An alliance between Continental Airlines and Panama’s Copa Airlines will have better chances of laying hands on Avianca, the Colombian air carrier, with an offer that goes Brazil’s Synergy Group one better. The Brazilian company has already warned it won’t seek a higher bid.

A creditor of the bankrupt Colombian airline said Copa-Continental has now outbid Synergy’s former plan of buying out 75 percent of Avianca’s shares, a scheme that includes giving the ailing air company a $64-million shot in the arm and taking in some $300 million of its debt.

Iberia and Mexicana de Aviacion airlines have just put into effect new agreements on codeshare flights and frequent travelers that were signed last January and that are intended to allow aircraft from both companies to carry passengers indistinctively.

The Spanish air carrier informed the codeshare agreement will permit Iberia’s passengers to carry on flying aboard Mexicana’s jetliners from the Aztec capital all the way to Monterrey, Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Veracruz and Acapulco.

In an effort to clinch success and expand promotion of La Cabana All Suite Resort & Casino in Aruba, the company’s front office has just appointed Albert Lacle, an experienced marketing executive, as director of sales and marketing. Mr. Lacle is replacing Adwina Arends who’s retiring after serving fourteen years in La Cabana and with over thirty years under her belt in Aruba’s tourism and hotel industry.

Spain’s Iberia is one of Europe’s big air carriers with fewer baggage losses in January, second only to Scandinavian Airways (SAS), according to a report issued by Association of European Airlines.

Bermuda’s official stats lay bare that this destination’s leisure industry slipped half a percentage point in 2003, a situation that has prompted Renée Webb, the island nation’s tourism minister, to urge companies and executives in the business for an all-out effort in the first half of the ongoing year.

Beginning in June, Dutch Caribbean Airlines (DCA) will start making a daily round-trip flight from Santo Domingo’s Las Americas International Airport to Miami. The introduction of the new connection will also bring special airfares.

The route will be flown on MD-80 jetliners for 131 passengers in Business Class and 8 travelers in Comfort Class. DCAirlines has been operating in the Dominican Republic since 2002 under the representation of Caribe S.A.