Routes & Networks Latest: Rolling Daily Updates (W/C Oct. 7, 2024)

Oct. 11

AirAsia plans to add five new routes from its Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) hub between Oct. 15 and Nov. 16. AirAsia Aviation Group carriers currently operate 112 international and 14 domestic routes from the Malaysian capital, with 236 daily departures. The group operates 43% of the airport's flights. The upcoming new AirAsia routes from KUL include: Chongqing, China (launching Oct. 15, 4X-weekly); De Lat, Vietnam (Nov. 1, 4X-weekly); Chiang Rai, Thailand (Nov. 2, 3X-weekly); Nairobi, Kenya (Nov. 15, 4X-weekly); and Port Blair, India (Nov. 16, 3X-weekly).

Saudi LCC flyadeal will open two routes between Saudi Arabia and Egypt in November. From Nov. 11, the airline will start service between Jeddah and Sohag, Egypt. Also on that date, it will commence flights between Madinah and Cario. The two routes will be operated a combined 5X-weekly with an Airbus A320 configured to carry 186 passengers. The new services will up flyadeal’s total weekly frequencies between Saudi Arabia and Egypt to 44. Medinah becomes the fourth Saudi city from which the airline operates to Cairo. It already serves the Egyptian capital from Dammam, Jeddah and Riyadh. “Egypt is our largest international market, strategically important for flyadeal, having steadily increased our presence since launching scheduled flights to the capital Cairo almost three years ago,” CEO Steven Greenway said.

Oman Air will commence service between Muscat and Rome Fiumicino from Dec. 20, 2024, the first time the two cities will be connected nonstop. The route will be operated 4X-weekly. “As one of the most visited cities in the world, Rome is a perfect addition to our network,” CEO Con Korfiatis said.

Oct. 10

Hong Kong Airlines will add its ninth network point in Japan in December with flights from Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) to Sendai. The route, with a flight time of approximately 4 hr., will be flown 3X-weekly from Dec. 18. Sendai is the capital of Miyagi Prefecture. Hong Kong Airlines views the city as an “accessible gateway to the distinctive charm of northeast Japan.” In addition, the carrier said it will increase the frequency of flights between HKG and Sapporo, Japan, to 1X-daily. HKG-Tokyo Narita service will be operated 5X-daily during the northern hemisphere winter season, Hong Kong Airlines noted.

Delta Air Lines said it will fly 1.1 million weekly seats from its Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL) base hub in its 2025 summer season. The carrier will operate 968 daily flights, 75 more than the 2024 summer season. That is the most flights it has ever operated during a summer season at ATL. The airline will connect to 215 destinations from ATL in its summer schedule.

Emirates started service between Dubai and Lagos, Nigeria. The route will be operated daily with a Boeing 777-300ER configured to carry 354 passengers, including eight in first-class suites, 42 in business class and 304 in the main cabin. The carrier noted the Dubai-Lagos service will have 300 weekly metric tons of belly cargo capacity on the route. “Anticipated commodities such as kola nuts, food and beverages, and urgent courier material will be transported,” the United Arab Emirates airline said.

Gary/Chicago International Airport (GYY) in Indiana broke ground on a project consisting of $24 million in cargo infrastructure spending. Elements include the installation of a Jet-A fuel pipeline and a new sanitary sewer system for cargo facilities, as well as a deicing facility and a new cargo logistics apron. The project will add “capacity to service [GYY’s] air cargo operations,” the airport said. GYY Executive Director Dan Vicari added, “This is a pivotal step to securing the future of our increasingly important air cargo offering, with these infrastructure investments made possible by the past several years’ of increasing cargo sector growth.” The $24 million in cargo infrastructure improvements are being financed through several means, including $10 million from the FAA via the infrastructure law Congress passed in 2021 and $9.8 million in grant funding from the state of Indiana. Located 25 mi. southeast of Chicago, and with direct access to three interstate highways, GYY positions itself as an alternative to busy Chicago O’Hare for cargo operators. UPS Airlines serves the airport.

Oct. 9

Air Serbia will open service between Belgrade Airport (BEG) and Shanghai Pudong Airport (PVG) from Jan. 11, 2025. The route will be operated 2X-weekly. The announcement of the BEG-PVG route comes shortly after the Sept. 30 launch of Air Serbia’s service between BEG and Guangzhou, which is also being operated 2X-weekly. PVG will become the third destination in China served by Air Serbia. The carrier has been serving Tianjin since December 2022.

Vietnam Airlines added Munich Airport (MUC) to its network with flights from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The Hanoi route is being operated 2X-weekly while the Ho Chi Minh City route is being served 1X-weekly, to be increased to 2X-weekly in December. Both routes are being operated with a Boeing 787-9. MUC becomes the third destination in Europe served by Vietnam Airlines. The carrier already flies to Frankfurt, London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle airports.

