PGA-Portugalia Airlines is to make a decision by the end of this year on whether it will join the Sky Team airline alliance. The Portuguese air carrier’s president, Joao Riberiro de Fonseca, mentioned his company’s compatibility with Air France and KLM, two of the merger’s leading airlines. Portugalia’s intention to join Sky Team stems from its increasingly deteriorated relations with TAP Air Portugal, a situation that could lead to the cancellation of all accords signed by the two companies.

Air Plus Comet, an airline owned by Spanish group Marsans, has officially begun flights to South America with a Madrid-Lima route. The first Air Plus jetliner landed at the Jorge Chavez International Airport of Lima with a human cargo of 250 passengers. The new flight will come around twice a week to cater to passengers flying to and from Lima. Air Plus has announced it will use Boeing 747 aircraft in nightly flights for better convenience. The timetable allows business travelers to arrive in either destination first thing in the morning.

Best Western, one of the world’s leading hotel chains, has just appointed Jose Luis Gaeta as sales representative in Catalonia. Mr. Gaeta’s top priority will hinge on promoting the globe’s network of travel agencies –both wholesalers and retailers- and putting Catalonian big-time planners and organizers of conventions on the map.

Tour operator Apple Vacations presented for a fourth year in a row the Golden Crystal Award to the best all-inclusive resort to the exclusive Occidental Royal Hideaway Playacar in Mexico’s Mayan Riviera. The prize is handed out based on a poll taken among Apple Vacations’ customers.

The Brazilian Human Rights Department (BHRD) is carrying out an all-embracing probe of sexual exploitation of minors in 450 of the country’s 1,500 municipalities. Law enforcement officers have identified over “a thousand places where children are forced into prostitution,” Elizabeth Leitao of the BHRD indicated.

United Airlines announced that the company will introduce daily flights – except Saturdays – from Chicago to Aruba as of December 16, 2004. The flights will operate on a year-round basis. This means an added capacity of 40.000 seats. The equipment to be used is an Airbus A-320 leaving Chicago’s O’Hare Airport at 8:20 a.m. to arrive in Aruba at 3:30 p.m. The return flight leaves Aruba at 4:30 p.m. the same day and arrives in O’Hare at 8:00 p.m.