April 2011
 SkyTeam joins the world of smartphones
The SkyTeam iPhone App contains a variety of highly useful features for today’s traveller, including worldwide airline flight schedules, flight status, weather information with seven-day forecasts, notifications to users of updates and changes, an airport locator and important contact phone numbers. Blackberry and Android users will also have access to the App before summer!
 New Lufthansa first class: a seat and a bed
When it comes to first class, Lufthansa continues to raise the bar. A few years ago, Germany’s national airline set the standards for ground handling when it unveiled a first class terminal at its Frankfurt hub. Now Lufthansa is poised to set the standards aloft by introducing a new concept on 10 of its fleet of B747-400s. These aircraft ply some of Lufthansa’s most important business routes. It’s a concept whereby first class passengers are provided with not just a seat. Instead they are offered both a seat and a bed.
 Four Seasons to open new Toronto property
The luxury hotel group is to open a two-tower hotel and residences complex in the Yorkville district of Toronto, the city where it all started for Four Seasons 50 years ago this week. The Four Seasons Hotel and Residences Toronto is scheduled to open next summer, and will be located on the corner of Bay Street and Yorkville Avenue. The new property is just one block east of the existing Four Seasons Hotel Toronto, which will close in April 2012, and which is itself the third incarnation of Four Seasons in the city.
 Boeing 747-800 takes first flight
Boeing's next generation Boeing 747-800 Intercontinental aircraft took its first flight in March, following successful taxi tests. The event was streamed live on the manufacturer's website at newairplane.com, and a summary video of the first flight is now available to view. Boeing recently unveiled its first B747-800 Intercontinental aircraft, painted in a one-off Sunrise livery. Lufthansa is the launch customer for the passenger version of the new jumbo, with Korean Air and Air China also having placed orders.
 BA and AA align transatlantic schedules
Joint venture carriers BA and American Airlines say they will effectively create a “transatlantic shuttle service between the top US-UK routes”, with hourly departures on the Heathrow-New York route. The carriers had outlined plans to align transatlantic services when the joint venture was officially launched in October last year. Whereas previously five of the daily 11 services offered by BA and AA had left “at almost exactly the same time”, these will now be spread across the day so that flights will depart Heathrow every hour on the hour, between 1300 and 2000. In addition there will be a maximum gap of one and a half hours between morning departures.
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