Southwest, Aeromexico and Norse Atlantic are opening new US sectors this summer season.
By DAVID CASEY
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is expanding its footprint in the Los Angeles area; Aeromexico is opening a “new” route to Houston; and startup Norse Atlantic Airways is stepping into a market previously served by Norwegian.
Southwest is further increasing its footprint at Long Beach Airport (LGB) in California, where it is already the dominant carrier following the exit of JetBlue Airways in 2020.
The airline launched a new daily service to Kansas City on March 9, and resumed seasonal flights to Maui. Four more routes will start during the summer 2023 season, connecting Long Beach with Albuquerque (ABQ), Colorado Springs (COS), El Paso (ELP) and Orlando (MCO).
The market between the Los Angeles area and Colorado Springs is currently unserved after United Airlines suspended long-standing daily flights to COS from Los Angeles International (LAX) in January—a move blamed on the pilot shortage in the US.
However, Avelo Airlines plans to enter the market in May, offering a 3X-weekly service to COS from Burbank using Boeing 737-700s. The launch comes two months before Southwest begins its daily Long Beach-Colorado Springs connection on July 11, which will be operated with a mix of 737-700s and 737-800s.
Southwest’s latest expansion from Long Beach comes after the carrier secured five supplemental flight slots at the airport, allowing it to offer up to 45 daily departures. In December, it was confirmed that five more daily flights would be permitted at the airport after it was determined noise levels were below what is allowed under the facility’s strict noise ordinance.
To preserve the grandfathered status of Long Beach’s noise ordinance, additional flight slots must be allocated if a sufficient amount of remaining unused noise budget exists, such that the noise budget would not be exceeded by increasing the number of flight slots.
Airport flight slots are awarded based on a waiting list of official requests from current LGB airlines that have expressed interest in additional service, as well as new entrants interested in starting flights at the airport. Four carriers are currently listed on the waiting list for supplemental flight slots, but Southwest was the only one that requested slots for this opportunity.
The addition of the five supplemental slots also means the airport has 41 permanent and 17 supplemental flight slots, for a total of 58. Southwest currently holds 45 slots, Delta Air Lines holds seven, Hawaiian Airlines holds two and American Airlines—which ceased operations at LGB in February—holds three.
During March 2023, data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser shows that Southwest has a 90.7% share of all departure seats from LGB—up from about 33% before the pandemic when JetBlue controlled around 53% of the market. However, JetBlue exited the airport in October 2020.
Aeromexico has been given the green light to open a new route to the US during the second quarter of the year despite Mexico’s Category 2 safety rating with the FAA.
The FAA downgraded Mexico’s safety rating from Category 1 status in May 2021, meaning Mexican airlines cannot add new routes and frequencies to the US. The decision also prevents equipment changes, such as swapping in larger aircraft.
However, Aeromexico has secured approval from US authorities to begin flying from Felipe Angeles International (NLU) to Houston George Bush (IAH) from May 1. Service will be daily using Embraer 190 aircraft.
Flights have been approved because the airline already serves Houston from Mexico City’s main Juarez (MEX) hub, operating up to 3X-daily. As the recently opened Felipe Angeles also serves the Mexico City metropolitan area, the FAA has concluded that it does not equate to a new route, given it covers the same city pairs.
Houston will be the ninth destination Aeromexico serves from Felipe Angeles, and the first route to connect the airport with the US.
OAG data shows that three other airlines also operate in the Mexico City-Houston market besides Aeromexico. Between MEX and IAH, United Airlines flies up to six times per day, while Volaris offers daily flights and Viva Aerobus provides a 6X-weekly service.
Mexican ULCCs Viva Aerobus and Volaris began flights in August and November 2020, respectively, filling a gap left by the grounding of InterJet. However, capacity between the cities was already about 40% lower for much of 2019, compared with 2018 levels, after Southwest dropped flights to MEX from Houston Hobby (HOU) in March 2019.
For NLU, the Houston route will become the airport’s fifth international destination. Dominican Republic-based startup Arajet serves Santo Domingo Las Americas (SDQ) 4X-weekly; Conviasa flies from Caracas (CCS) once a week; and Copa Airlines offers a 3X-weekly connection from its Panama City Tocumen (PTY) hub. Viva Aerobus will also begin daily flights to Havana (HAV), Cuba, from the start of the northern summer 2023 season.
Felipe Angeles is located about 45 km (28 mi.) from Mexico City. Construction of the airport started in October 2019 after the decision to scrap the build of Mexico City Texcoco Airport. It opened in March 2022.
Norse Atlantic Airways is adding a large amount of transatlantic capacity from London Gatwick (LGW) this summer, increasing its network from the UK airport to seven US destinations.
The carrier, which began commercial operations in June 2022, currently flies to New York John F. Kennedy (JFK) but intends to begin service to Boston (BOS), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Los Angeles (LAX), Orlando (MCO), San Francisco (SFO) and Washington Dulles (IAD) over the coming months.
The routes from London Gatwick will use the company’s UK air operator’s certificate, which it received last September. Once each route has commenced by early September, Norse will have 34 flights per week from the airport.
Analysis of data provided by OAG shows that six of the seven destinations were previously operated by Norwegian before the Scandinavian airline suspended all long-haul flying. The sole exception is Washington Dulles.
Between London Gatwick and San Francisco, Norse will launch operations on July 1, providing three flights per week using its fleet of Boeing 787-9s. In total, about 2,000 two-way weekly seats will be offered between the destinations.
Norse will be the only operator of flights to the San Francisco area from London Gatwick and the first since Norwegian suspended flying on the 8,652-km (4,672-nm) sector at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.
Norwegian first entered the London Gatwick-San Francisco area market in May 2016 with flights to Oakland (OAK) using 787-9s. British Airways (BA) responded by launching its own LGW-OAK route in March 2017, which ran until October 2018.
Following BA’s exit, Norwegian continued serving Oakland until March 2019, when it opted to switch the route to SFO. This operated for a year.
Although Norse will be the sole provider of LGW-SFO flights, it will face strong indirect competition. During the summer 2023 season, United intends to fly London Heathrow (LHR)-SFO three times per day, while BA and Virgin Atlantic will each offer a twice-daily service. However, as the only provider of low-cost seats, Norse will be seeking to stimulate this segment of the market.
