Welcome to our sixth routes newsletter, full of the latest colorful photos of a selection of new routes and route relaunches. Like what you see? Sign up and receive it in your email inbox every week. Have any celebratory photos from the past week you’d like us to include in the next edition? Please send them to James Pearson (james@simpleflying.com).
American begins seven routes from Austin
American Airlines has introduced seven routes in the past few days from Cincinnati, El Paso, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Reno (see photo below), and St. Louis. With 14 weekly flights, Cincinnati has the most service, with the rest seven apiece. All routes are by American Eagle’s 76-seat Embraer 175s.
Five of the routes have head-to-head competition. Cincinnati now has three carriers, with American joining Allegiant and Delta. El Paso, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and St Louis are against Southwest, Austin’s leading airline. Only Jacksonville and Reno face no direct competition. And they’re good-sized markets too, even before stimulation, with about 48,000 and 42,000 round-trip passengers respectively in 2019.
American is Austin’s second-largest airline this week. It has 23 routes – an impressive 15 more than the same time in 2019 – and 354 departures, 53% more it did pre-pandemic. And more routes are coming, with Cancun, Denver, Fort Myers, Cabos, Nassau, Liberia, Oklahoma City, Puerto Vallarta, Punta Cana, San Juan, Tulsa all set to begin in the coming weeks. By Christmas, American will have 35 routes from the capital of Texas.
Hyderabad celebrates Air India to Heathrow
Hyderabad to London Heathrow has a second non-stop operator in the form of Air India. Beginning on September 10th, the carrier has a twice-weekly service using 256-seat Boeing 787-8s. It competes head-to-head with a three-weekly British Airways offering, which will rise to once-daily from November.
Air India’s time of departure from India varies depending on the day. For the rest of September, AI147 will leave Hyderabad at 01:30 on Mondays and arrive at 07:30 local time. On Fridays, it’ll depart at 05:30 and arrive at 11:25.
In 2019, 111,175 round-trip point-to-point passengers traveled between Heathrow and Hyderabad, booking data indicates, mostly via the Middle East. The airport-pair had an average one-way fare of $343, excluding taxes and fuel surcharges.
Harlingen welcomes Frontier to Las Vegas
Texas has a new non-stop service to Las Vegas. On September 9th, ultra-low-cost carrier Frontier commenced Harlingen, by the Mexican border, to Sin City, 1,236 miles away. This is the first time this route has operated, not helped by nearby McAllen, a distance of 36 miles, having a non-stop link to the Nevada hotspot since 2005.
With two weekly flights on Wednesdays and Sundays, Frontier uses the 186-seat A320neo. About 7,000 round-trip passengers flew Harlingen-Las Vegas in 2019, which Frontier will be able to increase meaningfully with non-stop service and low average fares.
easyJet starts two routes from Milan Bergamo
easyJet has launched Milan Bergamo to both Amsterdam and Paris CDG, each served four-weekly. The routes supplement the LCC’s existing offering from Amsterdam and CDG to both Milan Linate and Malpensa, along with Orly to Linate. Bergamo to Amsterdam and CDG compete indirectly with Ryanair to Eindhoven and Beauvais.
While CDG is new, it is the first time in 12 years that Bergamo-Schiphol has been operated, with Transavia serving it on a year-round basis until 2009. Now easyJet plies the 510-mile route, with it bookable until the end of March.
Bergamo is a new airport in easyJet’s network in 2021 and one of 18 airports now served across Italy. It began Bergamo-Olbia in May, followed by Malaga. Paris CDG started in September (see the separate route launch), while Gatwick begins on November 1st.
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American takes off from Miami to Paramaribo
Miami has a new non-stop service to the Surinam capital of Paramaribo, following American beginning on September 7th. With five-weekly flights, the 2,171-mile link – with a block time of nearly five hours in both directions – uses the A319 with 128 seats. There are eight seats in first, 24 in main cabin extra, and 96 in main cabin.
American, which is new to the route, arrives in Surinam at around midnight, leaves in the very early morning, and lands back at either 05:09 and 06:02, depending on the day and the week. It competes with long-standing Surinam Airways, with a once-weekly offering via Aruba.
ZIPAIR Tokyo inaugurates Narita To Singapore
Japan Airlines’ long-haul, low-cost subsidiary ZIPAIR Tokyo took to the skies between Tokyo Narita and Singapore on September 7th, driven in part by cargo demand. Using 290-seat B787-8s, it is operating once-weekly, with flights bookable, for now, only until October 26th. Previously, a second-weekly service was expected to have been offered from October.
In the current week, the route sees ZIPAIR against Singapore Airlines (11-weekly; B787-10, B777-300ER, A350-900), All Nippon (five-weekly; B787-9), and JAL (four-weekly; B787-9). And from Tokyo Haneda, it is indirectly against Singapore Airlines (three-weekly; A350-900); JAL (three-weekly; B787-8); and ANA (twice-weekly; B787-8).
Virgin Australia launches three Adelaide routes
Australia’s second-largest airline, Virgin Australia, has introduced a new non-stop service between Adelaide, in South Australia, and the Tasman city of Launceston. Almost 40,000 round-trip passengers connected between the two in 2019, a significant volume and one of Australia’s largest unserved markets. It hasn’t been served for many years.
