Phillips de Pury & Company is honored to announce the sale of a rare, iconic portrait of the legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor, painted by Andy Warhol in 1963. The stunning painting will be offered for sale in the Contemporary Art Part I auction on May 12 and is estimated at $20,000,000 / $30,000,000.

Southwest Airlines canceled 300 flights on Sunday while it continue to inspect a subset of its Southwest 737-300s after a hole ripped open in one in midflight on Friday. As of Sunday afternoon, 19 planes had undergone inspections with no findings, and those planes have been returned to service. In two other airplanes, the testing did detect small, subsurface cracks.

Global passenger traffic at airports grew by almost 4 percent in February, with international up by 4.5 and domestic by 3.4 percent. Freight volumes stagnated for the month reflecting a decrease of 3.3 percent in domestic freight traffic. North African airports were heavily hit by political unrest in Egypt and Tunisia resulting in 21 percent decline in the Africa region, with drastic reductions seen for Cairo (-54 percent), Sharm El Sheikh (-71 percent), Tunis (-31 percent).

Oscar Avalos has been named director of sales and marketing of Marquis Los Cabos, the 237 all-suite beachfront Leading Hotel of the World located on the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula. Prior to joining Marquis Los Cabos, Avalos worked extensively with Fairmont Hotels throughout Mexico.

During the Board of Directors meeting of NH Hotels S.A. held today, Executive Director Gabriele Burgio has announced his decision of leaving his position as the Company’s Director, President and Chief Executive, taking into consideration that once the Business Plan’s main objectives have been met, as passed in July 2009 to face the economic crisis, the company is already in peak condition to take advantage of the economic recovery.

Meetings and incentive travel is firmly back on the menu for 2011 and is expected to accelerate throughout the year and beyond. Great Hotels of the World, the sales and marketing alliance for independent luxury hotels has revealed its top ten predictions for the most popular destinations for meetings and incentive travel during 2011 and beyond.