The Most Notable New Airline Routes This Week

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

Royal Air Maroc adds Israel

The most significant new route this week is Royal Air Maroc from its Casablanca hub to Tel Aviv. It took off on March 13th and will in part focus on the large volume of Israelis of Moroccan descent.

In 2019, when non-stop or direct flights weren't allowed, over 65,000 people traveled between Tel Aviv and Casablanca. They mainly transited in Istanbul, Rome Fiumicino, Paris CDG, Malta, and Madrid. The market was heavily Israel-dominated, with ~83% of passengers booking in that country.

They now have a choice of El Al or Royal Air Maroc, although the pair codeshare too. The Morocco flag carrier has four-weekly flights in the current week, later rising to 5x. El Al, meanwhile, returns at the end of October.

Royal Air Maroc's launch of Tel Aviv follows El Al, which started Casablanca last year but it won't return until this winter. Photo: via Royal Air Maroc.

Allegiant inaugurates four routes

Ultra-low-cost carrier Allegiant has started four more routes, each served 2x weekly: Toledo (Ohio) to Phoenix-Mesa and Appleton (Wisconsin) to Denver, Fort Lauderdale, and Sarasota. Toledo and Appleton put on fantastic spreads to commemorate the launches, with cakes, gifts for passengers, and more.

Allegiant has never operated any of the four routes before, and only the 883-mile (1,421km) link from Appleton to Denver has head-to-head competition. It competes against a 50-seat, single-class CRJ-200 service by United Express that operates 1x daily.

It has been a big month for Allegiant at Appleton, as it opened a crew and aircraft base at the airport. It has served Appleton since March 2009 and has ten routes from the airport this summer. However, Toledo has been part of Allegiant's network since December 2005 and now has four routes.

Allegiant is one of two airlines serving Toledo. Photo: via Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport.

Niger connected to Abuja and Kano

Nigeria's Air Peace Hopper has introduced its next international route from Nigeria. Operating on Fridays and Sundays, it uses the 50-seat Embraer 145 between Abuja (Nigeria's capital) via Kano to Niamey, the capital of landlocked Niger.

Flight P47534 departs Abuja at noon and arrives in Kano one hour later. After a 40-minute turn, it's off to Niamey, arriving at 15:10. Returning, P47535 leaves at 15:50, arrives Kano at 17:20, departs at 18:00, and arrives back at 19:00.

Air Peace Hopper is the latest airline on Abuja-Niamey, replacing ASKY, which routed Lomé-Abuja-Niamey with Dash-8-Q400s and B737-700s, and a brief offering by Air Senegal on Dakar-Abuja-Niamey using A319s. It also replaces Ethiopian on Kano-Niamey, whose Q400s routed N'Djamena-Kano-Niamey.

Air Peace Hopper has 2x weekly flights to Niamey. Photo: via Air Peace.

Gondia gets commercial service

The funnily named flybig, which naturally operates ATR-72s, has commenced service from Gondia in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the first time Gondia has had commercial service, and the new flights operate under the country's UDAN scheme.

flybig routes Hyderabad-Gondia-Indore, with a 1x daily through service. The flight departs Hyderabad at 06:20 and arrives in Indore at 10:00. Returning, it leaves at 10:20 and arrives back at 13:50. Check out multiple launch photos on Gondia's Twitter page: https://twitter.com/aaigndairport.

The first rotation utilized VT-TMC, a 5.5-year-old ATR-72-600 originally delivered to fellow Indian carrier TruJet, which, of course, doesn't operate jets.