The Most Notable New Airline Routes This Week

Welcome to my 149th weekly routes article! I have analyzed some subjectively exciting services that began or resumed between November 19 and 25.

Delta resumes two Caribbean routes

On November 23, Delta reintroduced Atlanta-Puerto Plata, having last served the market in March 2011. It mainly runs daily on the 737-800, with the last flight of the season down for April 13.

The link resumed on the same day as Atlanta-Barbados took off, which was previously part of the SkyTeam member’s network until 2017. It runs daily on the 737-800, serving the route year-round.

The additions mean Delta has nonstop flights from Atlanta to 23 Caribbean airports. On a typical day between December and February, 33 flights will take off. However, the actual number varies massively, from 23 to a staggering 45; the latter is on December 21 and 28, January 4, and February 15 and 22 only.

Air France to Kilimanjaro

The French flag carrier’s passenger jets now fly to 35 African airports in 26 countries in North Africa and the sub-Sahara. The latest addition is Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. With 30,000 passengers, Paris is the city’s largest European market (there’s also all the connections over its CDG hub).

While sibling KLM has served the outdoor destination of Kilimanjaro for years, Air France has not. That changed on November 18, when its three times weekly A350-900 service began.

Like many sub-Saharan routes, it operates triangularly: CDG-Zanzibar-Kilimanjaro-CDG. It replaces Dar es Salaam, whose Air France flights ended earlier in November. The Zanzibar-Kilimanarjo leg, which does not have traffic rights as it is domestic, covers 211 nautical miles (389 km) and takes around 40 minutes.

Air France is the fifth European airline to serve Kilimanjaro. It joins KLM from Amsterdam, Discover from Frankfurt, Edelweiss from Zurich, and Turkish Airlines from Istanbul, which also operate.

Jetstar Asia jets to Sri Lanka

The Singapore to Colombo market is reasonably sized. It has 140,000 point-to-point passengers, with a decent average one-way base fare (all passengers in all cabins) of $266.

In contrast, Kuala Lumpur-Colombo has 174,000 passengers, but because of AirAsia’s heavy dominance, the average fare is just $60 (plus ancillaries, any fuel surcharge, etc.).

On November 21, Jetstar Asia started its first Singapore-Colombo flights. It runs five times weekly on the A320ceo. In December, 3K331 leaves Changi at 21:00 and arrives in Sri Lanka at 22:30 local time. Returning, 3K332 departs at 23:30 and arrives at 06:15+1.

Singapore Airlines (daily) and SriLankan (nine times weekly) also operate. Imagine: the market only had 16 weekly flights before Jetstar’s entry. In the same week in November 2019, there were 32, down from 38 in 2017. Jetstar’s entry is unsurprising.

Delta’s new longest domestic route

On November 21, Delta started its longest domestic service, from Boston to Honolulu. This is the joint-longest US domestic airport pair by any airline. It surpasses Delta’s prior longest airport pair, New York JFK-Honolulu.

Delta serves Boston-Honolulu, 4,427 nautical miles (8,199 km) apart, daily on the 282-seat A330-300. The route is the airline’s new longest link on the variant and has a block time to Hawaii of 11h 16m.

Photo: Delta

It is the second carrier in the market. It joins Hawaiian, which inaugurated the route in April 2019 and runs four times weekly on the A330-200. Until then, it had never been served.

IndiGo now serves Mauritius

Mauritius is now part of IndiGo’s network following the November 19 launch of the first-ever flights from Bengaluru. The airline serves the 2,331 nautical mile (4,317 km) airport pair four times weekly on the A320neo.

In November, 6E1861 leaves for Mauritius at the joyous time of 03:40, and 6E1862 returns to India at 17:05.

The local market is tiny: just 9,000 roundtrip passengers flew between the two places in the year to July. Nonstop flights, lower fares, and, hopefully, good promotions will increase traffic nicely.

Moreover, it will transport passengers across India, with Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai larger markets than Bengaluru.

Porter begins 2nd Tampa route

Tampa has been part of Porter’s network since November 2023, when Toronto flights began. A year later, on November 22, Ottawa joined its map; it is served four times weekly on the E195-E2.

Porter is the second operator from Ottawa, coexisting with Air Canada Rouge. Porter’s next Tampa route will be from Halifax on December 5 (three times weekly).

Tampa expansion followed Porter’s first flight to West Palm Beach on November 14. This means the carrier’s December-February route map—both on its jets and Q400s—comprises 16 US airports and 28 routes. It averages 41 daily transborder departures, varying from 31 to 46.

Hong Kong-Penang gets 3rd airline

It is the first time in a decade that Hong Kong-Penang has three operators. On November 21, HK Express inaugurated flights on the 1,289 nautical mile (2,387 km) airport pair. It last flew there between 2013 and 2015.

It now runs daily on the A320neo. Flights leave Hong Kong at 20:15 and arrive in Malaysia at 00:10+1. Returning, they leave at 00:55 and return at 04:45. Ouch.

Photo: Pos Aviation

HK Express competes directly with Cathay Pacific (daily A330-300/A321neo) and AirAsia (three times weekly A320ceo). The market has a high of three daily flights, a frequency last seen nine years ago.

Pegasus adds 3rd Kraków route

Winter is an unusual time to start leisure flights to Turkey. Nonetheless, the ultra-low-cost carrier Pegasus did that on November 20, when its first Izmir-Kraków flight took off. In the year to July, the market had around 2,000 roundtrip passengers, which Pegasus will be able to grow several times.

It appears to be the first time the 774 nautical mile (1,433 km) airport pair has been served, at least on a scheduled basis. It runs weekly on the A320.

Pegasus has flown to Kraków since June 2023, the same month it began Warsaw Chopin flights. Izmir is the carrier’s third Kraków route, alongside Ankara (twice-weekly) and Antalya (weekly). Kraków only got its first Istanbul flights in April 2023 (with Turkish Airlines).

Frontier returns to Burbank

Burbank has rejoined Frontier’s network after ending flights in February 2023. It returned on November 21, when Phoenix and San Francisco routes launched. Phoenix is served four times weekly, while San Francisco’s frequency varies from four times weekly to daily.

While Phoenix was served until April 2022, Burbank-San Francisco is brand-new to its network. It was influenced by Southwest ending the airport pair in January 2024.

Frontier’s third Burbank route, Denver, restarted on November 22. Last flown in April 2022, it runs twice to three times weekly. Frontier has become the third carrier to Denver, Phoenix, and San Fran.

Source: Simple Flying