The founding of a blacklist of airlines that are considered too unsafe to fly within the 25-nation European Union was granted by European Union member states last week. The proposal was okayed at EU transport ministers meeting in Brussels, following last month´s support from the European Parliament.

Air Canada announced it will launch daily nonstop flights between Los Angeles and Edmonton, in Canada´s Alberta, beginning May 1 next year. Flights will be operated by Air Canada Jazz with next-generation Bombardier CRJ-705 aircraft. Air Canada already offers nonstop service from Los Angeles to Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal.

Virgin Atlantic Airways is continuing its expansion drive by increasing services to many of its key business and leisure routes in the next month. Services to Mumbai will increase from three services per week to daily. In the same breath, the carrier will operate six weekly Shanghai flights followed by daily services to Cape Town over the peak winter season from January 29 to March 25.

Delta Airlines will launch daily nonstop 737 service from Atlanta to Belize December 15. The flight will depart Atlanta at 11:40 a.m. and arrive in Belize at 1:50 p.m. The return flight will leave Belize City at 3 p.m., arriving in Atlanta at 6:53 p.m.

Commencing December 8, travelers can head to Barbados on Delta Air Lines´ new nonstop service between Atlanta´s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Barbados´ Grantley Adams International Airport. Delta, will operate its year-round, three-times-a-week nonstop flights on a Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The flights, will now allow travelers to depart from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and be on the island.

Hoping to boost business at any rate, Aeromexico launched a Pay Coach and Fly First Class promotion that the airline says will offer up to 60 percent off the usual ticket price for its first class cabin. The promotion is only available through travel agents and the airline´s reservations center. Under the promotion, a roundtrip ticket from New York´s Kennedy Airport to Mexico City that would normally cost $2,856, now sets travelers back $1,428 under the promotion, a saving of 50 percent.