Welcome to our 13th routes newsletter! It’s full of celebratory photos of new and relaunched routes. Why not sign up and receive it in your email inbox every week? Have any celebratory images from the current week? Please send them to james@simpleflying.com so we can all join in the celebration.
Finnair begins Miami and more from Sweden
Sweden’s largest airport, Stockholm Arlanda, now has three additional long-haul routes. Between October 22nd and 24th, Finnair launched Bangkok, Miami, and Phuket, each operated twice-weekly by 336-seat A350-900s. Bangkok and Phuket have direct competition with Thai Airways, while SAS serves Miami.
Prompted by depressed demand to core Asian markets from Helsinki, Finnair has redeployed aircraft to fly from Stockholm instead. Los Angeles will join the trio of routes in November and New York JFK in December. Bangkok, JFK, and Los Angeles were chosen because of gaps left by the exit of Norwegian, together with SAS to Los Angeles (which ended in 2020). Meanwhile, Phuket and Miami are popular winter destinations for Scandinavians.
Aer Lingus launches Manchester to Barbados
Manchester to Barbados has a new operator: Aer Lingus UK. The first departure on October 20th marked the start of the airline’s long-haul service from the Northwest England airport. Using the carrier’s sole A330-300, it currently runs on Wednesdays and Sundays, with a Friday service beginning in November.
After celebrating in Manchester, passengers and crew also marked the occasion on arrival in the Caribbean. They were greeted in true Bajan fashion by the Barbados Defence Force’s Zouave band, together with stilt walkers and a steel pan performance.
aha! launches its first route
It is fantastic when a new airline takes off, and the USA’s aha! did just that on October 24th. Its first route of an initial seven is Reno to Pasco Tri-Cities, 468 miles (753km) away. In 2019, the market – which was unserved – had about 5,700 transit passengers. Demand stimulation is always essential, and this will be no different.
Served three-weekly, Pasco uses the carrier’s only aircraft type: the 50-seat Embraer 145. Based on a year-round operation, aha! expects Reno-Pasco to grow by around 250% from non-stop service and lower fares, even with small regional jets that are expensive on a seat-mile basis.
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Austrian Airlines begins its longest route
October 24th marked the start of Austrian Airlines from Vienna to Cancun – the carrier’s new longest route. Operating on Thursdays and Sundays, it uses 308-seat B777-200ERs. OS95 leaves the Austrian capital at 10:40 and arrives in Mexico 12-and-a-half hours later at 17:10 local time. Returning, OS96 departs at 19:05 and returns at 11:30 the following morning. It is the first time in almost 15 years that the carrier last served the Mexican resort. (Photo via Austrian.)
Virgin Australia introduces Adelaide to Hobart
The Tasmanian capital of Hobart now has three airlines serving it non-stop from Adelaide. This follows the launch of Virgin Australia on October 22nd. Virgin uses 176-seat B737-800s on the 728-mile (1,171km) route, with flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.
In the first week of November, it’ll compete head-to-head with Jetstar’s eight-weekly offering using A320s, and against Qantas’ nine-weekly flights using Alliance’s Embraer 190s. There will be 22-weekly flights. In contrast, in the same week in 2019, there were just four-weekly – all with Jetstar.
Transavia France starts trio of Paris Orly routes
Three routes were introduced by Transavia France this week, with Paris Orly to Berlin (three weekly), Rome Fiumicino (four weekly), and Stockholm Arlanda (three weekly) all taking off. Kraków will launch on October 31st, Hurghada on December 19th, and more in 2022.
This photo celebrates the launch of Orly to Berlin. Transavia, the low-cost subsidiary of Air France-KLM, will compete head-to-head with easyJet and Air France in the first week of November, each with seven flights a week. Air France will begin the route on October 31st.
British Airways connects Heathrow & Antalya
London Heathrow to Antalya started on October 21st with British Airways, but a mere eight round-trips will operate before the route ends for the winter season on October 31st. It uses both 172-seat A320ceos and 168-seat A320neos.
It is the first time BA has served the Turkish resort – 1,829 miles (2,944km) away – non-stop from Heathrow, despite the market seeing around 30,000 transit passengers in 2019. BA last served Antalya (from Gatwick) between 2008 and 2010. (Photo: Fraport TAV Antalya Airport.)
The A380 has returned to Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf welcomed back Emirates’ A380s on October 23rd after last serving the German airport in March 2020. The double-decker is currently operating six-weekly but will very shortly rise to 10-weekly. Come December 1st, it will run twice daily.
Emirates has served Düsseldorf for many years. Since 2004, the A330-200, A340-300, B777-200ER, B777-200LR, B777-300ER, and A380 have all operated. The A380 was first used in July 2015. In 2019, ~315,000 people transited Dubai to/from Düsseldorf, with Thailand the largest country market.
Scoot reintroduces non-stops to Berlin
Three months after beginning Singapore to Berlin via Athens with fifth freedom rights, Scoot launched Singapore to Berlin non-stop on October 20th. It was last operated non-stop between June 2018 and March 2020. Interestingly, the three non-stop flights a week will coexist with the four one-stop, offering a seven-weekly service to the German capital.
The 6,174-mile (9,921 km) service to Berlin uses 329-seat B787-8s. These have 18 seats in ScootPlus, 33 in ScootInSilence, and 278 in economy. TR734 leaves Changi at 01:40 and arrives in Berlin at 08:45 local time. Returning, TR735 departs at 11:20 and arrives home at 05:40 the following morning.
Smartwings is back in Dubai
Czech carrier Smartwings has recommenced Prague to Dubai. Perhaps surprisingly, Smartwings has served the UAE airport – some 2,776 miles (4,467km) away – since 2007. Its entrance effectively replaced defunct CSA and was three years before Emirates began the route.
With an outbound flight time of around five and a half hours and about 30 minutes longer inbound, Smartwings has seven weekly flights. It primarily, but not exclusively, uses the 189-seat B737 MAX 8. Smartwings competes directly with Emirates (seven-weekly) and flydubai (five-weekly).
That’s it for the 13th edition of our routes newsletter. To get something like this in your inbox every week, please sign up for our weekly routes newsletter.
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