Mexicana de Aviacion said on Monday it will launch Mexico´s first low-cost carrier in July, moving the government closer to privatizing its airline industry. The new airline, called Click Mexicana, will start ticket sales in May and flights in July as part of a plan to sell Mexico´s leading airlines Mexicana and Aeromexico this year.

Airline passengers soon will be asked to provide their full names and birth dates when they buy tickets, under a new regulation of the Transportation Security Administration. Passengers do not have to provide it, though if they don´t, there´s a better chance they´ll have to undergo more stringent screening at the airport, Justin Oberman, the TSA official in charge of the program, said.

Air France-KLM, Europe´s largest airline, said it was achieving cost benefits from the co-ordination of its international sales and station organizations abroad faster than forecast. Patrick Alexandre, executive vice-president international commercial affairs and operations at Air France, said the savings in international markets for the combined group in its sales and foreign stations were forecast to total 92m euros ($119m) within four years. This would account for more than 15 per cent of the total 580m synergy benefits forecast for the whole group from the merger.

LAN Peru, an affiliate of Chile´s LAN Airways that holds 80 percent of the Peruvian market, apologized this week for airing an on-board promotional video with denigrating images of Peru. "We understand the angry generated by our in-flight promotional videos with images that have hurt deep the pride and feelings of the Peruvian people," the company stated in a press release.

Continental will offer twice-weekly service to Flores on Wednesdays and Saturdays, using the 50-seat Embraer EMB-145 Regional Jet. Flores is the primary destination for travelers visiting Tikal, the largest site of Mayan ruins in Central America. The approximately three-hour, 20-min. flight will depart Houston´s Intercontinental Airport at 6:40 p.m. and arrive in Flores at 9:05 p.m. The return flight will leave Flores at 7:45 a.m., arriving in Houston at 12 noon.

Uruguay´s UAIR has been flying regularly to Santiago de Chile every Monday, Wednesday and Friday since last March. Execs from the Uruguayan air carrier explained the increasingly bigger demand from Rio de la Plata in recent years prompted them to turn to Santiago de Chile as their new choice.