Australia’s Strategic Airlines plans to build on its new Hawaii routes by linking to mainland U.S. destinations, challenging the established players in the lucrative transpacific market. “Ultimately we are planning to add connections to the U.S. mainland and beyond,” Strategic Chief Commercial Officer Damien Vasta tells Aviation Week following the announcement of flights from Melbourne and Brisbane to Honolulu. Vasta has previously signaled that the beyond-Hawaii links could be achieved through a code-share or interline agreement.

Jay Pierce, chairman of Continental Airlines’ Air Line Pilots Association chapter, is applauding moves to implement a new fatigue risk management system for the work group. The lack of a fatigue plan has for some time been a major concern for Pierce, and he again raised the issue late last month when United Continental Holdings complained about the cancellation of Continental Boeing 737 services at its Newark Liberty International hub because of an apparent sick-out (Aviation Daily, July 29).

Australia’s Tiger Airways is preparing to resume flying on a second route following the lifting of the carrier’s operating suspension last week. Tiger is restoring its Melbourne-Brisbane route beginning Aug. 18 after reintroducing its Sydney-Melbourne service on Aug. 12. The carrier is “resuming Australian domestic services gradually,” and regulators are only allowing it 18 sectors per day during August.

Latvian airline Air Baltic continues to grow traffic in spite of a long-standing dispute among its shareholders. The airline saw traffic increase by 7% in the first seven months of the year. In the same period, the load factor improved by six points to 73%, albeit lower than industry average.

US Airways is citing the Justice Department’s investigation into possible antitrust violations by global distribution system providers as one of many reasons why the airline’s antitrust lawsuit against Sabre should be allowed to proceed.

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Frontier Airlines is expanding its presence in Kansas City, Mo., by adding service to Las Vegas and Houston Hobby Airport, starting Nov. 1, on 99-seat Embraer 190 aircraft. With the additions, the low-cost carrier will serve 18 destinations nonstop from Kansas City. As a result of the service expansion, which follows the addition of three other routes within the past year, Frontier will be expanding its facilities at the airport to include a fifth gate in Terminal C. Republic Airways, Frontier's parent company, has crew and maintenance bases in Kansas City.

Israel will build a new international airport at Timna near the Red Sea resort of Eilat to boost tourism in the southern region of the country. The airport will be named after the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon.