Sept. 23
Cathay Pacific said it plans to add more than 200 pairs of passenger flights in October to both regional and long-haul destinations following the Hong Kong government’s decision to remove the hotel quarantine requirement for passengers arriving in Hong Kong from Sept. 26. In addition, the airline will also increase Japan service after the government there further relaxed travel rules for inbound passengers. From Nov. 1, Cathay will resume daily flights to Tokyo Haneda (HND) and a 4X-weekly operation to Sapporo New Chitose (CTS) from Dec. 1. The carrier also plans to increase frequencies to Tokyo Narita (NRT) and Osaka (ITM) in October.
Aerolineas Argentinas is launching four routes between Argentina and Brazil. Flights to Rio de Janeiro Galeao (GIG) from Cordoba (COR) and Mendoza (MDZ) will be 4X-weekly from Jan. 2, 2023, and 2X-weekly from Jan. 3 respectively. Florianópolis (FLN) will also receive a route from Cordoba from Jan. 3, operating 3X-weekly. Flights to FLN from Rosario (ROS) start a day earlier and will be 2X-weekly.
Colombian LCC Wingo has opened reservations for a new route to Venezuela. The airline has scheduled Bogota (BOG)-Caracas (CCS) to start on Oct. 4, operating three times per week using Boeing 737-800s.
KLM is opening a new route to Katowice (KTW) in Poland this winter. Flights from Amsterdam (AMS) will start on Oct. 30, operating daily using Embraer 195-E2 aircraft.
Irish ULCC Ryanair will offer five new routes from Malta (MLA) during the winter 2022/23 season. New destinations are Bordeaux (BOD), Bournemouth (BOH), Lisbon (LIS), Shannon (SNN) and Stockholm Arlands (ARN). In total, the carrier will base six aircraft in Malta during the season and fly 55 routes.
IndiGo has commenced new daily direct flights between Mumbai (BOM) and Ras Al Khaimah (RKT) in the United Arab Emirates. Ras Al Khaimah is the 100th destination in the LCC’s network and the 11th in the Middle East. Atanasios Titonis, CEO of RKT, said: “IndiGo is the right airline partner in our portfolio as we are on our way to move into a destination airport. This partnership will boost our business and will open a new channel to serve the tourism for Ras Al Khaimah as an Emirate.”
Sept. 22
UK regional carrier Flybe is launching two routes to the Isle of Man (IOM) during the forthcoming winter 2022/23 season. From Oct. 30, service from London Heathrow (LHR) will be five times per week and flights from Belfast City (BHD) will be 6X-weekly. The new routes will be the airline’s first to the Isle of Man since it restarted operations in April this year. The previous incarnation of the carrier offered IOM service to a number of destinations—including Birmingham (BHX), Liverpool (LPL) and Manchester (MAN)—until its demise in March 2020.
Luxair is adding a new route from Luxembourg Airport (LUX) to Pescara (PSR) in Italy. Flights will be twice a week, starting on March 27, 2023. Pescara is an Italian city on the Adriatic Sea, known for its beaches. Luxair currently serves 14 destinations in Italy, including Milan Malpensa (MXP), Rome Fiumicino (FCO) and Venice (VCE).
LCC Transavia is opening a new Eindhoven (EIN)-Bordeaux (BOD) route during the summer 2023 season. The link between the Dutch and French cities will start on March 30, operating four times per week on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. OAG data shows the route was last served nonstop by Ryanair between April 2013 and March 2014.
Flydubai has launched its inaugural service to Samarkand (SKD) in Uzbekistan, becoming the first UAE carrier to operate direct flights to the city from Dubai. Service from Dubai International (DXB) will be twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. “Since 2019 when we first started operations to Uzbekistan, we have seen sustainable demand and we are confident that the launch of our second destination will provide our passengers with more reliable and convenient options for travel,” flydubai CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith said. On Sept. 24, the airline will also launch a 2X-weekly service to Namangan (NMA), growing its network in the Uzbekistan market to three destinations and 10X-weekly flights.
Sept. 21
All Nippon Airways (ANA) is resuming flights between Tokyo Haneda (HND) and Hong Kong (HKG) from Oct. 30 with four round trips per week. The airline currently serves Tokyo Narita (NRT)-Hong Kong 3X-weekly but service from Haneda has been suspended since March 2020. In addition, frequencies on Haneda-Taipei Songshan (TSA) will increase from 3X-weekly to 5X-weekly from Oct. 4, rising to daily from Oct. 30.
Turkish LCC SunExpress will serve Newcastle (NCL) in the UK three times per week from Antalya (AYT) during the summer 2023 season. The new service will depart Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from March 28 through Oct. 28. Newcastle will become the sixth destination in the UK to be served by SunExpress, which is jointly owned by Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines. OAG data shows that the NCL-AYT market is currently operated by Jet2.com six times per week, TUI Airways 2X-weekly, and Corendon Airlines 1X-weekly.
