Airport Check-in: Volaris Airlines plans U.S. service

— -- Route news:

Volaris Airlines, a small Mexican carrier, will bring service to the USA for the first time in its three-year history.

Starting July 1, Volaris will offer daily non-stop flights between Los Angeles and both Guadalajara and Toluca, Mexico. On July 2, it will also start flying daily between Oakland and the two cities in Mexico. Toluca is about 40 miles southwest of Mexico City, while Guadalajara, the capital of Mexican state Jalisco, is the second-largest city in the country.

Volaris and Southwest Airlines have previously said they will begin a code-share agreement in 2010, allowing U.S. customers to buy Volaris tickets on Southwest's website.

Other route news

United Airlines, beginning Sept. 2, will offer daily service between Pittsburgh and its hubs in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

JetBlue plans to introduce service between its home at New York John F. Kennedy International and the Caribbean island of St. Lucia in the fall. The airline says the flight's inaugural date hasn't been determined.

St. Lucia, in the eastern Caribbean, is one of JetBlue's 13 international destinations.

The discount carrier recently announced that it will begin flying to Montego Bay, Jamaica, on May 21 and to Barbados on Oct. 1.

What's new

Airports take swine flu precautions

Despite the recent swine flu outbreak, it's business as usual for domestic airports that have high traffic to and from Mexico. While some airlines have canceled flights to Mexico, airport officials say major operational changes haven't been necessary, given only a small number of cases in the USA.

"At this time, all U.S. ports of entry are open and operating as normal with officers using risk-based border screening," U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement. Its officers are monitoring the health of incoming travelers and taking "all appropriate precautions," including referring a person with symptoms to a quarantine station or a local health official for evaluation, it says.