Jet Airways to fly Mumbai to London
By Roger Bray

FT
April 27 2005 18:08

Jet Airways plans to start daily flights from Mumbai to Heathrow on
May 23. It will use Airbus A340-300 aircraft, leased from South
African Airways, with 231 seats in economy and 38 in a premium cabin.

The inaugural flight will take place one week after the launch of UK
airline bmi’s new service to Mumbai, which will operate four times a
week from Heathrow. Last week British Airways announced a significant
expansion of its flights to India, starting later this year. Its plans
include a new service to Bangalore and more services to Mumbai,
Chennai and Delhi.

Four Seasons opens hotel in Qatar

Four Seasons, the Toronto-based hotel group, has opened a five-star
hotel in Qatar. The 232-room property is close to the government,
commercial and shopping areas of Doha. It claims the city’s most
extensive meeting facilities and has a private beach, a 110-berth
marina, pools, a spa, squash courts and outdoor clay tennis courts.

On Sunday another five-star hotel will open in Jakarta, the Indonesian
capital. The 333-room Ritz-Carlton is in the Mega Kuningan district,
13 miles from the city’s international airport. The property will
incorporate a 1,600 sq m ballroom and 25 smaller meeting rooms.

Swiss International to stop meal fares

Swiss International Air Lines is to stop charging economy class
passengers for food on European flights. The decision is scheduled to
take effect on May 25. It follows the takeover of Swiss by Lufthansa,
which has consistently offered free food across its network and in all
cabins. The carrier began charging for meals in August 2003.

Meanwhile, Lufthansa is to expand its east Europe network. In early
June it will launch services from Munich to Tbilisi and Yerevan,
respective capitals of Georgia and Armenia, and Timisoara in Romania.

Virgin Blue will show live television

Passengers flying on Virgin Blue, the low-cost Australian airline,
will soon be able to watch live television broadcasts. They will have
a choice of 24 satellite channels. On-board equipment will be provided
by LiveTV, a subsidiary of New York-based carrier JetBlue. LiveTV will
equip 51 Virgin Blue Boeing 737s, starting in the third quarter of
this year.

Dutch monastery is now a luxury hotel

A former monastery in the Dutch city of Maastricht has been converted
into a luxury hotel. The project is the brainchild of Camille
Oostwegel, a Limburg hotelier. Scheduled to open on Sunday, the hotel
will have 60 rooms and suites with laptop connections, and three
boardroom style meeting rooms. It will be a member of Design Hotels,
the Berlin-based marketing consortium.

Hilton aims to ease respiratory woes

Rooms equipped for guests who suffer from respiratory complaints or
allergies are being tested at the Hilton hotel at Chicago’s O’Hare
airport. The experiment is being conducted with the help of a local
company that specialises in improving indoor air quality.

Several rooms have been completely refitted to minimise guests’
exposure to dust, spores and chemicals, and head off adverse
reactions. A new air purification system has also been installed.