China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Singapore Airlines and GOL Líneas Aéreas are behind some of the more eye-catching routes starting in April.
SkyTeam alliance member China Eastern Airlines will become the first Chinese carrier to launch regular scheduled service to Saudi Arabia this month when it commences service between its Shanghai Pudong International Airport hub and Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport (RUH).
The 4,509-mi. (3,918-nm) sector will be served 3X-weekly using Airbus A330-200 aircraft, starting on April 8. The launch comes ahead of counterpart China Southern Airlines entering the Saudi market with service from Beijing Daxing and Shenzhen.
Guangzhou-based China Southern is also expanding its European network in April by opening a new route to Frankfurt. Service from Shenyang, the capital of China’s northeast Liaoning Province, will be offered once a week using A350-900 aircraft. Flights will be operated alongside the carrier’s existing Guangzhou-Frankfurt service, which will reduce in frequencies from 3X to 2X-weekly once the Shenyang operations begin.
Elsewhere, Singapore Airlines (SIA) is returning to Brussels Airport (BRU) after a 21-year hiatus. Service from Singapore Changi Airport starts on April 5, operating four times per week using A350-900 equipment. The new route will bring SIA’s European network to 13 destinations and BRU’s nonstop Asia-Pacific connections to four.
Garuda Indonesia is also expanding its long-haul network by offering daily flights between Jakarta and Doha, Qatar, from April 4. The airline plans to operate the route using Boeing 777-300 aircraft, featuring 26 business-class seats and 367 economy seats.
Qatar Airways, which has a codeshare in place with Garuda, is currently the sole provider of nonstop flights between Qatar and Indonesia, operating 3X-daily to both Denpasar-Bali and Jakarta, as well as 3X-weekly to Medan.
Other notable new routes starting in April include Brazil’s GOL Líneas Aéreas’ plans to launch a new fifth freedom service between Bogota and Buenos Aires. Flights between Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport and Bogota El Dorado International Airport (BOG) begin on March 31, with the fifth freedom BOG-Buenos Aires Ezeiza International (EZE) running from April 1. Operations will initially be four times per week using 737-8 aircraft, with frequencies rising to daily from July 24.
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