The International Air Traffic Association is reporting that the upturn in international air travel continued in February, reflecting the increasingly positive economic environment. Premium travel rose 5.9 percent in February, while economy travel was up 6.9 percent. Total international passenger numbers increased by 6.8 percent in February, less than the 9.5 percent rise in RPKs due to increasing average distances flown.

Regional airline Windward Islands Airways (WINAIR) has upgraded its website to allow passengers from the islands of Saba, St Eustatius and St Maarten to purchase tickets on Insel Air.

Air Canada has launched its California expansion with the inaugural flight of a new service between Toronto and Orange County.

Vueling, the new-generation Spanish low-fare airline, will launch flights to Scotland on 24th June, 2010 with a three times weekly direct route between Edinburgh and Barcelona. The new route will complement the airline’s existing UK operations from London Heathrow to Bilbao, La Coruna and Seville.

With summer just around the corner, Torontonians and Bostonians can start planning Caribbean getaways to Bucuti Beach Resort now with new WestJet and JetBlue flights to Aruba. The flights, which launch in May, make it easy to experience the ultimate adults-only romantic getaway at Bucuti.

Airlines toted up losses topping $2 billion and struggled to get hundreds of thousands of travelers back home Wednesday after a week of crippled air travel, as questions and recriminations erupted over Europe’s chaotic response to the volcanic ash cloud.