New route announcements and returning services across Europe
UK regional carrier Loganair has switched two UK routes to London Heathrow after securing access to 30 additional pairs of slots each week under a lease arrangement with British Airways. The airline now connects City of Derry and Dundee airports with the UK’s main gateway, flying 19X-weekly with Embraer E145s and 11X-weekly with ATR 42-500s, respectively. It previously served Derry from London Stansted and Dundee from London City. Changes to Heathrow’s tariffs for regional aircraft operating on UK domestic routes, which took effect on Jan. 1, are important to the viability of Loganair’s plans to provide regional connectivity at the airport, the carrier said.
Croatia Airlines is launching a new weekly service between Dubrovnik and Prague, Czech Republic. Flights will begin on May 18 and operate through Oct. 12. In addition, the carrier plans to resume a 2X-weekly Split-Prague service from May 13.
Atlantic Airways, the flag-carrier of the Faroe Islands, has confirmed it will offer flights between its Vagar base and New York Stewart International Airport from Aug. 22. The journey time will be about six hours using Airbus A320neos. The airline intends to operate the route once a week on Tuesdays on the outbound leg, and on Wednesdays on the return from the US. The schedule is currently in place for six weeks through Oct. 4 while the airline assesses levels of demand.
JOE PRIES
Norwegian has added a new route to its winter season program, connecting Aalborg Airport in Denmark with the Spanish island of Tenerife. The route, which starts on Oct. 31, will operate once a week on Tuesdays until the end of the winter season. Magnus Thome Maursund, commercial director at Norwegian, says Tenerife is already one of the most popular destinations in the LCC’s network.
Star Alliance member Austrian Airlines has scheduled the resumption of flights to Iran. OAG shows that service between Vienna and Tehran Imam Khomeini International will resume on May 11, operating six times per week with Airbus A320s. The carrier suspended the route in February.
Latvian carrier airBaltic has launched flights between its Riga home base and Hannover, Germany. The airline will connect the cities with two weekly frequencies. The flights between Riga and Hannover are scheduled to take 1 hr. 55 min. The move by airBaltic comes as part of its expansion plan for the summer season 2023, with 20 new routes on offer from its three bases in the Baltics and Tampere, Finland.
AER LINGUS
Aer Lingus is increasing capacity on its daily flights between Manchester, England, and New York John F. Kennedy. The move comes just over a year after the airline began its first direct transatlantic flights to New York from Manchester, which initially operated on a single-aisle Airbus A321LR with 184 seats. Service will now be offered using a 317-seat A330 aircraft. “The success of Aer Lingus’ Manchester based operations has contributed towards its ambitious network expansion, offering yet more choice of routes and destinations from the north of the UK,” the airline says in a statement.
Saudia is launching a new route to Birmingham, England. The route from Jeddah will start on July 2, operating 3X-weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays using Boeing 787s. “Jeddah has strong onward connectivity to destinations across Asia and Africa,” Birminham Airport CEO Nick Barton says. “Brits traveling from Birmingham beyond Jeddah can make use of the 'stop-over visa'—a chance to enjoy this historic city before heading on.”
Starting from August 2023, ITA Airways will add 4X-weekly frequencies to its Rome Fiumicino-Sao Paulo Guarulhos service, which currently operates daily. The additional flights will be operated using Airbus A330s on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. “The introduction of additional frequencies in the direct connection from São Paolo to Rome Fiumicino is further evidence of the company’s strong investment in the Brazilian market and will allow ITA Airways to further strengthen its expansion in South America,” the airline says in a statement.
Air Canada’s Toronto Pearson-Edinburgh service will be extended into the winter 2023/24 season, it has been confirmed. The route will return on June 2 using Boeing 787s and operate up to daily during the peak summer season. Fights will extend into the winter season with three round trips per week until Jan. 8, 2024. “Our newly extended service from Edinburgh will not only provide our customers in Scotland with a direct link to Canada during both the summer and winter seasons, but also allow convenient onward travel options across North America,” Air Canada general manager sales for the UK and Ireland Stephen Gerrard says.
Moldovan airline Flyone has added Valencia to its list of destinations starting from June 3. The new direct flight from Chisinau will operate 2X-weekly on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Air Serbia has launched direct flights from Belgrade to Catania, Italy; Izmir, Turkey; and Lisbon, Portugal. Service to all three destinations will be twice a week. Bojan Arandelović, head of network planning and scheduling at Air Serbia, says the airline plans to further expand its presence in Italy with three more cities in its network.
German leisure carrier Condor is adding a route between Düsseldorf and Almería in Spain during summer 2023. Service will commence on May 12, operating once a week on Fridays using Airbus A320s. Almería is located in the popular vacation region of Andalusia in southern Spain.
Royal Air Maroc is increasing its European network during the summer 2023 season, targeting destinations with a large Moroccan diaspora. From Tangier, a port city in northwestern Morocco, the carrier is opening a new route to London Gatwick. Flights will start on June 24, operating twice a week through Sept. 2 using Boeing 737-800s. It is also reinstating service from Tangier to Barcelona and Madrid, as well as opening a new connection from Nador in northeastern Morocco to Madrid. The Nador-Madrid route will begin on June 24, while flights to Barcelona will restart the following day, each operating 2X-weekly with 737-800s.
Iberia is to operate a seasonal service connecting Madrid and Rovaniemi in northern Finland. The route starts on Dec. 2 and will operate until Feb. 10, 2024, using Airbus A320neos, with two flights per week.
