Harmony Airways to Start Flights From Calgary and Kelowna to Hawaii

VANCOUVER (CP) -- Harmony Airways is in talks to allow it to start selling tickets to China later this year and hopes to be able to fly its own planes across the Pacific in 2006, the small airline said Tuesday.

''Until we start putting our own long-range aircraft on the routes to China we'll be doing a code-share,'' chief executive Gary Collins said Tuesday.

''We're talking to lots of people. We want to build our network and build our linkages,'' Collins said of the company's talks.

Collins, a former provincial finance minister who left politics last year, said the Vancouver-based airline may look to lease or purchase a plane, depending on the circumstances.

The federal government cleared the way for Harmony to start flights to China last week after it granted it the designation needed to operate scheduled services between Canada and China.

The announcement came a month after the two countries signed a bilateral agreement to expand air links, in a deal which included safety and security provisions.

Air Canada (TSX:ACE.B) is the only Canadian airline currently operating flights to China with daily flights from Vancouver to Beijing and Shanghai as well as service from Toronto to Beijing scheduled to start next month.

The Montreal-based carrier has said it intends to increase the flights from Toronto to include service to Shanghai as well as daily flights between Vancouver and Guangzhou, in southern China.

Harmony announced Tuesday plans to add non-stop flights from Calgary and Kelowna, B.C., to Hawaii by the end of the year. The privately owned startup airline said it plans to operate the non-stop flights starting in December.

The Vancouver-based airline also said it will lease a Boeing 757-200 jet from GE Commercial Aviation Services next month to bring its fleet to four aircraft and with it the introduction of business class service on its aircraft.

Harmony was started in 2002 and offers service from several Canadian cities to mostly sunny holiday locations including Hawaii, Las Vegas and Palm Springs, Calif.