This week's news in brief
Aegean offers €170m for Olympus
Aegean Airlines has offered €170m for Olympic Airlines, including its flights operations, maintenance and overhaul division and successor company Pantheon.
Aegean said its wants to create a Greek air company to compete with its larger European rivals.
It added it would be able to take over Olympic within 60 days of signing a deal and was willing to drop domestic routes to facilitate competition.
www.aegeanair.com www.olympicairlines.com
Travelport extends ITQ agreement
Travelport GDS has extended its agreement with InterGlobe Technology Quotient (ITQ) to distribute its Galileo global distribution service (GDS) in Sri Lanka.
ITQ, already Travelport's distributor in India since 1994, supports more than 4,000 travel subscribers across 333 cities.
ITQ replaces Emirates as Galileo's distributor in Sri Lanka.
Travelport, provider of both the Galileo and Worldspan GDSs, said the agreement came into effect on March 1.
www.travelport.com
Lufthansa Italia expands domestic network
Lufthansa Italia will launch domestic routes to Rome, Naples and Bari from Milan Malpensa on April 1, just weeks after the airline's inaugural flight.
The airline said it was adding new services in response to high demand and "excellent booking figures."
"After only four weeks, Lufthansa Italia has established itself successfully in the Italian market," said Karl Ulrich Garnadt, executive vp, Lufthansa Passenger Airlines.
"Advance bookings for the coming months have developed so favourably that we are already in a position to expand our services."
Lufthansa Italia, which began serving Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest and Madrid last week, plans to add London Heathrow and Lisbon from the end of March.
Two more A319s will serve the three new Italian destinations, taking the fleet size up to eight aircraft in total offering economy and business class.
www.lufthansa.com
Travelport enhances ViewTrip online check-in
Travelport GDS has enhanced its ViewTrip information tool with online check-in for travellers.
Emailed ViewTrip itineraries, booked through the Galileo global distribution service (GDS), will now include check-in links to British Airways, Delta Air Lines, Frontier, Midwest Airlines, SWISS, bmi and Virgin Atlantic.
Travelport hopes to add online check-in for a further 80 airlines.
www.travelport.com
BridgeStreet opens in Liverpool ONE
BridgeStreet Worldwide Serviced Apartments EMEA has announced the opening of BridgeStreet at Liverpool ONE in April this year, the latest addition to its portfolio.
The apartments, part of the Liverpool shopping complex, will comprise of 77 one, two and three bedroom fully furnished units complete with television and WIFI services.
Jo Layton, BridgeStreet's vp of sales and marketing EMEA, said the opening was part of a strategic expansion plan for the region.
Further openings in London, Budapest, Dubai and Doha are expected this year.
www.bridgestreet.co.uk
Business Travel Extras signs deal with Hillgate Travel
Business Travel Extras has announced a new partnership with travel management company (TMC) Hillgate Travel.
The provider of corporate travel extras will provide the TMC's "blue chip" clients with its full range of Meet and Greet, on-site and off-site airport parking options.
Hillgate Travel's corporate customers will now be able to book parking through its consultants or via the Hillgate FreeWay online booking facility.
www.businesstravelextras.co.uk www.hillgatetravel.com
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