As the aviation industry slowly begins its recovery, numerous airlines around the world are taking this opportunity to expand their flight operations and have started to bring launch new and existing routes in order to meet increasing passenger demand. To highlight these recent network updates, AeroNewsX has compiled a brief snapshot of a few important route announcements made by airlines from around the world.
Middle East
With an imminent growth in air travel demand to be expected, there’s no doubt that carriers based in the Middle Eastern will lead the way in terms of route expansion. As such, Etihad Airways has commenced a direct service from its Abu Dhabi hub to the European city of Vienna.
This is also the airline’s 65th passenger destination, while earlier this month the carrier successfully launched new routes to Mykonos and Santorini, in Greece and Malaga, in Spain. The carrier will use its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner operating twice a week (on Thursdays and Sundays) transporting up to 290 passengers in a two-class configuration, with 28 seats in business class.
Another airline to resume operations to once served destinations is Qatar Airways. With its first scheduled flight on July 23rd to Pulkovo Airport (LED), the company will connect its hub in Doha with Saint Petersburg every Friday and Sunday with an Airbus A320.
Recently founded airline Tel Aviv Air is planning to start its first and only flight so far from Hamburg to Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) on September 19th, with tickets expected to be available this month. As ironic as it sounds, the company itself was founded in Germany.
The two founders who are highly linked to the travel industry, based the airline in Hamburg in order to benefit from its first named route. The company will be using a leased Boeing 737-800 from Polish charter airline “Enter Air” in a two-class configuration with 14 premium economy seats (with a blocked middle seat) and 175 seats regular economy class seats.
Europe
Ryanair is known for its aggressive business model and is certainly engaging in a rapid route expansion initiative during one of the most critical periods in aviation. The low-cost carrier is also bringing its “game-changing” into service Boeing 737-8200 this month at one of its main European hubs, the Italian city of Bergamo.
The Irish airline intends to replace its ageing 737-800 fleet and plans to add a total of five 737 8200s before summer 2022, which will be based in Bergamo Airport. The European airline has also announced 7 new destinations to cities like Banja Luka, in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Belfast City, Kos, Menorca, Preveza, in Greece), Suceava, in Romania and Zagreb.
Ryanair has also announced that it will be launching a once a week service from Shannon Airport to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria starting August 7th and is scheduled to run until the end of October. This new route will represent the airline’s 17th from the Irish airport.
Air Serbia will also embark on its typical seasonal flights with direct services to Thessaloniki from Kraljevo, a city south of Belgrade. The company has committed to at least one service per week from July 13th until August 24th using an ATR 72 turboprop.
Belgrade will not only benefit from its national carrier’s new routes, but also from KLM, which is increasing its services from Schiphol Airport. The Dutch carrier will double its frequency from one to two flights per day to Belgrade, the capital city of Serbia, starting July 19th and until at least August 29th.
KLM is also focusing on its international network, bringing back a total of 17 routes to cities across the Caribbean and Latin America. From its hub in Amsterdam, the airline plans to operate flights to Aruba, Buenos Aires, Curaçao, Lima, Mexico City, Quito, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago or St. Marteen, among others, using its widebody Boeing 777-300ER and its newest Boeing 787 aircraft.
However, destinations like La Havana in Cuba and Fortaleza in Brazil have been “temporarily suspended,” while new destinations like Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago and Bridgetown in Barbados will be available during the winter season.
With many Germans itching to travel to leisure destinations, Lufthansa has decided to replace its Airbus A321 with a Boeing 747-8 for one of its Frankfurt to Palma de Mallorca services as it experiences a surge in demand over the summer period. The retro liveried Boeing 747 touched down at Palma de Mallorca Airport(PMI) on Sunday. According to the German flag carrier, over the following weeks, it will operate 3 other flights using its jumbo jet, while equivalent flights will be conducted from Munich using an Airbus A350-900.
Lufthansa’s low-cost subsidiary, Eurowings will mark its debut in Bergamo, Italy with a direct flight to Düsseldorf starting October 31st. Initially flying 4 times weekly, the carrier has stated that it plans to increase this to 6 by February of next year.
Bergamo’s airport has also seen its traffic boosted with the arrival of EasyJet in May with direct flights to Olbia and Malaga. However, the low-cost airline wants to further connect the Italian city with Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Amsterdam by September and hopes to operate three and four times per week respectively.
Following the UK’s newest travel advice which came into force just on July 19th, Jet2 has launched numerous routes from its 10 hubs in the United Kingdom, mainly to sunny destinations in southern Europe. These include cities in continental Spain, the south of Portugal, Madeira, the Balearics and the Canary Islands, as well as touristic hotspots across Greece.
The ongoing uncertainty in the industry has also harmed Wizz Air’s plans to open new bases within Europe. The company’s Cardiff Airport base, which was due to open this summer has been postponed for at least a year. It is worth mentioning that last year alone the budget carrier had already opened 3 other bases in the country, signalling a proven commitment that might materialize next summer.
America and Asia
After suffering multiple waves of COVID-19 cases, Brazil wants to reopen to the world again and so far LATAM Brazil has resumed flights to Paris and Bogota from its hub in São Paulo. While there has been a significant increase in domestic travel in comparison to pre-Covid demand, international traffic figures are currently at around 20 per cent when compared with figures from 2019.
While the capital city of Colombia will be connected with an Airbus A320neo, LATAM Airlines service to Paris will be operated by its Chilean division using one of its Boeing 787-8, which features 30 business class seats and 217 economy seats.
Singapore Airlines is set to make a comeback to Manchester after nearly one year and a half absence and hopes to offer UK citizens the opportunity to connect to other south-east Asian destinations. The airline will operate a three times weekly service to Manchester Airport using an Airbus A350.
Meanwhile, North America’s Allegiant Airlines has recently launched a nonstop flight between the Shreveport Regional Airport in Louisiana and Los Angeles International (LAX). While the carrier is expanding a lot slower in comparison to other US carriers, the LAX route will be Allegiant’s fourth destination from this regional airport and will be operated on a twice-weekly basis.
However, American Airlines is an example of one US carrier that is currently consolidating its international route network. The airline has made it clear that it will be pulling out of Australia stating that it will be suspending its Los Angeles to Sydney route at the end of August. The news is very much the reality of the Australian Government’s limitations concerning inbound mandatory hotel quarantine, which is ultimately diminishing the number of passengers that are allowed to enter Australia.
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