Starting on September 7th, the 655-mile route operates three-weekly. Leaving Adelaide at 07:50, it arrives back four hours later. This development comes a few days after Virgin began two other routes from Adelaide: Cairns in the far north of Queensland and Darwin in the Northern Territory.
Mark Young, Adelaide Airport’s Managing Director, said: “Virgin Australia has further demonstrated its commitment to the Adelaide market. We know there’s considerable demand for these destinations, and at the same time, we think there will be a similarly strong flow of visitors looking to sample all that South Australia has to offer, including our wines and festival culture.”
Toulon celebrates easyJet from Paris Orly
easyJet, the largest low-cost carrier in France, has begun a new domestic service from Paris’ primary domestic airport, Orly. It has introduced a 429-mile service to the southern coastal city of Toulon, in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
Located about 66 kilometers from Marseille and 156 kilometers from Nice, Toulon has long been connected to Orly by Air France, typically with over half a million seats a year. However, Air France hand the route to its lower-cost subsidiary, Transavia France, in early 2021, as it has on various domestic airport-pairs.
Competing head-to-head with Transavia’s ~20-weekly offering, easyJet initially has a four-weekly service rising to seven-weekly from November 1st. By this time, its summer-seasonal Paris CDG route, which began earlier this year, would have ended.
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‘Scotland’s Airline’ links Aberdeen to Dublin
Loganair has opened Aberdeen to Dublin. Initially operating four-weekly, the 307-mile route will rise to seven-weekly from the start of summer 2022, with the 49-seat Embraer 145 deployed on all services.
‘Scotland’s Airline’ is the third operator between the nation’s third-largest city and Dublin in the past two decades. Ryanair operated for it for years until 2011, with a seven-weekly offering first by the B737-200 and then the B737-800. Aer Lingus Regional entered in 2011 with ATR-72s and ended it in 2020.
Aberdeen Airport’s Operations Director, Mark Beveridge, said: “It’s great to see our airline partner Loganair bring back this fantastic service to the Irish capital. Dublin is an important route for the northeast and will deliver vital connectivity for both leisure and business passengers traveling between Scotland and Ireland.”
airblue introduces Lahore to Ras Al Khaimah
Pakistan’s airblue introduced the 1,192-mile link from Lahore to Ras Al Khaimah on September 5th. The UAE city, located around 70 miles from Dubai, will see both 180-seat A320s and 220-seat A321s.
This is the first time that airblue has operated the route, with its twice-weekly offering leaving Pakistan at 22:00, arriving at 00:01 local time the next day, departing at 01:30, and arriving back at 05:30.
It competes head-to-head with Air Arabia, which is up to three-weekly. Air Arabia launched it in 2014 following the cessation of RAK Airways, which served Ras Al Khaimah-Lahore between 2011 and 2014.
Air Canada resumes Dallas after 18 months
Dallas Fort Worth welcomed back Air Canada from Toronto on September 7th after an 18-month absence. With a block of around three hours, the Canadian carrier has operated the route for many years. It is currently 14-weekly and will rise to 21-weekly from the end of October. The Embraer 175, with 76 seats, is used. It competes directly with American Airlines, which is presently seven-weekly and rises to 21-weekly from March 2022.
In 2019, Air Canada had 187,000 round-trip seats between Dallas to Toronto. This made it its 18th largest non-stop US market out of 51 served from its Ontario hub. In that last normal year, it carried more than 60,000 passengers over Toronto. Ottawa was the largest O&D, followed by Montreal, Tel Aviv, Halifax, and London Heathrow.
Lufthansa restarts Münster to Frankfurt
Münster Osnabrück has welcomed back its core hub service to Frankfurt. A long-standing route, Lufthansa has resumed the 150-mile link – which has a flight time of around 30 minutes – with nine-weekly flights using CityLine’s 90-seat CRJ-900s. It’ll rise to 27-weekly from November. In 2019, over 150,000 passengers connected over Frankfurt, with Spain the largest market.
Speaking to Simple Flying, Mathias Richter, Manager of Aviation Marketing at Münster Osnabrück, seen bottom left in the above photo, said: “We’re delighted that Lufthansa has restarted the Frankfurt route. This route is very important for our region as it offers connections to the worldwide network of Lufthansa and its partner airlines.”
Amsterdam welcomes back Kuwait Airways
After operating freight-only services to Amsterdam during the pandemic, Kuwait Airways began carrying passengers on September 8th. This marked a return to passenger flying from the airport for the first time in almost exactly 17 years, with its last service in October 2004.
Then, Kuwait Airways used the A340-300 on the 2,710-mile route. Now, the twice-weekly service uses the 324-seat B777-300ER, complete with nine first-class seats. However, the route is, for now, only bookable until the end of October. It is up against KLM, whose twice-weekly operation returns to once-daily from December when it’ll continue to Bahrain.
Hannover is again connected to Cape Verde
TUI fly has reintroduced Hannover to Boa Vista and Sal in Cape Verde following the route’s postponement because of the pandemic. Restarting on September 7th was a Tuesday-only service routing Hannover-Boa Vista-Sal-Hannover. The first flight was reportedly full.
Leaving Germany at 12:20, a 189-seat B737-800 arrives in Cape Verde at 16:15 local time after around six and a half hours of flying. It then leaves for Sal at 17:05, arrives at 17:35, departs at 18:25, and returns to Hannover at 03:40 the next morning. Some 6,147 miles are covered, almost equivalent to London to Cape Town.
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