The latest airline route news, featuring network changes, schedule alterations, codeshares and interline agreements.
Sept. 8
Hawaiian Airlines will restart service between Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport and Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND). The airline will operate three flights between Oct. 29 and Nov. 4, before restarting regular weekly service on Nov. 22. The airline will gradually return to its original 3X-weekly schedule in March 2024. By March 13, the airline’s Japan capacity will be 59% above summer 2023 levels. Hawaiian currently offers daily service between Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) and HND and Osaka’s Kansai; 6X-weekly service between HNL and Tokyo Narita; and 3X-weekly service between HNL and Fukuoka.
Starting Oct. 5, Aeroméxico plans to increase service from Mexico City’s Felipe Ángeles International Airport (NLU) following the Mexican government’s decision to reduce capacity at Mexico City Juárez (MEX). The airline says operations from NLU will grow by 40% to more than 120,000 seats per month to 13 destinations. Aeromexico plans to transfer daily Colima service from MEX to NLU, launch daily Leon/Guanajuato and Aguascalientes services, and transfer two of four daily Durango frequencies from MEX.
UK leisure airline Jet2.com is expanding from Edinburgh Airport, Scotland. This growth includes four new routes, extra summer and winter capacity, as well as an additional aircraft coming into operation for the summer 2024 season. The carrier will station a seventh aircraft at the airport next summer and add new routes to Rome starting March 8 and Malta starting May 1. This winter, the airline will also add a weekly route to Chambery starting Feb. 10 through April 6, and in winter 2024-25, flights to Prague will run from Oct. 3, 2024, through March 27, 2025.
Tampa International Airport (TPA) has confirmed that Spirit Airlines intends to add nonstop service to four cities this fall and resuming routes to seven other seasonal destinations. On Oct. 5, the ULCC will begin daily nonstop service to Charlotte, while the airline will serve Norfolk, Richmond and Charleston four times per week as seasonal routes starting Nov. 15. It will be the first time Spirit has flown nonstop between TPA and those four cities. Daily flights to Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth and Indianapolis are scheduled to resume Oct. 5, while daily service to Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh start on Nov. 15. Flights to Columbus, Ohio, will be 4X-weekly, also starting on Nov. 15.
Flydubai has confirmed the launch of flights to Egypt’s capital Cairo. The daily service from Dubai International Airport to Cairo’s Sphinx International Airport starts from Oct. 28. Operations will be daily, increasing the LCC’s Egyptian network to 17 flights per week. Sphinx International Airport is located on the road between Cairo and Alexandria, around 28 mi. from the pyramids of Giza.
Canadian ULCC Flair Airlines is adding service between Toronto Pearson International Airport and Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport, Jamaica. Service starts on Dec. 16 and will operate three times per week. “There is a vibrant Jamaican community in Canada who will be able to use this service to reconnect with loved ones more often,” Chief Commercial Officer Garth Lund says.
Italian airline SkyAlps has confirmed that it will fly again to Bolzano/Bozen, Italy, from Antwerp Airport, Belgium, this winter. Operations will commence on Dec. 23 and run until April 13, 2024. The Italian city in South Tyrol will be serviced three times a week.
IndiGo plans to resume flights between New Delhi and Male, Maldives, starting Nov. 1. Flights will be 4X-weekly. The move comes after the LCC announced earlier this week that Hyderabad-Male will restart on Oct. 31 and operate three times per week.
Sept. 7
Air Astana has inaugurated a new route from Almaty, Kazakhstan, to Tel Aviv. The route is scheduled to operate twice a week on Thursdays and Sundays using Airbus A321LR aircraft. The outbound service from Almaty has a flight time of 6 hr. 45 min., with the return flight from Tel Aviv taking 5 hr. 50 min. CEO Peter Foster has also outlined ambitions to commence flights to Tokyo and Singapore in 2024, followed by New York in 2025. The move comes as the airline plans to launch an initial public offering next year.
Canadian carrier WestJet will extend service between Winnipeg and Ottawa. Previously set to temporarily pause for the winter season on Oct. 29, the route will resume on Dec. 18 with four flights per week. “This is a key route for business, government and leisure travelers and is a demonstration of our growth plan in action as we continue to build meaningful connections, creating new business and tourism opportunities in the communities we serve,” says Daniel Fajardo, WestJet vice-president for network and schedule planning. In addition, the airline has commenced operations between Winnipeg and Atlanta. Service will be 5X-weekly.
Air India has entered an interline partnership with Bangkok Airways. Air India passengers traveling to Bangkok, Hong Kong and Singapore can take Bangkok Airways-operated connecting flights to and from 10 destinations in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. The two airlines have also entered a Special Prorate Agreement that will allow the carriers to file "through fares" on routes covering each other’s networks.
Canada’s Porter Airlines has launched the first flights with its Embraer E195-E2 aircraft between Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) and St. John’s International Airport (YYT). YYT has been part of Porter’s network since 2009, operating with the De Havilland Dash 8-400 aircraft to Halifax, with onward service to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Ottawa and Montreal. The flight to YYZ connects with Porter’s new Western Canada destinations, including Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria and Winnipeg, operated using the E195-E2.
Austrian Airlines has scheduled a new nonstop route between Klagenfurt, Austria, and Hamburg. The route will be operated on Saturdays from Jan. 13, 2024, through March 2. “In addition to securing and expanding the hub connection to Vienna, which is extremely important for us, it is of course also our declared goal to connect Klagenfurt directly to Hamburg and other destinations all year round as a next step,” Klagenfurt Airport Managing Director Maximilian Wildt says.
Oman’s SalamAir will operate flights to Beirut year-round from Sept. 30. Service will be once a week on Saturdays, but increased frequencies are planned during the New Year vacation. “This new connection marks an exciting milestone for both countries and opens endless trade, tourism and cultural exchange possibilities,” CEO Mohamed Ahmed says.
Sept. 6
Peru’s SKY Airline is launching fifth-freedom routes from Montevideo, Uruguay. Service will connect Carrasco International Airport with Florianópolis and Salvador de Bahía, Brazil; Lima, Peru; and Santiago, Chile. The service between Montevideo and Santiago marks a resumption after an absence of more than three years. The carrier will offer a Lima-Montevideo-Florianópolis-Montevideo-Lima route, as well as a Santiago-Montevideo-Salvador de Bahía-Montevideo-Santiago service. Each will receive three flights per week. “We are very happy to bring our low-cost model back to Uruguay, a country with a strategic location and enormous connectivity potential,” Commercial Director Carmen Gloria Serrat says.
EasyJet has confirmed three more new winter routes from the UK, in addition to the London Southend Airport-Grenoble route, as previously reported. London Stansted will see two new services to Geneva and Zurich, Switzerland, starting on Dec. 16 and each operating twice a week. Birmingham Airport in England will also gain a new weekly nonstop to Salzburg, Austria, starting on Jan. 13, 2024. EasyJet has already put 19 new routes from the UK on sale for this winter, including flights to Cairo for the first time.
Indian LCC IndiGo is resuming direct flights between Hyderabad and Male, Maldives. Service will restart on Oct. 31, operating three times per week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. “The Maldives has experienced a recent surge in travel, particularly in anticipation of upcoming holidays and long weekends,” IndiGo Head of Global Sales Vinay Malhotra says.
MIAT Mongolian Airlines and Turkish Airlines have commenced a new codeshare agreement for flights to the U.S. From Sept. 6, MIAT will place its OM code on Turkish Airlines’ flights from Istanbul Airport to Chicago O’Hare and Washington Dulles. The U.S. Transportation Department approved the request in April. The carriers first announced plans to begin codesharing in January.
Tailwind Air is expanding seaplane service between Manhattan and Boston Harbor in response to “overwhelming demand.” Starting Sept. 12, there will be three flights per day on weekdays and daily service on weekends.
Sept. 5
Emirates Airline is expanding its codeshare partnership with United Airlines to include nine destinations in Mexico. Emirates passengers will now have access to eight new destinations in the country, in addition to Mexico City, which the airline also serves. The agreement will enable travelers to fly on Emirates to two points in the U.S.—either Chicago O’Hare International Airport or Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport—and connect to Cancun, Cozumel, Guadalajara, Leon/Guanajuato, Mexico City, Monterrey, Puerto Vallarta, Queretaro and San Jose Del Cabo. Tickets to codeshare destinations in Mexico are available for travel from Sept. 14.
