JetBlue opened seven new gates at New York´s Kennedy Airport June 1, which, combined with its existing 14 gates there, will give it enough additional space to operate up to 185 daily flights at its home base, the airline said. JetBlue currently operates about 125 daily flights at Kennedy.

International air passenger traffic rose 9.9 percent in April over the same month last year, largely due to a late Easter, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said earlier this week. Cross-border air freight, considered a prime indicator of the health of world trade, rose 6.1 percent in April on a year-on-year basis, it said. Domestic air traffic is excluded from the data.

A ballot of more than 1,500 cabin crew at budget airline easyJet over whether to accept a pay deal or consider strike action has been extended until next week, a union said earlier this week. The Transport & General Workers Union (T&G) said a vote on whether to accept a two year wage deal, due to close on Thursday, had been extended until June 7.

The Aruba Airport Authority (AAA) and Colombian airline Avianca announced last week that as of July 1 the air carrier will increase its 5 weekly flights from Bogota to Aruba to daily. This will not only offer better service between Bogota and Aruba, but will also increase connections from Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Panama to Aruba via Bogota.

TAM S.A., Brazil´s largest airline company, had 73,917 passengers boarded last April in Guarulhos International Airport, in Sao Paulo, a 50 percent growth when compared to the 49,218 flights accomplished in the same period of 2005, according to data recently disclosed by the Brazilian Airport Infrastructure Company. Such performance allowed the company to conquer leadership in this airport, with a 36.9 percent share of total passengers boarded in April flying from Guarulhos.

The US Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday lifted restrictions on Ecuadorian airlines flying to U.S. airports by raising Ecuador´s safety rating. “The Federal Aviation Administration said it is upgrading Ecuador aviation security level to Category 1,” the U.S. Embassy in Quito said in a statement.