Low-fare carrier JetBlue Airways said passenger traffic in October increased 14.4 percent from last year, but some gauges were hurt by the effects of Hurricane Wilma, which hit Florida last month. Capacity rose 21.2 percent, the New York-based carrier said Friday. Load factor for October was 78.4 percent, down 4.7 points from a year ago. JetBlue´s completion factor was 96.8 percent, and 75.1 percent of its flights were on time.

Frontier Airlines expects to resume all of its flights to Cancun by the end of the month. The flights were canceled as Hurricane Wilma struck the area in October. Denver-based Frontier says the flights will resume from some cities beginning November 5. The airline has five flights to Cancun. The airline will begin offering a new route, between Indianapolis and Cancun, starting in March next year.

Delta Airlines is getting rid of Song, the low-fare service it launched in April 2003 primarily to try to stop customers from defecting to JetBlue. However, Delta said it will keep and expand some of the elements of the Song service, first to its transcontinental flights and then to any flight longer than 1,750 miles.

LAN Airlines has once again been voted the best airline in South America. The award was recently presented to the airline by the Airports Council International-Latin America and Caribbean (ACI-LAC), which singled out the top operators in the region on the basis of factors such as service, capacity, on-time ratings, efficiency and compliance with regulations and procedures. More than 200 airline industry leaders attended the award ceremony along with representatives of the highest civil aviation authorities in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In a major move, Japan Airlines Corp has announced its intention to join the Oneworld global airline network, seeking to bolster its services and operations after a series of safety mishaps hurt its image. On its part, Oneworld has welcomed announcement by Japan Airlines (JAL) that it intends to seek membership in the alliance. “Japan Airlines would be an ideal fit with Oneworld, as we have said often in the past,” said Oneworld managing partner John McCulloch.

Teenage airline entrepreneur Martin Halsted is poised to launch his first flights. The 19-year-old´s new entrant carrier Alpha One Airways is to start serving the Isle of Man from Southampton as the first of several domestic routes. The service is due to take off on November 7, following months of preparation for the launch. Two flights a day are planned with tickets starting at £99.