ALITALIA AIRLINES IS LAUNCHING NONSTOP SERVICE FROM LOS ANGELES TO ROME on June 1 using Boeing 777-200 aircraft with coach and business-class service. The flight will operate five days per week and will be the only nonstop service between California and Italy. A village in east Greenland offers a picturesque hillside view

Traveling eastbound, AZ flight 621 will depart Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) at 3:10 p.m. and arrive at Rome, Fiumicino Airport at 12:10 p.m. the following day. Traveling westbound, AZ flight 620 will depart Rome, Fiumicino Airport at 9:10 a.m. and arrive in LAX at 1:10 p.m. the same day. Flying times will be approximately 10 hours eastbound and 15 hours westbound. The departure and arrival times were designed to allow for connections to and from other cities in California and across the Southwest. Visit www.alitalia.com.

Eos (www.eosairlines.com), the business-travel-only airline that flies between New York and London Stansted, will add transcontinental service between Newark, NJ and Stansted on May 5. The airline said it will also now fly daily service between Stansted and Dubai International Airport starting on July 6.

We also hear that British Airways (www.britishairways.com), in an effort to service the financial sector, will launch twice daily, business-class-only flights from London City airport to New York's JFK next year. The new flights will operate on Airbus A318 aircraft with 32 seats onboard. British Airways said that London City is close to many of its key corporate customers and is in one of the fastest-growing areas of the capital. Luxe services will include a 15-minute check-in for customers in London and New York, a fully flat bed, plus business class amenities.

Other Airlines

Meanwhile, Air France (www.airfrance.com/us) has launched a new, year-round business class leisure fare. Amounting to about 50 percent off the regular price, this fare is available to passengers who book their travel 30 days in advance of their departure date. Several airlines are expanding their business class offerings this spring

The airline, which calls its business class service "L'Espace Affaires," is offering such one-way rates as $1,681 for Washington to Barcelona and $2,236 for Philadelphia to Paris.

In addition, on the ground, Air France has decided to serve cuisine from the Park Hyatt Paris-VendômeHotel's Chef Jean-François Rouquette in its l'Espace Première lounge at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport. Chef Jean-François Rouquette has devised exquisite and varied dining options for passengers before takeoff, reinventing the refined finger food concept and recreating classic French gourmet dishes.

And finally, Air Greenland (www.experiencegreenland.com) says it will launch expanded nonstop flight service for its 2008 summer schedule. The nonstop service between Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI) and Greenland's Kangerlussuaq Airport (SFJ) will start June 26, 2008, and conclude on August 28, 2008. Those dates reflect an extension of the airline's service, which was launched this past May. Flights, which take about five hours, will continue to depart and return to Baltimore every Thursday. Prices start at $1,100, including taxes and charges.