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United Airlines has launched the first scheduled flight of a US airline to Vietnam in almost 30 years. The new service links Ho Chi Minh City with San Francisco via Hong Kong. The carrier will operate combined passenger and cargo service on the new route using a B747-400 aircraft configured with 14 United First Suite seats, 73 United Business seats, and 260 United Economy class seats, including 88 Economy Plus seats. United now serves 12 Asia-Pacific destinations, with more on the way. Nonstop service from San Francisco to Nagoya, Japan, is scheduled to begin in March 2005, while the company is seeking the right to provide daily service between Guangzhou, China, and San Francisco later next year; and…

The Burbank-based Walt Disney Co. plans to release its movies and other content in the Blu-Ray format, one of the two major contenders for next-generation DVDs that will deliver high-definition images to TV sets. The studio has said the agreement with the consortium of companies that developed the Blu-Ray format was non-exclusive and would begin as soon as companies start releasing Blu-Ray DVD players in North America and Japan. Blu-Ray was created by the Sony Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes the Panasonic brand, and Philips Electronics NV. The pact reportedly has the blessing of Columbia Pictures, which is owned by Sony, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which was recently purchased by a group led by Sony. Blu-Ray also has wide support among consumer electronics makers and computer giant Hewlett-Packard Co., which said it will start selling PCs with Blu-Ray disc drives late next year, coinciding with movie releases. Disney also said Monday it will become a member of the board of the Blu-Ray Disc Association. Last month, three other large studios announced they would release films in the competing HD-DVD format, which was developed by electronics makers Toshiba Corp. and the NEC Corp.

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