News in brief

· The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) renewed its partnership with PhoCusWright, the leading global travel industry research authority. The affiliation will continue to help deliver key research findings on the Asia Pacific travel marketplace.

• ·  Meetings industry veterans Patrick Delaney and Pádraic Gilligan have now launched SoolElla, a boutique consultancy offering “another viewpoint” on meetings and events.
• Starwood Hotels & Resorts launched its rapidly growing Four Points brand in Charleston, the capital of West Virginia.
• American Airlines and US Airways will drop year-round, daily nonstop flights from Washington's Reagan National Airport to Detroit, San Diego and 15 other cities. They will also end nonstop flights from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Atlanta, Cleveland and Minneapolis but will add service from LaGuardia to 10 other cities.
• Aeroflot Group (the «Group», Moscow Exchange ticker: AFLT) will assume full commercial control of Rossiya Airlines on 30 March 2014, continuing the process of successful integration of the subsidiaries that Aeroflot acquired from State Corporation Rostec in 2011.                         From 30 March 2014 all flights operated by Rossiya Airlines will be designated by Aeroflot’s IATA code (SU), and the code of Rossiya Airlines (FV) will cease to be used.