“This week’s TravelFaxx is brought to you by OMEGA and Avianca Airlines.”

OMEGA PREFERRED PARTNER: Effective June 13, Avianca Airlines will offer five weekly non-stop flights from Dulles Airport to Bogota, with connections throughout Columbia and major cities in Latin America. For more information, please visit Omega’s Web site at www.OmegaTravel.com.

MORE MERGER TALKS: United Airlines and US Airways could reach an agreement in 10 days on a possible merger. The airlines state a $1.5 billion in potential savings by integrating work forces as just one of the reasons they are considering the merger. (Wall Street Journal, May 5)…Continental is talking to American and British Airways about joining Oneworld and has abandoned merger talks with United. (Travel Weekly, May 6)

UNITED FINED FOR WORKPLACE SAFETY HAZARDS: United Airlines was fined $215,500 by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration for what OSHA called “alleged serious and repeat violations of federal workplace safety standards” at Chicago O’Hare. OSHA issued 43 serious violations and four repeat violations, which included falls, electrical hazards and machine guarding issues. United said it had brought in a third-party safety expert to assist in making immediate facility repairs. (Travel Weekly, May 6)

AIRLINES SLOW DOWN TO CUT FUEL COSTS: Airlines such as Southwest and JetBlue are adding a few minutes to flights to save millions on fuel. Southwest projects it will save $42 million in fuel this year by extending each flight by one to three minutes. JetBlue adds an average of two minutes to each flight, and saves about $13.6 million a year in jet fuel. Consumer advocates say the extra minutes should not adversely effect travelers. (Associated Press, May 1)

SERVICE UPDATES: Starting June 4, Southwest will expand at Denver International by adding two daily flights to both Portland, Ore., and Indianapolis. Also on June 4, Southwest will add an eighth daily flight to Las Vegas and a second daily flight to San Antonio on Aug. 23. (USA Today, May 5)... Citing high fuel costs, JetBlue is suspending indefinitely its first transcontinental flights from Los Angeles International Airport, which were slated to begin May 21. (Los Angeles Times, May 6) … Delta launched daily service between New York and Edinburgh, Scotland. The airline will use Boeing 757s, with 16 business class and 158 economy seats. (Travel Weekly, May 6)

CRUISE NEWS: The following discount vacation packages are available from Omega World Travel and Cruise.com: 7-Day Caribbean from $429, 7-Day Mexican Riviera from $449, 7-Day Alaska from $573, 7-Day Mediterranean from $659, 12-Day Hawaiian Islands from $1,099. For more information, please visit us at Cruise.com or call 1-888-333-3116.