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New York gets to PLAY
Located around 70 miles (113km) from central Manhattan, New York Stewart is reconnected to Europe after a three-year absence. That's because Iceland's PLAY inaugurated Keflavik on June 9th, two days after Keflavik-Bologna took off.
The carrier is attracted to Stewart's very low (and probably free) charges, no slots, and no congestion. There might also be other financial incentives. From my experience of flying PLAY, it attracts a younger crowd of price-conscious passengers. They'll like the dedicated coach service, which takes 75-90 minutes and, from my searches, costs from $1 each way plus booking fee.
PLAY serves Stewart 1x daily, with the first service by the A321neo and thereafter mainly by the A320neo. Like all of its US flights, Stewart is designed to connect seamlessly to a growing number of broader European cities.
Air Serbia begins nine routes
Bologna, Bari, Hannover, Lyon, Nuremberg, Palma, Salzburg (where this photo was taken), Sochi, and Trieste are now connected to Belgrade with Air Serbia. All are served either 2x or 3x weekly.
Air Serbia is the only operator on all nine routes. However, Wizz Air previously served four of them, including Salzburg, while Air Serbia linked Trieste 13 years ago.
As Air Serbia is a hub carrier, albeit small, most of the additions have a 'split schedule.' Flight times vary depending on the day to maximize connections over Belgrade to the likes of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, and Turkey.
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Vancouver to JFK gets non-stops
The British Columbia city of Vancouver is now linked non-stop to JFK with JetBlue. Announced in December, the first flight took off on June 9th. It runs 1x daily using non-Mint-equipped A320s. (While Philippine Airlines routes Manila-Vancouver-JFK, it has no fifth freedom traffic rights.)
Flight B6603 leaves NY at 18:59 and arrives at 22:26 local. Returning, B6604 departs at 23:30 and arrives back at 07:48+1. JetBlue was to begin Boston to Vancouver on June 12th, but it no longer will.
In 2019, JFK-Vancouver had around 160,000 round-trip point-to-point passengers. A good chunk was from Cathay Pacific's long-standing but now defunct Hong Kong-Vancouver-JFK service, although Delta operated JFK-Vancouver until August 2019. Philippine Airlines last carried passengers on it in 2018.
Łódź-Heraklion takes off
Few realize that Poland's third-largest city is Łódź. Famed for its past in textile production, it is the location for Routes Europe 2023. Alas, it is barely a 1h 30m drive from Warsaw, limiting growth.
Ryanair's subsidiary Buzz has started a 1x weekly charter service, on behalf of tour operators, from Łódź to Heraklion, Crete, Greece. It runs on Wednesdays until the end of September.
As Ryanair (or Buzz) has no aircraft based at Łódź or Heraklion, it’s served on a ‘W’ basis. The first aircraft routed Poznan-Heraklion-Łódź-Heraklion-Katowice.
That's it for the 41st edition of my routes newsletter. Please sign up to get something like this in your inbox each week. I'll see you next time.