One-way fares between Anchorage, Alaska and Honolulu are $199. Other cities on sale include Portland, Ore., Oakland, Calif., San Diego, Seattle, Sacramento and San Jose, Calif.

Tickets must be purchased by Aug. 15 and travel completed by Nov. 10, 2010.

Alaska Airlines also said Monday it is starting nonstop service between Bellingham, Wash., and Honolulu starting Jan. 7.

The airline canceled its Monday flight from Mineta San Jose International Airport to Guadalajara, and over the weekend dropped one of the two flights to Guadalajara that it normally operates Saturdays and Sundays, said airport spokesman David Vossbrink.

While he didn’t know how many travelers’ plans might have been disrupted, Vossbrink said, “Anything that causes inconvenience for passengers flying out of San Jose is something we’d rather not see.”

Mexicana on Sunday canceled a seasonal, three-times-a-week flight from Oakland International Airport to Zacatecas, Mexico, which was due to end Aug. 12, said airport spokeswoman Rosemary Barnes. And the airline, which normally flies daily from Oakland to Guadalajara, has temporarily dropped that flight on Fridays, she said.

Mexicana also canceled its daily flight from San Francisco International Airport to Guadalajara, and airport officials in Sacramento and Los Angeles reported other cancellations.

Mexicana spokeswoman Theresa Bravo said many people who booked seats on the dropped flights are being flown to their destinations on other carriers. She declined to comment on the reason for the cancellations, except to say they were “a result of operational needs.”

But several news reports said the airline was in such financial trouble it was considering filing for bankruptcy protection from its creditors and was seeking to redo its labor contracts to cut costs.

Jet Airways, JetLite and Jet Airways Konnect has announced that with effect from August 4th, it would close all check-in counters 45 minutes prior to departure in the six major metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

This in effect would mean that the airline would close check-in counters 15 minutes earlier than normal, in an effort to comply with the new directive from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). This new guideline should help mitigate flight delays and minimize inconvenience to guests, ensuring a smooth transit for the travelers.

The Jet Airways group would also like to inform all guests that boarding gates for domestic flights at the above six metros would now close 25 minutes prior to departure enabling it to comply with the Air Transport Circular issued by the office of the DGCA, for closure of the aircraft door 15 minutes prior to the departure.

On the rest of Jet Airways’ network in India, check-in counters will continue to close 30 minutes prior to the departure of the flight and the Boarding gates will close 15 minutes prior to the departure.

Jet Airways has begun informing all the guests’ of these changes via sms, e-mailers and through the website at www.jetairways.com. The airline has requested all Jet Privilege members and other guests to note the revised timings of check-in 45 minutes prior to departure and have sought the assistance of guests in adhering to these stipulations.

For a seamless experience through airports, guests can also use Jet Airways web check-in facility at www.jetairways.comwherein they can print boarding passes, with preferred seating at their own convenience. Guests can also use the Jet Airways self service kiosk check-in facility at select airports, thus earning 250 Bonus JPMiles every time they Web or Kiosk check-in.

Direct Air said today that it will fly from PBIA to Worcester, Mass.; Niagara Falls, N.Y.; Kalamazoo, Mich.; and Rockford, Ill. Direct Air flights will leave PBIA to those four destinations a total of 10 times a week.

Fares start at $99 each way. With taxes and fees, a typical round-trip ticket is $235.

To promote its new destination, Direct Air is offering flights to and from PBIA for $79 each way through Monday. To book a ticket, go to www.visitdirectair.com or call (877) 432-3473.

Based in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Direct Air started four years ago. It’s a charter company, not an airline, and it leases 150-seat Boeing 737s operated by XTRA Airways.

Direct Air caters to budget-minded leisure travelers who want non-stop flights but prefer to avoid congested airports, President Ed Warneck said. The company contains costs by, among other things, flying only a few days a week. For instance, flights between PBIA and Worcester leave and return only on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

“We don’t have the big overhead that airlines have,” Warneck said.

Direct Air has grown quickly, but its expansion plans haven’t always panned out. In 2007, it began service to St. Petersburg/Clearwater International Airport but later stopped flying to that destination.

Last year it announced service from Melbourne to Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., but soon canceled those flights. Direct Air still flies from Melbourne to Punta Gorda and Niagara Falls.

