Every month dozens of flight schedules change. Just two years ago, the FAA was handling an average of 26,527 scheduled flights per day. Given the current expansion of the industry, this has increased with FlightRadar24.com saying that they tracked 202,157 flights in a single day on 29th June. It goes without saying that new routes are constantly being launched. While it would be impossible to look at every single flight, we take a look at some of the more noteworthy additions.
Cathay Pacific
Despite the launch of a new high-speed rail link in Hong Kong threatening domestic flights, the airline just launched a new route to Washington D.C. The new route sees an Airbus A350-1000 flying non-stop across a distance of almost 8,200miles. While the flight is Cathay Pacific's longest route, it still isn't quite as long as the new route operated by Singapore Airline's A350-900ULR. CX860 will leave Hong Kong four times per week at 1755, crossing the international dateline and landing in Washington at 9:45 the same day. By contrast, the return flight departs at 0102 from Washington, arriving the next day at 0515. Now, who said time travel wasn't possible? The flight launched on September 15th and offers a three-class cabin consisting of business, premium, and economy.
Jet Blue
In contrast to the Transpacific route launched by Singapore, Jet Blue is sticking to land by launching a new transcontinental flight from Ontario in Los Angeles to New York's JFK airport. The flight will be operated using A320 aircraft 7 days a week. With the outbound flight taking place in the evening, the inbound flight is an overnight flight. B6355 is scheduled to leave New York at 1912, arriving in Ontario at 2236. The returning flight, B6354, is scheduled to depart Ontario an hour and a half later at 2359, arriving back in New York at 0818 the next day. This route launched at the start of the month on September 5th.
Alaska Airlines
Launching a day after Jet Blue's new flights, Alaska Airlines launched another transcontinental route to Pittsburgh. The new Boeing 737 flight will become the only non-stop route to service the two cities. While being a similar distance to the new Jet Blue Route, these flights will also operate daily. Firstly, the outbound flight will depart from Seattle at 0800 operating as AS198, before arriving in Pittsburgh at 1553. Afterwards, the return flight will depart Pittsburgh at 1700, before arriving back in Seattle at 1903.
Qantas
In contrast to the two transcontinental flights above, but similar to Cathay, Qantas is also launching a new Transpacific route. Starting a month ago on September the first, the airline began flying non-stop from Melbourne to San Francisco. This is another flight which will operate four times a week, with services leaving Australia on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. The flights will be operated by Qantas's B787 aircraft, the same type used on the Melbourne - London route. The first flight departs from Melbourne at 21:40 arriving in San Francisco at 19:00 as QF49. The return flight leaves 3 hours later at 22:00, arriving in Melbourne the next day at 0630. The second flight operates as QF50.
Which of these new routes if your favourite? What new routes would you like to see? Let us know below!