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?

Düsseldorf welcomes three new airlines

The German city of Düsseldorf, located in one of Europe's most densely populated areas, has welcomed Blue Air, Air Albania, and Air Moldovia. It also welcomed back the return of Norwegian after a ten-year absence.

Romania's Blue Air launched a 3x weekly Bucharest service, rising to 5x weekly from June 6th. It competes head-to-head with Eurowings, by far Düsseldorf's largest operator, currently 4x weekly but later also 5x. This year will see the airport-pair's highest frequency for over a decade.

Air Albania began a 3x weekly operation from Tirana, currently bookable until August 22nd. It also faces direct competition, although only in the peak summer. From June 28th, Eurowings will have a 2x weekly service, ending on August 26th.

Air Moldova completes the trio of new operators. It began a brand-new route from Chișinău with a 2x weekly operation. It'll be joined by Flyone in June.

Wizz Air opens Cardiff base

It has been a long time coming, but Wizz Air has opened its Cardiff, Wales, base. The inauguration was delayed from 2021.

Wizz Air has one 230-seat A321ceo at Cardiff (currently G-WUKK). The Welsh airport is the fourth UK airport at which it stations aircraft and crew. It joins London Luton (Wizz Air's busiest airport), London Gatwick, and Doncaster Sheffield.

Wizz Air is Cardiff's second-largest carrier by seats for sale this summer after TUI. It has eight summer routes. By order of capacity, they are Tenerife South, Alicante, Faro, Palma, Larnaca, Heraklion, Lanzarote, and Corfu. Another route, the long link to Sharm El Sheikh, will begin on November 1st, the third day of the aviation winter season.

Cardiff is Wizz Air UK's fourth base. Photo: Cardiff Airport.

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Toronto to JFK gets a new airline

Thanks to Canadian ULCC Flair, passengers flying between Toronto and New York now have more choice. The carrier commenced the 366-mile (589km) link between Toronto Pearson and JFK on April 7th, marking the carrier's first foray at JFK. It presently operates 2x weekly but will rise to 4x weekly from May 16th, mainly by the B737 MAX 8.

Flair is currently the only carrier on the airport-pair. That'll change on June 20th when it'll be joined by a 5x weekly Swoop operation. And on September 12th, Delta will resume JFK-Toronto, running 3x daily using Endeavor Air CRJ-900s.

Delta launched the route in August 2003, and it ran until it was postponed in mid-2020. It used to be operated by American (July 2005-December 2019) and Air Canada (May 2012-April 2016).

Come September, Toronto-JFK will have three airlines. Photo: via Teo Hwang, Manager at JFK Terminal One.

Durban-Harare is linked again

After a five-year absence, the market between Durban and Harare is finally reconnected. And it makes sense, with over 20,000 indirect passengers in 2019, according to booking data.

Airlink, South Africa's largest carrier by flights this month, has a 3x weekly service on the 804-mile (1,294km) airport-pair. It uses 37-seat Embraer 135s, with a block time to Zimbabwe of 2h 10m and 2h 15m on the way back. That's quite a long trip for the small regional jet. It leaves Durban at 10:30 and returns at 15:35.

It was previously served by South African Express between October 2012 and May 2017 and utilized 50-seat CRJ-200s.

I love the perspective of the bottom photo! Photo: via Jon Howell.

Hallo en welkom, Amelia!

On April 11th, Amsterdam Schiphol welcomed French regional operator Amelia in fantastic fashion. With a water salute, stroopwafels, and wooden tulips, it showcased the new carrier more than many airports do for much bigger operators or new routes.

Amelia introduced Strasbourg to Amsterdam, with 2x weekday flights using Embraer 145s. It leaves Strasbourg at 06:40 and 18:25 and departs Amsterdam at 08:50 and 20:35. There is no weekend service.

Until May 2005, the 289-mile (465km) airport-pair was operated by Dutch Air Excel using ATR-42s. It then switched to Air France’s regional operators, variously using Embraer 135s, Embraer 145s, Embraer 170s, Embraer 190s, CRJ-700s, and CRJ-1000s.

Air France Hop ceased operating it on April 9th, with the route then taken over by Amelia, with whom Air France codeshares.

Air Malta is back in Madrid

It's great to see new routes, whether brand-new and never operated previously or, like Malta to Madrid, resuming after a significant absence.

Air Malta, the Maltese flag carrier, is back in Madrid after last regularly serving the Spanish capital until September 2007 and on a limited basis between July and October 2020.

Now it has a 3x weekly service using A320neos and ceos, ending for the summer season on October 28th. It competes head-to-head with Ryanair's up to 5x weekly operation.

There are now eight weekly flights between Malta and Madrid. Photo: via Malta International Airport.

American resumes Phoenix-Heathrow

Phoenix to London Heathrow welcomed back its second airline on April 5th after a two-year absence. The carrier originally launched Heathrow from its Arizona hub on March 31st, 2019, and it lasted for a year before it was pulled because of coronavirus.

Now it's back. AA194 departs Phoenix at 17:55 and arrives in the UK at 12:10 local time. Returning, AA195 leaves Heathrow at 09:30 and returns at 12:35. It deploys B777-200ERs.

It does, of course, use aircraft that arrived from elsewhere, typically JFK or Boston. It supplements fellow transatlantic joint venture partner BA's 1x daily Phoenix service.

According to T-100 data, American carried approximately 134,261 round-trip passengers in its first 12 months. It had a seat load factor of 72%, but it was new, and, in later months, demand was impacted by COVID.