Virgin Australia is relaunching international service between Adelaide (ADL) and Denpasar-Bali (DPS) from Dec. 14. “The return of our direct services between Adelaide and Denpasar is a reflection of the growing demand we continue to see for Bali since relaunching from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne earlier this year and announcing our first-ever direct Gold Coast services commencing in March 2023,” Virgin Australia chief strategy and transformation officer Alistair Hartley said. Frequencies between ADL and DPS will be daily until late January, before reducing to 3X-weekly.
Mexico’s Aeromar has inaugurated two new routes from Mérida (MID) in the southeastern state of Yucatán. Flights to Cozumel (CZM) will operate twice a week, while service to Chetumal (CTM) will be 3X-weekly. Aeromar will use ATR 72s on the routes, both of which were unserved before its entry to the market.
Akasa Air has confirmed that Delhi (DEL) will be the sixth destination on its network. The Indian startup will serve Delhi-Bengaluru (BLR) twice a day from Oct. 7, while a daily Delhi-Ahmedabad (AMD) service starts the same day. In addition, Akasa announced additional daily flights on the Ahmedabad-Bengaluru route also commencing from Oct. 7. The airline has been aggressively scaling up its operations since launching in August and will have crossed 250 flights per week by Oct. 10, 2022, across a total of nine routes.
Sept. 20
Ethiopian Airlines has launched flights to Jordan. The carrier’s first service from Addis Ababa (ADD) landed at Amman’s Queen Alia International (AMM) on Sept. 20. The route will be served three times per week using 154-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Nicolas Claude, CEO of AMM operator Airport International Group, said the new service solidifies AMM’s standing as “the prime gateway to Jordan.” The Addis Ababa-Amman market was last served in June 2012 by bmi British Midland, which operated flights from London Heathrow (LHR) on an LHR-AMM-ADD-AMM-LHR routing.
India’s Flybig is adding a new sector under the government’s UDAN connectivity scheme. From Sept. 16, the carrier will offer a Guwahati (GAU)-Tezu (TEI)-Imphal (IMF) route, operating six days per week. MD Sanjay Mandavia said the service would provide a “major economic boost to hinterland regions of the nation.” Flybig started commercial flights in May 2021 using ATR 72-500 and 72-600 aircraft. The airline operates from a hub in Guwahati.
Dominican Republic-based startup Arajet has officially launched operations. The airline held a ceremony on Sept. 17 to mark the start of its first flights from Santo Domingo’s Las Americas International (SDQ) to San Salvador (SAL) in El Salvador. Arajet will continue expanding its operations later this month with the addition of routes to Saint Maarten in the Caribbean, Lima in Peru, Mexico City, Monterrey and Cancun in Mexico and Guatemala City in Guatemala. Speaking to Routes, CEO Victor Pacheco said: “We want to fly to 17 points in North America and 54 in Latin America by around 2025. We believe we can connect the Americas via Santo Domingo.”
Air Arabia Abu Dhabi has announced the launch of a new route from Abu Dhabi (AUH) to Kuwait City (KWI). The new nonstop flights will connect both cities daily, starting on Oct. 31 using Airbus A320s. “The addition of Kuwait City to Air Arabia Abu Dhabi’s network reflects our commitment to support the travel and tourism sector in Abu Dhabi while providing our customers with a new and affordable option to travel between both cities,” Air Arabia Abu Dhabi CEO Adel Al Ali said.
Sept. 19
Air France is adding two seasonal routes to destinations in Austria from Dec. 10. The carrier plans to connect Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) with Innsbruck (INN) and Salzburg (SZG), operating 2X-weekly and 1X-weekly, respectively, using Embraer 190 aircraft. The routes will run for 13 weeks until early March 2023. “We are very pleased that we have managed to bring Air France back to Salzburg and to include a direct flight connection from Salzburg to Paris in the flight program again," Salzburg Airport MD Bettina Ganghofer said. “This creates the starting point for a long-term cooperation, since Paris is one of the most popular destinations in our catchment area all year round.”
KLM will start a new direct route from Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) to Aarhus (AAR) in Denmark on Oct. 30. Service will be daily and operated by subsidiary KLM Cityhopper using Embraer 195-E2 jets with 132 seats. It is hoped the new route will help to grow two-way leisure traffic, as well as providing an array of new one-stop connections for customers in Aarhus’ catchment area through KLM’s Amsterdam hub. “It is very promising for a future collaboration that KLM chooses to prioritize Aarhus, and it emphasizes that KLM has seen the travel potential that is present around Aarhus,” Aarhus Airport CEO Brian Worm said.
Emirates is increasing frequencies to Germany in response to an “upsurge in passenger demand.” According to OAG data, the carrier currently offers 3X-daily flights from Dubai (DXB) to Frankfurt (FRA), double-daily connections to Munich (MUC), as well as daily flights to Dusseldorf (DUS) and Hamburg (HAM). From Oct. 1, the latest schedules show that the Gulf airline intends to expand both the Dusseldorf and Hamburg routes to 11X-weekly. In total, Emirates is currently providing 39,400 two-way weekly seats between Dubai and Germany, increasing to 48,890 in October.
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