Palm Beach County Airports Director Bruce Pelly said cuts by airlines have left passengers here eager for more service.

“The demand exceeds the seats, which is certainly an incentive to bring in more flights,” Pelly said.

To lure Direct Air, PBIA waived landing fees and gate-use charges for a year, Pelly said.

Now JetBlue is offering more flights from Boston than any other competitor. This summer it will operate about 75 daily departures from Logan to 35 nonstop destinations. Of course with all this great expansion they still have leather seating, DirectTV displays, and free snacks. And there’s some great news for its fans. Over this summer JetBlue will be adding more services to Chicago O’Hare, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Washington Dulles, and more.
The recent economic downturn has led to many corporations taking a second look at JetBlue’s itinerary, and most have found it a good addition to their business travel choices. Because of this change in their clientele JetBlue has been looking hard at adding more convenient routes for the corporate traveler.

Customers flying from the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport have a choice of six daily non-stop flights to Los Angeles International Airport..and now it’ll cost less to fly from those cities.

“Community support of the airport is tremendous. We are excited to make flying locally even more affordable,” said Greg Kaldahl, United’s vice president of network planning.

Continental posted a profit of $233 million, US Airways made $279 million, United showed a profit of $273 million, while Delta had the biggest profit of all with $549 million. What is the reason behind these big numbers? While each airline had its own reasons, these Q2 profits can be attributed to a reduction in the number of flights, increased airline fees for flights and baggage, and an increased demand for travel this summer.

For the airlines, this is welcomed news. These are some of the biggest profits they have seen in years. For some of them, it has been the only profit they have seen in years. However, are airlines now profitable again now that things are back on track?

Not so fast. Business travel remains an issue as the economy is still struggling. Many businesses have cut back on unnecessary travel and airlines have not made any gains in this area. However, many airlines and analysts are optimistic as many believe the economy is beginning to flatten out and the worst may be over.

As for future travel, the airlines and analysts predict demand will remain strong. There are two concerns that airlines need to caution against. First, they need to make sure they do not try and take advantage of this too quickly by expanding the number of flights. Along with that, they have to heop that the economy doesn’t struggle any more.

What does this mean for air travelers? Don’t expect the fees that you have been paying to go away now that the airlines are doing better. The fees have contributed to their profitability so it looks as if they are here to stay. If the economy is turning around, now is the time to book your travel for Fall vacations. As winter approaches and holidays get closer, you can expect airfares to go up once again.

While the news is finally good for the airlines, it may mean that air travel may become more expensive. In anticipation of the low travel season in Fall, airlines have been offering some great deals for Fall travel. However, fees are here to stay and prices will go up once again as holiday travel draws near. The number of flights may not pick up as airlines may be cautious to grow too much right now. So we could see higher airfares for winter travel and very crowded flights.

Whie the news is good for airlines, these profits may not be good news for passengers.

The company, which operates Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, earned $58.6 million, or $1.60 per share, during the quarter that ended June 30. That was up from $29.1 million, or 79 cents per share, during the same period last year.

Revenue rose 15.7 percent to $976.4 million.

Not counting a fuel hedging loss and fleet-related charges, Alaska Air said it would have earned $84.0 million, or $2.29 per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting a profit of $2.12 per share on revenue of $963.4 million.

The company’s bottom line was helped by a 10 percent traffic increase for the quarter, and those passengers paid slightly more to fly. Its yield on Alaska Airlines flights, or the amount collected from each passenger for flying one mile, rose 6 percent to 13.9 cents per mile.

Costs increased 5.9 percent on a per-mile basis at Alaska Airlines. The pretax profit at Alaska Airlines was $96.5 million, up from $42.1 million a year earlier.

Alaska Air Group shares rose 66 cents to $48.59 in morning trading

Airbus won 130 contracts with a list price of $13 billion, edging out Boeing on 103 orders worth $10 billion. The European company also announced $15 billion of pledges versus $4 billion at Boeing. In the regional market, Brazil’s Embraer trumped Bombardier Inc., which failed to win new buyers for its CSeries.

Orders were dominated by the resurgent aircraft-leasing industry, with Steven Udvar-Hazy’s Air Lease Corp. acquiring 105 single-aisle planes and General Electric Co.’s GECAS adding 100, both spreading orders across the two main manufacturers. Airbus, which leapfrogged Boeing as the largest jet manufacturer in 2003, lifted its order forecast for this year to more than 400 jets, and Boeing said it had raised internal targets.

