Alitalia formally began participating in a transatlantic joint venture also including Air France-KLM Group and Delta Air Lines. Alitalia officials will "immediately" join the joint venture's working groups responsible for sales, frequent flyer programs and several other areas, according to a statement. "Alitalia also will be included in all joint venture initiatives, including joint sales contracts, which launched in January 2009." According to the carriers, the JV now encompasses 26 percent of transatlantic capacity with 250 daily flights, including various codeshare flights to and from Alitalia's Rome hub. Alitalia in 2009 signed a new deal with and agreed to sell a minority stake to Air France KLM.

U.K.-based CT Business Travel plans to open offices in Iraq partly "to help minimize the risk to U.K. companies who are involved in rebuilding and improving Iraq's infrastructure," CT announced. "There are many opportunities for U.K. companies to secure contracts in Iraq to help start re-building and improving the country's infrastructure. However, any companies venturing to Iraq to help with this rebuilding need to understand that there is still a certain amount of risk involved; this war torn country cannot yet be considered completely safe."

DOT finalized approvals for American, Delta and Hawaiian airlines to serve Tokyo's downtown Haneda Airport. American Airlines said it would begin daily service from New York JFK effective 20 January 2011; Delta won the right to offer daily service from Detroit and Los Angeles; and Hawaiian Airlines announced 31 October 2010 as the start date for flights from Honolulu. The U.S. Department of Transportation made available the new route authorities following completion in December 2009 of a U.S.-Japan air services pact. Meanwhile, Japan's ANA on 31 October will initiate service between Haneda and Bangkok, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Singapore and Taipei, coinciding with resumption of international services at the airport following an expansion project.

Chicago-area travel management company CorpTrav named former GlobalStar executive Martin Metzler as vice president of sales for its southern region. CorpTrav recently signed a network partnership with ATP International.

Radius named Cindy Tien director of Asia-Pacific global sales and service, responsible for leading "the end-to-end process for multinational corporate sales." Tien previously worked for American Express Business Travel and Corporate Travel Services.