bmi has selected Discover the World Marketing, the world´s largest travel representation company, to handle its sales and marketing through its Russian office for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan beginning this month. Discover will represent bmi, the UK´s second largest scheduled passenger carrier in 64 countries.

Travelers with tickets to fly on U.S. carriers to Venezuela can rest assured, at least for four more weeks. The Venezuelan government said it will wait until at least March 30 to impose restrictions on U.S. airline service to its country, including its plan to ban all Delta and Continental service and limit American service to three daily flights out of Miami.

Free Spirit, the new frequent flyer program launched by Spirit Airlines, will offer domestic awards at 15,000 miles and Caribbean awards at 20,000 miles. The carrier also introduced the Free Spirit MasterCard through Juniper Bank, a member of the Barclays Group. Free Spirit frequent flyer customers earn one mile for every $1 in purchases and 5,000 bonus miles at signup. Frequent flyer awards travel will be available on every flight without blackout dates. Program members are able to track their miles, account balances and status levels online at ww.spiritair.com.

Low-cost airline competition is heating up in Mexico. A new carrier, Volaris, is scheduled to take wing this month, operating domestic flights from a base at Toluca, capital of the state of Mexico. Initial destinations will include Guadalajara, Monterrey and Tijuana, which is near the border with the U.S. The airline is a joint venture between a bank and an investment fund, both Mexican, and Televisa and Taca, respectively a Latin American broadcasting company and an airline.

SkyTeam alliance partners Korean Air and AeroMexico announced the beginning of a codeshare relationship to improve the international network for passengers flying on both carriers. Korean Air and AeroMexico are two of the nine carriers who make up the SkyTeam alliance, which also includes Air France, Alitalia, Continental, CSA Czech, Delta, KLM and Northwest.

Copa Airlines will begin service to three new destinations in Latin America from Panama´s hub of the Americas. The three new destinations include daily flights to cities in Brazil, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago. With the new flights, Copa Airlines will offer service to a total of 33 destinations in 21 countries throughout the Americas.