New route announcements and returning services across Europe
Norse Atlantic Airways has outlined plans to expand beyond the US market by introducing new flights to destinations in the Caribbean and Asia. Starting Oct. 29, daily flights from London Gatwick to Barbados will commence, followed by a 4X-weekly service to Montego Bay. A route to Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport will begin two days later, operating 3X-weekly. Alongside the Caribbean routes, Norse has scheduled the launch of its first flights to Asia, linking Norway’s capital Oslo and Bangkok. The route will operate twice a week from Nov. 2 during the winter season.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines is set to resume operations in Thailand's capital Bangkok after an absence of nearly 10 years. The airline plans to introduce seasonal service between Copenhagen and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, offering three weekly flights utilizing Airbus A350s. Pending government approval, the flights are scheduled to commence on Oct. 30. With the launch of this service, Bangkok will become SAS's third destination in Asia.
Verona, Italy, has been added to Icelandair’s route network. Flights from Reykjavik Keflavik will operate weekly from Dec. 20 through March 2, 2024. Icelandair has offered charter flights to Verona in the past, but this is the first time scheduled service will be available. “Verona is an exciting new destination and a great addition to our diverse winter sport offerings,” chief revenue officer Tómas Ingason says.
Lufthansa is set to increase its presence in India by introducing a new route to Bengaluru and resuming flights to Hyderabad after an absence of over a decade. The Star Alliance member aims to commence a Munich-Bengaluru service on Oct. 29, utilizing the A350-900. Flights will operate three times a week, departing from the German city on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. In addition, Lufthansa intends to resume service to Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana state and the fourth most populous city in India.
Moldova’s Flyone is launching a new route between Chisinau and Madrid. Service will begin on June 28, operating once a week on Wednesdays using Airbus A320s. OAG shows the airline will be the sole operator of flights between Moldova and Spain.
SWISS
SWISS is set to expand its long-haul services in the upcoming winter season, with increased frequencies to destinations including Miami, Shanghai, Singapore and Cairo. Frequencies to Miami will be doubled from their summer 2023 levels to up to 14X-weekly, while Shanghai will return to receiving 6X-weekly service this winter, three frequencies more than have been offered during the present summer season. Singapore will revert to daily service through the addition of one further weekly flight, and Egypt’s capital Cairo will also be served daily during winter 2023/24.
UK leisure carrier Jet2.com has announced the launch of six new routes. Manchester-Vienna will operate 2X-weekly from Sept. 29; East Midlands-Krakow and East Midlands-Prague will be up to 2X-weekly from Nov. 9 and 10, respectively; Birmingham-Vienna will be up to 2X-weekly from Nov. 10; Edinburgh-Prague will be 2X-weekly from Nov. 30; and Bristol-Geneva will be 1X-weekly from Dec. 23.
Starting Dec. 1, Dutch airline Transavia will operate flights twice a week to Tromsø in northern Norway. Departing from Amsterdam, the flight time is estimated to be 3 hr. 15 min. The airline is partnering with travel companies Voigt Travel and Buro Scanbrit to launch the route. “We are very pleased that through our collaboration with Transavia we are making the North of Norway even more accessible for the Dutch market,” says Marloes Meijer, general manager of Voigt Travel.
American Airlines is to begin operating its Dallas Fort Worth-Dublin service year-round. The route was previously a summer-only service. The carrier has also confirmed that it will expand its daily summer service between Dublin and Charlotte, with the service starting earlier on March 1, 2024. “This welcome expansion is evidence of the strong demand for transatlantic travel between Dublin Airport and North America,” says Vincent Harrison, chief commercial and development officer at Dublin Airport.
Latvian airline airBaltic has launched three routes from its hub in Riga. Service to Bucharest will be offered three times per week, while Porto and Burgas will each receive two flights per week. The carrier also plans to launch Riga-Bilbao and Riga-Tivat services from May 4, operating 2X-weekly. Additionally, airBaltic has opened two routes from its Tampere base in Finland. Both Milan and Nice will be served twice a week using Airbus A220-300 aircraft.
Milan Bergamo Airport has welcomed the arrival of new airline partner Norwegian. The LCC has commenced a 2X-weekly service from Bergen using Boeing 737-800s, which will be joined by a 2X-weekly link to Oslo Gardermoen from June 22. Giacomo Cattaneo, director of commercial aviation at Milan Bergamo operator SACBO, says Bergen and Oslo are two white spots that the airport has “worked hard to fill.”
Turkish Airlines has launched flights to Krakow, Poland. Service from Istanbul will be 3X-weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. “With this route, our flag carrier has reached 343 destinations in 129 countries,” Turkish Airlines chief investment and technology officer Levent Konukçu said. Turkish Airlines also serves Poland’s capital Warsaw.
Eurowings has confirmed plans to expand its network next winter using Airbus A321neos. Dubai International will return to the LCC’s network for the first time since April 2016. Stuttgart-Dubai will launch on Oct. 29, followed by Berlin-Dubai on Nov. 1. Both routes will operate using A321neos twice a week, with frequencies from Berlin scheduled to double from the end of November.
Spanish airline Air Europa is launching a new route between Madrid and the Greek island of Santorini. Service begins on June 20 and will be 3X-weekly through Sept. 9 using Boeing 737-800s. Additionally, flights to Athens will restart on June 19 and be 4X-weekly, while service to Alghero in Sardinia resumes on July 1 and will be 2X-weeky.
Finnair has switched two domestic routes from Helsinki to bus services, citing the need “to lower the CO2 footprint of the routes.” During the summer season, Finnair says it will operate four daily bus services from Helsinki to both Turku and Tampere. It will no longer fly the routes, each of which took 25 min. by air. "The flights to Tampere and Turku are very short and the relatively low passenger numbers—around 35% load factors—on these routes cause them to have a higher CO2 emission per passenger than many other short routes in our network,” says Perttu Jolma, Finnair's VP of network.
JOE PRIES
Italy’s ITA Airways is increasing frequencies between Rome Fiumicino and New York John F. Kennedy. From June 1, service will rise to 3X-daily using Airbus A330s. The airline said North America is “at the center” of its investments for summer 2023. A new route from Rome to Washington Dulles will start on June 5, operating five times per week and will rise to daily in August, while service to San Francisco starts on July 1 with 3X-weekly frequencies, growing to 5X-weekly in August.
Avianca is growing its network from Central America with a new route from San Salvador to Madrid. The Colombian flag-carrier has scheduled the launch of a new seasonal service to the Spanish capital from June 20. Flights on the 8,660 km (4,676 nm) sector will be 3X-weekly with a 280-seater Airbus A330-200 aircraft. This will become Avianca's only nonstop route from Central America to Europe and SAL's second connection to the continent, with Iberia serving Madrid-Guatemala City-San Salvador.
Saudi Arabian flyadeal is adding new routes to points in Turkey, Greece, Bosnia, Cyprus and Montenegro. Nine new routes are being launched from Riyadh, including connections to Turkish destinations Antalya, Bodrum, Izmir and Trabzon from June 22. Service will also be offered to Heraklion and Rhodes, Greece; Sarajevo, Bosnia; Larnaca, Cyprus; and Tivat, Montenegro. A further new summer season service is starting from Jeddah, linking the city to Trabzon.
