With a couple of weekly flights on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Cayman Airways has finally made a long cherished dream come true: a direct connection between Grand Cayman and Havana with the opening of a route operated by Boeing 737 aircraft seating 112 passengers each.

These flights covering the roughly 150 miles between the two Caribbean nations open up a new window of opportunity for European tourists interested in packing the two islands’ attractions in just one vacation package.

Universal, the brand-new Colombian airline, will go up, up and away next Dec. 20 with initial bases in 11 major cities of the Andean country and a fleet of five Airbus A-319 planes.

The first routes will serve such cities as Medellin, Cali, San Andres, Pereira and Bogota. Former Secretary of Culture and Tourism for Medellin, Alba Suarez Bustamante, has been appointed general manageress of the newly founded enterprise.

Manuel Guedes was appointed new interim president of Varig, the Brazilian airline, following the resignation of Armin Lore who stepped down after the foundation that controls the company rejected a plan to cut a deal with its creditors. At the same time, the Brazilian government said it’s willing to consider a streamlining plan for Varig, a company now mired in a debt of some $760 million.

The RIU Tropical Bay Hotel in the Jamaican destination of Negril grabbed the Gold Thomson Award form the excellence of its top-notch quality and superb service.

Some areas in the Chilean capital are approaching top levels of polluting air-suspended particles caused by fuel-burning vehicles and other combustion processes.

The eight most prestigious Panamanian tour operators agreed to form the country’s first-ever Strategic Travel Alliance –dubbed XPLORA- with a view to provide their customers with a mesh of services featuring exclusive products at very affordable prices.XPLORA’s philosophy will be based on the preservation of the members’ individuality since each and every company will continue to hold its own from both a managerial and juridical standpoint. Operations, on the other hand, will be run on the basis of fare negotiations and preferential services taking into account the volume of travelers the new merger will handle.