United and Continental announced "a transition and process agreement" with both carriers' pilot groups ahead of a proposed merger. United CFO Kathryn Mikells said the announcement represents "a good start" on work toward a final joint pilot deal. The companies plan to close the merger transaction by year-end. "We have established about 30 functional integration teams," Mikells said. "The focus of every team is to build an integration plan that allows for quick implementation post-close." She added that the regulatory process is "proceeding well"; that authorities in Canada "indicated that they don't intend to perform a review of the merger at this time"; and that all required filings have been submitted to the European Commission and other foreign jurisdictions. According to EC, "On preliminary examination, the transaction could fall within the scope the EC Merger Regulation, however, the final decision on this point is reserved." EC vice president responsible for competition policy Joaquín Almunia said European regulators "have until 27 July" to decide.

The U.S. State Department raised fees for passports, non-immigrant visas and other consular services. Processing for first-time adult passports now costs $135, up from $100, and passport renewal costs $110, up from $75. The State Department raised non-immigrant visa fees between $9 and $259, depending on visa type.

FCm Travel Solutions partnered with Argentina's Biblos Travel. Biblos is headquartered in Buenos Aires and provides various corporate travel, expense management and meetings services. "There is room for growth in the corporate travel space across Latin America," according to FCm Latin America partner network manager Maren Hanschke.

BCD Travel partnered with videoconferencing reservations firm Whygo. As a result, BCD would provide to clients options for booking time at "2,500 videoconferencing rooms and 40 telepresence facilities around the world," including "BCD Travel and customer-negotiated conferencing inventory." BCD said it already offers in Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands videoconferencing bookings via an online tool and "is exploring deployment of the service in other markets and through other travel booking channels."

Air France and U.K.'s Flybe announced an "extensive codeshare agreement" scheduled to take affect in October. It would cover dozens of domestic U.K., domestic France and France-U.K. routes.

United Airlines reported Atlantic and Pacific premium cabin booking growth of 38 percent and 46 percent, respectively, during the June quarter versus a year earlier. Overall unit revenue on Asian routes jumped 52 percent--including 64 percent in China and 46 percent in Japan--partly due to "improvements in yields and load factors in premium cabins," said president John Tague.

Oneworld partners Finnar and Japan Airlines will expand codeshare cooperation to include Finnair flights from Helsinki to Berlin, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Munich and Warsaw, effective 1 August. The carriers now offer cooperative services on a total of 15 routes linking 13 destinations in Asia and Europe.

BCD Travel on July 1 appointed Mike Janssen president of the Americas region, replacing Danny Hood who will move back to a consultative role.