We've covered a selection of new routes and relaunches that took off in the last week. Why not sign up and receive our newsletter in your email inbox every week?

Qantas resumes Texas

Sydney and Dallas Fort Worth are once again connected non-stop by Qantas. It comes after the long, 8,578-mile (13,804km) route that was last served in April 2020, 22 months ago. It initially operates three-weekly by 236-seat B787-9s but will rise to six-weekly from early April and once-daily from August.

Flight QF7 currently leaves Sydney at 17:40 on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, and arrives in Texas at 16:00 local time the same day. Returning, QF8 departs Dallas at 20:20 on Wednesdays, Fridays, Sundays, arriving home two days later at 06:05.

Qantas began Dallas in May 2011, with the B747-400 used. The A380 replaced it in October 2014, with the double-decker quadjet plying the route until it was postponed in April 2020. For the foreseeable future, Dallas will see the B787-9.

The DOT's T-100 dataset shows that Sydney-Dallas-Sydney had 223,558 passengers in 2019, with a seat load factor of 83.05%. According to booking data, about half of the passengers transited from Sydney over Dallas onto American flights. Sydney to LaGuardia, Chicago O'Hare, Orlando, Miami, and Washington Dulles were the largest origins and destinations at airport-level.

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Qantas' return coincided with Australia's borders reopening. Its Dallas operation will gradually increase to once-daily. Photo: via Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

Milwaukee

Frontier is back in Fort Lauderdale

Ultra-low-cost carrier Frontier is back in Fort Lauderdale. It last served the South Florida airport for years until April 2020, shortly after the effects of the pandemic took hold. In the year to April, it served Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Long Island, and Trenton from the airport.

Now it has 12 routes from Fort Lauderdale. Atlanta, Long Island, Orlando, Philadelphia, Stewart, and Trenton took off on February 17th, followed by Albany, Buffalo, and Rochester a day later. And on the 19th, Green Bay and Portland (Maine) launched, with Fort Lauderdale to Providence on the 20th.

Not surprisingly, 2022 is set to be overwhelmingly the ULCC's best year from the airport, with over 975,000 round-trip seats for sale. The previous record was 315,000. In addition, Frontier has 2.1 million from Miami this year, an airport at which it expanded significantly in 2021.

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Frontier is Fort Lauderdale's eighth-largest airline this year. Photo: via Frontier.

STARLUX begins its next Japanese city

Taiwanese full-service carrier STARLUX inaugurated Taipei to Fukuoka on February 17th. Currently operating once-weekly, it is bookable at once-daily from May 1st. JX840 leaves Taiwan at 10:30 and arrives in Fukuoka at 13:45 local time. Returning, JX841 departs Japan at 14:45 and returns at 16:25. It uses 188-seat A321neos.

Fukuoka is the airline's third destination in Japan after Osaka Kansai and Tokyo Narita, both inaugurated in December 2020. In the first week of May, it'll have three daily flights to Japan, more than any other country.

STARLUX Fukuoka
STARLUX is the fourth-largest of nine operators offering non-stop service between Taipei and Japan this year. What a fantastic angle for a water salute image! Photo: via Chin Leong Teo, CCO at Fukuoka International Airport.

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Breeze begins eight routes

Eight new routes have been inaugurated by Breeze, as Long Island and West Palm Beach joined its network. Norfolk to Long Island started on February 17th (currently four-weekly), joined the next day by Charleston to Long Island (three-weekly).

Then came South Florida, with once-weekly services from West Palm Beach to Akron-Canton, Charleston, Columbus, New Orleans, Norfolk, and Richmond all taking off on February 19th.

All but one route is brand-new. The exception is Columbus, which was last served by Frontier between November 2018 and April 2019 twice-weekly using the A319 and A320. West Palm Beach-Columbus had approximately 44,000 round-trip passengers in 2019.

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On February 19th, this aircraft Embraer 190 (N108BZ) operated Charleston-West Palm Beach-Akron Canton-Charleston, and then Charleston-Akron Canton-West Palm Beach-Charleston. Photo: courtesy of Shane Koch. 

Allegiant opens Flint base

The Michigan city of Flint has welcomed the opening of Allegiant's base at the airport. It's the first time that any major airline has had a base there, where a base involves stationing aircraft and staff. Allegiant has two A320s at Flint, located northwest of Detroit.

Allegiant first served Flint in April 2016 with routes from Orlando Sanford and Tampa St Pete. In 2022, it has 11 routes, with Punta Gorda having more flights than any other. It is followed by Tampa St Pete, Sanford, Sarasota (starts April 15th), Las Vegas, Phoenix-Mesa, Nashville, Boston (March 10th), Jacksonville (March 11th), Savannah, and Fort Lauderdale.

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Allegiant has more flights from Flint than any other carrier. Photo: via Flint Bishop International Airport.

Singapore Airlines returns to Bali

The Singapore flag carrier has reintroduced Changi to Denpasar, the airport for Bali, after last being served in April 2020. It currently operates once-daily, but will rise to twice-daily from July 1st.

The 1,037-mile (1,669km) route uses 337-seat B787-10s, with 36 fully flat seats in business and 301 in economy. The type is Singapore Airlines’ highest-capacity twin, with 28% more seats than the B777-300ER on account of a two-class cabin versus four. Some 89% of seats on the B787-10 are in economy, meaning it has a higher pThat'sion of main cabin seats than any other widebody.

Singapore Airlines’ Bali schedule presently varies per day to maximize two-way connectivity over Changi. Depending on the day, there’s a morning and late afternoon service from Changi, ensuring easy connections, especially to/from Europe, North Asia, South Africa, India, and the US.

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According to reports, the first inbound flight had 156 passengers. Photo: via Ngurah Rai International Airport.

Flyr launches Oslo to Milan Bergamo

Norwegian low-cost carrier Flyr began Oslo Gardermoen to Milan Bergamo on February 16th, with service on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It is a brand-new airline for the Milan-area airport. The route is currently bookable until March 26th, the day before the aviation winter ends, using 189-seat B737-800s.

Flyr has no head-to-head competition on the airport-pair. However, Oslo Torp has had Ryanair service to Bergamo since February 2005. It continues to this day with two weekly flights, rising to three weekly from the end of March.

Flyr Milan Bergamo
Those celebrating the launch include Giacomo Cattaneo, center, Milan Bergamo's Director of Commercial Aviation. Photo: via Milan Bergamo Airport.

JetBlue inaugurates Puerto Vallarta

The Mexican vacation hotspot of Puerto Vallarta is connected non-stop to New York JFK thanks to JetBlue. The 2,304-mile (3,707km) link has a block time to Mexico of just over six hours, and an hour or so less on the way back. It’s the first time it has been served since Delta ended its long-standing but typically once-weekly service in March 2017.

JetBlue has four weekly flights using 200-seat A321neos, with 42 seats in Even More Space and 158 in Core. However, it’ll rise to once-daily by 162-seat A320ceos from mid-June. It competes indirectly with a Saturday-only United service from Newark.

The carrier’s daily operation will provide a lot of capacity for a route that had ~30,000 round-trip point-to-point passengers in 2019. It is driven, in part, by the Northeast Alliance, and demand will hopefully nicely grow from ~$250 round-trip fares for non-stop service. That is quite a bit cheaper than Cancún often is, an obviously very established destination from NYC and a third closer than Puerto Vallarta.

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Puerto Vallarta joins Cancún and Los Cabos in JetBlue's network. Photo: via JetBlue.

That's it for the 25th edition of our routes newsletter. To get something like this in your inbox every week, please sign up for our weekly routes newsletter.