“I’m surprised by the level of enthusiasm for sustainable recovery, given that we’re in the early stages of an economic decline that could go on for years,” said Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners LP in London. “The industry is saying we’re through this, we’re moving on — the light at the end of the tunnel is already here. That’s the sense you get.”

Embraer, or Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA, scooped 37 contracts worth $1.4 billion for its regional jets, the bulk of them from Flybe, Britain’s biggest domestic airline, together with pre-orders for an additional 34 planes valued at $1.3 billion.

CSeries Flop

Bombardier presented 23 firm orders valued at $1 billion for its business jets and turboprops at the Farnborough event. It announced no regional jet contracts and failed to secure Qatar Airways Ltd. as a buyer for the CSeries, after the Gulf carrier couldn’t reach terms with engine maker Pratt & Whitney.

The biggest single airline contract was from Dubai-based Emirates, which bought 12 Boeing 777-300ER long-haul planes valued at $3.25 billion. Gulf rival Qatar also added two 777s.

“The world will start traveling again, there’s plenty of traffic for everyone,” said Emirates President Tim Clark, whose airline has ordered 90 of Airbus’s A380 superjumbos in total.

Among Western carriers, AMR Corp.’s American Airlines will buy 35 Boeing 737s, OAO Aeroflot is adding 11 Airbus A330 and Virgin America Inc. signed a pledge for 40 A320s.

The airline industry will post a $2.5 billion profit in 2010, reversing two years of losses, the International Air Transport Association predicted last month, scrapping an earlier estimate for a $2.8 billion deficit.

Traffic Returns

Passenger traffic climbed back above the pre-recession highs of early 2008 in May, and premium travel rose the most in six years as business confidence increased. While seat occupancy reached 76 percent, fleet utilization is still 5 percent below pre-recession levels for single-aisle planes and 8 percent lower for wide-body jets, IATA says.

The orders won by Boeing and Airbus this week eclipsed the 78 orders and pledges in Paris last year. They also fell 82 short of the total for the last Farnborough show in 2008, which predated the credit crunch and recession, having been held two months before the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Airbus Sales Chief John Leahy said the sales surge shows “the recession is definitely over,” while Tom Enders, the chief executive officer, said the show was “good for the industry,” with more contracts signed than anticipated.

Airbus had previously targeted as many as 300 orders for 2010. Enders said the Toulouse, France-based company will achieve a production target of more than 20 A380 double-deckers and aims to sign up one more customer for the jet in 2010.

‘Hot Cycle’

“The business will stay hot, because it’s a hot cycle,” Marlin Dailey, Boeing’s commercial sales chief, said in an interview. “Whether that will translate into orders is hard to say, but there’s definitely a lot of interest. On balance, we’ll see a growth trend over the next couple of years.”

General Electric Co., the world’s biggest maker of jet engines, predicted the fastest growth in the industry coming from emerging markets such as the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. Developed economies will expand more slowly, GE Aviation Chief Executive David Joyce said.

“It makes you feel good that everyone is feeling some part of the recovery versus last year,” Joyce said in an interview. “In the past month we’ve started to see some positive trends.”

Louis Chenevert, CEO of United Technologies Corp., which owns Pratt, said external events could still impede the recovery, citing past developments such as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., the SARS epidemic in Asia and the Icelandic ash cloud that closed European airports this spring.

“While we’re optimistic that the outlook looks a lot better, external forces can change the picture,” he said in an interview. “You just never know what’s in front of you.”

Capacity to Russia and the U.S. will increase, with flights on the Singapore-Los Angeles and Singapore-Moscow-Houston sectors operating daily, the airline said in an e-mailed statement today. The new schedules are for the northern winter period of Oct. 31 to March 26, the airline said.

Global air travel is reviving with premium services rising by the most in six years in May, the International Air Transport Association said last week.

“The adjustments are in response to further growth in demand for travel,” Singapore Air said in the statement.

The carrier will increase capacity to Australia with a second daily service on the Singapore-Sydney route with the Airbus SAS A380, the world’s largest commercial jet, Singapore Air said. It will also add Tokyo airport to its network.

The airline fell 0.3 percent to S$14.7 at the close of trading in the city-state. The statement was released after the stock market closed.