Aloha is headed all the way to New York-JFK from Honolulu beginning next summer. Like we said, the flight is going to be pretty darn long—like 10 hours—but hopefully the new Airbus A330s will make it all a little better.

· United:
It’s time to cross the pond thanks to United, as there are plans for a new link between the US and the UK beginning next May. The airline is starting up a nonstop option between Washington-Dulles and Manchester, and this will supplement Continental’s option between Newark and Manchester. The new flight—just like the one from Newark—will utilize some Boeing 757s, so that means there’s only one aisle where you can stretch your legs. The flights will operate everyday of the week all year long, and we’re sure that this new option will make some tourists and business people pretty happy.

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JetBlue, Delta, and Even More New Routes This Week

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· JetBlue:
More flights from Boston this week thanks to the airline with free television and plenty of in-flight snacks. JetBlue continues to bring planes back and forth between Logan International and the rest of the Western Hemisphere. The first new flight will link Boston with Portland, Oregon with one daily nonstop flight—just remember to bring a blanket as the return flight is a redeye. The other new route will link Massachusetts with the Dominican Republic. These flights will take place on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. All the new flights start on June 17, so get your credit card ready.

· Strategic Airlines:
Not just another new route, but this is kind of a whole new airline. Strategic Airlines is looking to start service between Down Under and Thailand beginning later this month. Flights will begin on February 22 and will run twice a week on nonstop routes between both Melbourne and Brisbane to Phuket. Other carriers like Jetstar and V Australia are already flying this route, so expect some serious competition and low fares.

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Transaero, Air France, and Qatar Airways Have Some of This Week's New Routes

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Transaero Airlines:
Thanks to Transaero Airlines, Russia may just become a travel hotspot for 2011 (or at least 2018, with the World Cup). In addition to their nonstop options to Moscow from New York and Miami, the airline is now looking to add a little South American flavor to its route network. As of early 2011—most likely in January—Transaero will start up service between Moscow and Rio de Janeiro.

They’ll be sending a big old Boeing 747-400 back and forth on this route, so you’ll have plenty of time to review your Rosetta Stone lesson plans during the flight. The time for this flight is going to hover around a lengthy 12 and a half hours.

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New Airline Routes from TACA, Qatar, American and More

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· TACA Airlines:
You probably haven’t flown TACA Airlines often, or even heard of them, but it’s good to know that the airline is an option for your travels to Medellin, Colombia and Guayaquil, Ecuador. Both flights will head out of New York, and the flights to Colombia will make a quick connection in Costa Rica and the Ecuador flights will stop in El Salvador on the way. July 17 is when the Medellin route kicks off, and both flights will be heading back and forth by August 1.

· Qatar Airways:
We would really love to try out Qatar Airways—especially when their 787s are available and weighed down with awesome in-flight entertainment. They’re looking to expand things even before their new planes arrive, as the airline is starting new flights to Bangkok via Kuala Lumpur. These flights start October 11, but November will bring flights to Hanoi and Nice. Finally, Bucharest, Budapest, and Brussels will all be available from Doha beginning in January.

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Qatar Airways Flies World's First Natural Gas Commercial Jet

The culmination of a story we've been following for two years, Qatar Airways has finally launched their eco-friendly natural gas commercial jet. There will always be debates about whether it's actually better for the environment to use natural gas on such a large scale, and someday we might discover that there are costs we don't know about, but in the meantime the airline is basking in the attention that they're rightfully getting:

Qatar Airways is claiming its place in history by operating the world's first commercial flight using fuel made from natural gas, creating a potential new source of aircraft fuel for the future. The jet fuel... helped power an Airbus A340-600 from London Gatwick that landed in the Qatari capital, Doha... 'Qatar's position as the GTL capital of the world has been further enhanced with today's achievement,' Abdulla bin Hamad al-Attiyah, the country's deputy prime minister of energy and industry, said.

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Qatar Airways Serves Up Eco-Trays and Pot Pie

There is at least one airline listening to passenger's calls for better meal service and an attention to eco-responsibility. Qatar Airways has just announced a complete revampment of their in-flight food service for flights to and from England, and surprisingly the focus is on quality in economy class.

Instead of sad, beige plastic trays with the airline logo, Qatar Airways will be rolling out clear, 99% recyclable lightweight trays and serving sets which will be set onto a placemat in a color of your choosing.

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Security Guards in Qatar's First Class Lounge Won't Allow Any Pictures

How's this for your ultimate airport lounge? It's the first class lounge belonging to Qatar Airways at their main hub in Doha and it looks decadent enough for us to think that Qatar Airways might be charging too much for their plane tickets.

Flickr fanatic Stuck in Customs went to a fair bit of trouble to bring us this great travel snapshot:

I was warned many times by grisly-looking security guards not to take any photos of any people in the lounge, especially if they were wearing the national uniform.

And all that on a three-day marathon to fly from snow-bound Atlanta to sticky Kuala Lumpur (and no, Doha is not exactly the most common route for this trip).

The photographer is cool enough to admit he didn't know where Doha was when they sold him a flight there--and we admit we don't know much more about it than a vague spot on the globe and a planned museum that's hidden in a sand dune. In fact, we figure that outside this fancy airport lounge, Doha is just dunes. Right?

Related Stories:
· Architecture Travel: Hidden Museum in the Desert, Doha [Jaunted]
· Doha Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: Stuck in Customs]

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Drunk Travel: Hit Flight Attendant, Get Tied Up

Another airline passenger makes it into the annals of history this week after his very successful attempt at drunk travel.

This time it's a Kuwaiti man who decided to drink more than his fair share of on-board booze while flying with Qatar Airways from Doha to Bangkok. The man was so drunk that he refused to sit down (let alone wear that necessary seatbelt) and hit a flight attendant.

Obviously, hitting flight staff is a big no-no and so the attendants manage to tie his arms and legs together before the pilot made an emergency landing in Mumbai to offload the drunken troublemaker. And we thought Kuwaitis didn't even drink.

Related Stories:
· Drunk Passenger Forces Emergency Landing [Times of India]
· Qatar Airways is the Gas [Jaunted]
· Mid-Air Brawl Over Girl [Jaunted]

[Photo: idf-fotos]

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Qatar Airways is the Gas

There is a heap of talk these days about the huge costs of fuel and how that's a great excuse for airlines to charge us more (even if they're wasting their own fuel like British Airways, flying empty planes between the UK and the US just to retain landing spots).

We're quite grateful that at least one airline is considering an alternative. Qatar Airways is heavily into research and discussions about creating airplanes powered by natural gas. Since Qatar itself has huge reserves of natural gas, the vested interest is clear, but if other airlines got in on the act the experts say using natural gas would definitely be more cost-effective.

But does that mean the airlines would just make a bigger profit... or would they make it a bit cheaper for us to get around?

Related Stories:
· Qatar Airways' Gas-Powered Planes [The Age]
· British Airways Sends Empty Planes Across Atlantic [CBC]

[Photo: Thomas Lu]