Delta Air Lines has replaced a Boeing 767 aircraft with an Airbus A330-900neo on daily flights between New York John F. Kennedy International Airport and Accra, Ghana. The airline said the move increases seat capacity on the route by 30%.

Philippine Airlines (PAL) started service between Manila and Seattle. The route is being operated 3X-weekly with a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. Seattle becomes PAL's fourth destination on the continental U.S., alongside Los Angeles, New York John F. Kennedy and San Francisco. The carrier also serves U.S. island destinations Guam and Honolulu.

Oct. 8
 

Canadian carrier Porter Airlines opened service between Toronto Pearson International Airport and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), buttressing its presence on the U.S. West Coast. The route will be flown daily with an Embraer 195-E2 aircraft. PHX becomes the sixth West Coast destination Porter serves. Others include Las Vegas and California destinations Los Angeles, Palm Springs, San Diego and San Francisco. This will be the first time the airline operates to an airport in the state of Arizona.

Delta Air Lines and LATAM Airlines Group marked the two-year anniversary of their antitrust-immunized joint venture (JV), which has carried 5 million passengers on 32,000 JV flights operated by the two airlines between North and South America. The JV serves around 25 routes between North and South America. U.S. bases for the JV include Atlanta (ATL), Boston, Los Angeles, Miami (MIA), New York Kennedy (JFK) and Orlando (MCO). South American gateway points include Bogotá (BOG) and Cartagena (CTG) in Colombia; Fortaleza, Rio de Janeiro (GIG) and São Paulo (GRU) in Brazil; Lima, Peru; Santiago (SCL), Chile; and Quito (UIO), Ecuador. While the JV has focused on coordinating services and adding frequencies on routes the two airlines were already serving before the it was launched in 2022, the carriers have also added six new routes as part of the cooperative pact. The new routes include Delta flights between ATL and CTG and, on a seasonal basis, between JFK and GIG. LATAM routes added as part of the JV include BOG-MCO, GRU-MCO (seasonal), SCL-MCO and UIO-MIA. The airlines said they “expect to continue announcing new [JV] routes … in the coming months.” 

Southwest Airlines launched service between Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport (ROC) in upstate New York and Las Vegas Reid International Airport (LAS), operating a route not served by any airline since 2008. The ROC-LAS service will be flown 4X-weekly with a Boeing 737‐700 configured to carry 143 passengers. “Las Vegas had previously been the second‐largest unserved destination out of Rochester,” ROC said. “Additionally, Rochester was the largest unserved domestic market for Las Vegas.” LAS becomes the fourth destination Southwest serves from ROC. The others are Baltimore, Orlando and Tampa.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reported that New York John F. Kennedy, New York LaGuardia, New York Stewart and Newark Liberty airports served a combined 97.7 million passengers in the January through August period, 1.4 million more passengers than the airports handled in the same period in 2023. The port noted 2023 set the annual record for the most combined passengers at the four commercial airports it manages. Monthly traffic at the Port Authority airports did drop 1% year-over-year in August to 13.4 million passengers. “The slight decline is largely due to several severe weather events throughout the month that resulted in extensive travel disruptions,” the port said in a statement. ”International travel continued to show strong growth. August’s international passenger total of 5.3 million was a 3% increase from August 2023.”

Oct. 7

Aer Lingus will open service between Dublin and Nashville, Tennessee, starting April 12, 2025. The route will be flown 4X-weekly with an Airbus A321XLR. This will be this first time the two cities are linked nonstop. The Irish airline noted passengers from Nashville will be able to connect to 22 European destinations via Dublin.

WestJet, Canada’s second-largest airline, said it will increase capacity at Winnipeg Richardson International Airport (YWG) by 35% versus last winter, marking the carrier’s “largest capacity boost at any airport in Western Canada this season,” CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said. The airline is operating three new routes from YWG for the winter season to: Montreal (5X-weekly); Fort Lauderdale, Florida (1X-weekly); and San Jose del Cabo, Mexico (1X-weekly). WestJet will also increase capacity on nine existing routes from the airport, including flying 46X-weekly service to the carrier’s Calgary base, up 31% year-over-year. Another notable WestJet winter route from YWG is daily service to Cancun, Mexico.

SAS and Virgin Atlantic have launched a codeshare agreement, which follows SAS joining SkyTeam on Sept. 1. Virgin Atlantic is already a SkyTeam member. Virgin Atlantic passengers will be able to connect via London Heathrow and Manchester to SAS flights to Norwegian destinations Bergen, Oslo and Stavanger, as well as to Copenhagen and Stockholm. SAS passengers will be able to connect via Heathrow to destinations including Barbados, Jamaica, the Maldives and South African cities Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Scottish regional carrier Loganair will operate holiday flights between Belfast City and Isle of Man. Service on the route will be operated daily from Dec. 21 through Dec. 28, as well as from Dec. 31 through Jan. 2, 2025. The flights will be operated with an ATR-72 turboprop configured to carry 72 passengers.