Coming in June: nonstop Seattle-to-Beijing flights

Sea-Tac Airport

Hainan Airlines will offer nonstop service between Seattle and Beijing beginning June 9.

An estimated 75,000 passengers travel to and from China through Seattle each year; the addition of nonstop service from Sea-Tac Airport is expected to stimulate even more travel between the two.

Hainan is the fifth airline to announce new international service to Sea-Tac in the last year. In 2007, Air France started nonstop service to Paris, and AeroMexico began nonstop service to Mexico City. New airlines scheduled to begin this year include Lufthansa nonstop service to Frankfurt, beginning March 30, and Northwest Airlines nonstop service to London, beginning June 1.

Hainan Airlines will initially offer nonstop service aboard an Airbus A330-200; the airline has ordered Boeing 787s and will begin flying that aircraft on this route as soon as it is available.

Airfares

Fuel surcharges make up half the cost of some tickets

Flying to Tokyo this spring? United Airlines offered a round trip flight last week for as little as $400 — plus $300 in fuel charges.

With high oil prices, fuel surcharges on many international flights have climbed in recent months to nearly half the price of a ticket. U.S. visitors to Spain can expect to pay as much as $390 in fuel surcharges for a round-trip flight. Air New Zealand imposes up to $360 in fuel fees.

In the U.S., major airlines charge about $20 in fuel fees for domestic flights. Last week, they doubled the surcharge to $40. It marked the third time the airlines have tried to pass on the cost of fuel to passengers, but each time consumers balked at buying the tickets.

The fuel charges are generally hidden in the ticket's fine print under "taxes and fees."

National parks

Artifact thefts on the rise at parks, historic sites

Looting of archaeological artifacts and fossils from national parks is increasing as the demand for such items rises on the Internet and the world market, U.S. National Park Service officials say.

About 340 looting incidents considered "significant" are reported each year at the 391 national parks, monuments, historic sites and battlefields — probably less than 25 percent of the actual number of violations, says National Park Service staff ranger Greg Lawler.

Park-service investigators search Web sites for looted artifacts and the FBI helps track items, some of which make their way to collectors in Europe and Asia. Prices are increasing for some items, including Native American pottery and garments, says Bonnie Magness-Gardiner, manager of the FBI's art theft program.

The most coveted items can cost "in the tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars," she says. Thieves caught last year at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park sold a Confederate belt buckle for $3,300 and buttons for $200 each.

Marriott

Hotel operator to launch boutique "lifestyle" chain

A new chain of boutique hotels planned by Marriott and upscale hotelier Ian Schrager will be called Edition.

Marriott and Schrager plan to open the first Edition brand hotels around 2010 in nine cities, including Paris, Madrid, Miami, Chicago and two in Los Angeles.

The Bethesda, Md.-based company said more than 100 of the "lifestyle" hotels could eventually be built worldwide. The partnership was originally announced in June, but the name for the chain was just announced Jan. 29.

Marriott, known for more traditional brands like Ritz-Carlton, Courtyard or its eponymous Marriott properties, is trying to update its image to attract younger and affluent travelers, sprucing up lobbies, improving food service and building its technology offerings in rooms.

For Edition, Marriott is teaming up with Schrager, one of the founders of the infamous but defunct Studio 54 nightclub in New York. The hotels will average 150 to 200 rooms each and each will be designed by different architects and designers to give them a unique look.

Singapore Airlines

Airline plans to fly A380 to London next month

Singapore Airlines Ltd. plans to fly the world's largest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380, on the Singapore-London route starting in March.

The airline will take delivery of the third of the double-decker planes into its fleet by mid-March, and will fly it daily between the city-state and London from March 18, the carrier said in a statement.

Singapore Airlines received its second superjumbo on Jan. 11, and said it would use it to complement the first A380 service on the Singapore-Sydney route.

Seattle Times wire services