Summer travelers will have more options from North American airlines
By DAVID CASEY
North American carriers Delta Air Lines, WestJet and JetBlue Airways are offering new transatlantic travel options this summer, with Nice, Edinburgh and Amsterdam set to receive new air service.
Nice will return to Delta Air Lines’ network from Atlanta later this week after an absence of almost 17 years. The SkyTeam alliance member will offer daily nonstop flights from May 13, which will expand the airline’s offerings to the South of France from the US to more than 3,300 weekly seats during the peak travel season.
The new route is part of Delta’s largest-ever European network and will see the airline operate more than 600 weekly flights to 26 destinations across the continent. The carrier’s Atlanta-Nice flight will be in addition to its existing daily seasonal service from New York John F. Kennedy (JFK).
Frequencies on the 7,620-km (4,115-nm) Atlanta-Nice sector are slated to operate until mid-September using a 238-seater Boeing 767-400. Delta last connected the destinations nonstop during the 2006 summer season, but the route has remained absent from its network ever since.
Nice, located on the French Riviera, is a popular leisure destination for US tourists. Alongside Delta’s services, United Airlines and La Compagnie fly between Nice and Newark Liberty (EWR). United began its route in April 2022 and offers daily flights aboard 767-300s, while La Compagnie provides up to 2X-weekly frequencies with A321s.
During peak summer, there will be approximately 9,300 two-way weekly seats available between the US and Nice, which is more than double the 4,000 seats that were available during the summer of 2019.
According to data from Sabre Market Intelligence, O&D traffic totaled 370,000 two-way passengers in 2019, representing a 4.6% increase from the previous 12 months. Preliminary data for 2022 indicate traffic increased to 380,600 passengers after United entered the market.
WestJet will launch a new route connecting Calgary (YYC) to Edinburgh (EDI) later this month, providing Scotland’s capital with a first direct link to the Canadian city.
The airline had announced in October 2022 that it would focus all long-haul international flying at its Calgary hub, resulting in the removal of European routes from Halifax (YHC), Toronto Pearson (YYZ) and Vancouver (YVR). This led to the discontinuation of WestJet’s 3X-weekly Toronto-Edinburgh service, which had been launched in June 2022 using Boeing 737 MAX 8s. However, the new Calgary route will maintain WestJet flights from Canada to Edinburgh.
Operating three times per week using a 787-9, flights will begin on May 17 and run through Oct. 9. With the introduction of a widebody aircraft, the carrier will offer 1,920 two-way weekly seats, up from the 1,044 weekly seats available on Toronto-Edinburgh during summer 2022.
Consolidating its seven 787s in Calgary is part of a larger strategy WestJet is rolling out that emphasizes serving western Canada and pulls back capacity in the eastern part of the country. The carrier has been eyeing cost control and plans to cement itself as an LCC that offers both domestic and international travel options.
Although WestJet has removed Toronto-Edinburgh from its network, a nonstop link between the cities will be maintained by Air Canada. The airline will resume daily service in June with a mix of 787-8s and 787-9s. Air Transat also serves Scotland from Toronto, flying 4X-weekly at the present time from Toronto aboard Airbus A321neos and A330-200s.
JetBlue Airways will launch service to Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) from New York John F. Kennedy (JFK) this summer, marking the carrier’s third European city after the launch of routes to London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports in 2021. A forthcoming service to Paris is set to begin in June.
The airline will use 138-seater Airbus A321LRs for the flights to Amsterdam, with the first service scheduled for Aug. 29. It also intends to add AMS service from Boston on Sept. 20, subject to receipt of government operating authority.
JetBlue’s entry to the Amsterdam market follows a struggle to gain slots at the Netherlands hub. In February, the carrier appealed to the US Transport Department alleging that Dutch authorities were in violation of the Open Skies agreement following repeated failed attempts to secure slots.
However, the airline was granted seasonal slots in early March by AMS slot coordinator Airport Coordination Netherlands—although JetBlue raised concerns over their temporary duration and “commercially questionable” timings.
The New York-Amsterdam market is served by three carriers at present, with KLM and Delta Air Lines offering 3X-daily and 2X-daily JFK-AMS flights respectively. United Airlines also flies Newark-Amsterdam daily.
The three collectively provide some 25,000 two-way weekly seats between the cities, OAG data shows. This compares with 27,000 at this time in 2019 when Norwegian also offered daily flights from Amsterdam to JFK. JetBlue’s entry will therefore see the restoration of pre-pandemic capacity.
JetBlue currently has five A321LRs in service, with nine on backlog, Aviation Week Network’s Fleet Discovery shows. The New York-based airline also has 13 of the longer-range A321XLRs on order.
