Routes Insights: Icelandair, China Southern Airlines And Brussels Airlines

Icelandair, China Southern Airlines and Brussels Airlines plan to add new intercontinental services to and from Europe over the coming weeks.

Reykjavik-Pittsburgh

Icelandair’s North American network is growing over the coming weeks when the airline opens routes to Pittsburgh and Halifax, Canada.

Pittsburgh Airport (PIT) will be served four times per week from Reykjavik Keflavik Airport (KEF) from May 16 until the end of October using Boeing 737-8 aircraft. Operations to Halifax Stanfield International resume on May 31 and will be 3X-weekly.

Pittsburgh—Pennsylvania’s second-largest city—is a new destination for Icelandair and becomes the 12^th point in the U.S. served by the carrier. OAG Schedules Analyser data shows the airline plans to offer about 53,000 two-way weekly Iceland-U.S. seats by peak summer, compared with 46,000 in summer 2019, prior to the pandemic.

The 2,786-mi. (2,421-nm) route also marks PIT’s second nonstop service to Europe alongside British Airways’ 6X-weekly flights from London Heathrow Airport. Defunct Icelandic carrier WOW Air previously served KEF-PIT from June 2017, but flights ended shortly before the airline ceased operations in March 2019.

As well as attracting leisure traffic flows between Europe and the U.S., Icelandair also sees the potential for business traffic. For example, Pittsburgh-based aluminum company Alcoa has operated the largest smelter in Iceland since 2007, employing more than 400 staff in the eastern port city of Reyðarfjörður.

Icelandair’s flights are expected to carry a variety of cargo to the U.S., including the nation’s largest export product, fish. Officials expect the route to have a $9 million economic impact annually in western Pennsylvania.

Guangzhou-Budapest

China Southern Airlines is expanding its European network this summer with a new route to Hungary’s capital Budapest.

Flights from the airline’s Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport hub to Budapest Airport (BUD) will operate four times per week from June 27. The airline plans to use Boeing 787 aircraft on the sector.

The move increases China Southern’s route map in Europe to 11 destinations across 19 routes. By mid-July, the carrier intends to offer about 46,400 two-way seats between China and Europe, marking a rise of about 6% on levels offered during the same period in 2019 before the pandemic.

For BUD, Guangzhou will become the fifth city in China to be served from the airport nonstop.

According to OAG data, it already has links to Beijing Capital and Chongqing with Air China and flights to Ningbo and Shanghai Pudong with Shanghai Airlines.

The Hungarian airport says there will be almost 250,000 two-way available seats on routes to and from China during the summer 2024 season, marking a record for BUD. China Southern’s entry also increases the number of weekly flights to China from 13 to 17.

Sabre Market Intelligence figures show that Budapest-China O&D traffic totalled about 130,900 two-way passengers during 2023, compared with 210,000 in 2019. Budapest-Guangzhou was the fifth-largest city pair last year with 9,356 two-way passengers, behind only the four Chinese cities with direct flights to BUD.

Alongside the Budapest launch, China Southern also plans to introduce a Shenyang-Frankfurt service from April 25, operating once a week with A350-900s.

Brussels-Nairobi

Brussels Airlines is increasing service to East Africa in June by offering year-round flights connecting Brussels Airport (BRU) and Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO).

Nonstop flights to the Kenyan capital will be four times per week from June 3 using Airbus A330-300 aircraft. Additionally, a 2X-weekly service will be available via Kigali International Airport (KGL), Rwanda. Frequencies on the nonstop BRU-NBO sector will reduce to 2X-weekly during the winter season.

The move marks a return to Nairobi for the Lufthansa subsidiary after an absence of almost nine years. OAG data shows flights were offered between BRU and NBO until October 2015, operating via both KGL and Bujumbura’s Melchior Ndadaye International Airport, Burundi. However, the city has been absent from its network ever since.

By peak summer, Brussels Airlines intends to serve four points in East Africa—Bujumbura, Entebbe, Kigali and Nairobi—providing about 7,600 two-way weekly seats to and from Brussels. This marks an increase of more than 90% compared with 2019 levels, when the carrier served just Bujumbura and Kigali in the region.

Analysis of figures provided by Sabre Market Intelligence shows that of the 161,000 passengers who flew from Brussels to points in East Africa during 2023, about 24% started their journey behind BRU, while 35% flew to cities beyond their arrival point in East Africa.

Nairobi is currently served six times per week by Lufthansa from Frankfurt Airport—one of nine nonstop routes connecting the city with Europe. NBO also has flights to Amsterdam with Kenya Airways and KLM; Istanbul with Turkish Airlines; London Heathrow with Kenya Airways and British Airways; and Paris Charles de Gaulle with Kenya Airways, Air France and Air Austral.