EasyJet is set to launch a new ski route connecting London Southend Airport (SEN) with Grenoble, France, for the first time. The service will operate once a week from Jan. 14, 2024. Grenoble will become the eighth destination served by easyJet from SEN. “The momentum for new and returning routes from London Southend is on the up,” SEN CEO John Upton says. “Ski breaks to the cultural capital of the French Alps is a great opportunity for London Southend.”
Egyptian LCC flyEgypt has announced the opening of a new route from Borg El Arab Airport to Jeddah International Airport, Saudi Arabia. The service will operate 5X-weekly, with two flights on Thursdays and one flight each on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, starting from Oct. 31. The airline already operates to Jeddah, Riyadh and Yanbu in Saudi Arabia. “This is a major milestone for us as we continue to expand our network and connect Egypt with more destinations around the world,” flyEgypt CEO Ashraf Hassan says.
Bangkok Airways and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have launched a new codeshare partnership, which will provide passengers with more travel connections. Bangkok Airways will codeshare on SIA flights between Singapore and five cities: Bangkok and Phuket, Thailand; Adelaide and Sydney, Australia; and Auckland, New Zealand. SIA will codeshare on Bangkok Airways flights between points in Thailand on the following routes: Singapore-Koh Samui; Phuket-Koh Samui; Bangkok-Chiang Mai; Bangkok-Koh Samui; Bangkok-Phuket; Bangkok-Luang Prabang, Laos; and Bangkok to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, Cambodia.
AirAsia X has resumed flights to a second destination in India, connecting Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur (KUL) and Amritsar. “The resumption of this route with four flights weekly comes at a time when both leisure and business travel are on the rebound,” AirAsia X CEO Benyamin Ismail says. Flights will be offered from KUL on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
EgyptAir will reinstate flights to Japan’s capital Tokyo later this month. Service between Cairo International Airport and Tokyo Narita International Airport will return on Sept. 14, operating weekly. Frequencies are scheduled to increase to 2X-weekly from late October. Data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser shows the carrier last served the route at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.
Sept. 4
Flydubai is launching flights to Volgograd, Russia. Service from Dubai International Airport to Volgograd International Airport (VOG) will start from Nov. 1 with a 2X-weekly service. The LCC says passengers traveling from VOG will be able to connect to destinations including the Maldives, Mombasa, Oman, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Zanzibar. Emirates will codeshare on the new route.
Lufthansa has confirmed plans to reintroduce Airbus A380 service to New Delhi during the northern summer 2024 season. The German carrier last offered flights between Frankfurt International Airport (FRA) and the Indian city using the aircraft in February 2020, OAG Schedules Analyser data shows. Service to New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport is currently offered daily from FRA and Munich International Airport using Boeing 747-400s and A350-900s, respectively. The move comes after Lufthansa revealed it will reactivate two more A380s over the next two years, meaning that eight will operate from its Munich hub as of 2025.
Cayman Airways plans to open a new route to Barbados from Oct. 18. Flights will link Grand Cayman and Bridgetown once a week, rising to 2X-weekly from Nov. 7. Additionally, the airline intends to increase Grand Cayman-Los Angeles frequencies from weekly to 2X-weekly, effective Nov. 8. The carrier launched the route to Los Angeles in November 2022.
From March 31, 2024, TAP Air Portugal will boost Portugal-Brazil frequencies, with an extra 11 weekly flights being added between the two countries. The schedule will see the airline offer 91 flights per week in peak summer connecting 11 Brazilian cities to Lisbon and Porto. Lisbon and Recife will gain three additional flights per week, bringing it to 10X-weekly, while Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro will see two additional weekly flights, bringing it to 12X-weekly. The Portuguese airline will also be adding an additional weekly flight to Belém, Brasília, Maceio, Natal, Porto Alegre, Salvador and São Paulo.
IndiGo has commenced a 3X-weekly service between Goa’s Manohar International Airport, India, and Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH). The route becomes the LCC’s sixth to AUH alongside flights from Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Mumbai and New Delhi. “Over the years, we have witnessed a mounting demand for travel to the UAE, a demand that has only intensified in the post-pandemic era,” says Vinay Malhotra, head of global sales at IndiGo.
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