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?

Take off: Aircalin starts Singapore

South Pacific operator Aircalin, from New Caledonia, has inaugurated Nouméa to Singapore. At 4,491 miles (7,228km), it's a long way; it has a block time to Asia of 9h. Operating year-round with flights on Fridays and Sundays, it uses 291-seat A330-900, the more popular neo variant. Singapore is its second destination in Asia after Tokyo Narita.

It is, to say the least, an intriguing route. It's influenced by aircraft availability from fewer Tokyo flights and Osaka no longer operating.

Still, Nouméa-Singapore has very little point-to-point traffic – in 2019, barely 4,000 traveled between the two. There are some connecting flights, e.g., to Tahiti, but it mainly seems to be to capture Paris-Nouméa demand in codeshare with Air France, supplementing existing Paris-Tokyo-Nouméa

Brussels welcomes Transavia

Brussels Airlines has welcomed Transavia, the subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group. While Transavia is Dutch, it can fly from any other EU country under the EU open skies agreement. It isn't its first time from Brussels. It flew winter-seasonally between December 2008 and April 2010, then March-April 2016.

Now it's back, and its offering is much bigger than before. It has 134,000 Brussels seas for sale this year, twice as many as all other times combined.

It has seven routes this year. Alicante (6x weekly), Faro (4x weekly), Heraklion (2x weekly), and Ibiza (4x weekly) have started this week. They'll be joined by Tenerife South (from November 2nd; 2x weekly), Salzburg (December 21st; 2x weekly), and Innsbruck (December 22nd; 2x weekly).

TAAG introduces Luanda to Madrid

Luanda and Madrid is again served nonstop, this time by TAAG Angola. The 2x weekly service utilizes 293-seat B777-300ERs. They have 12 fully flat first seats (1-2-1 layout), 56 fully flat business seats (2-3-2), and 225 seats in economy (3-3-3).

As TAAG ordinarily focuses on Portuguese-speaking long-haul destinations, Madrid seems strange. Yes, Iberia served Luanda until 2016. But Luanda-Madrid had barely 10,000 passengers in 2019, or around 14 daily in each direction. Very few.

That misses the point, as it is part of a bigger picture. While TAAG passengers will at some point be able to connect across Iberia's network, Angola is a 'priority country' in Spain's Focus Africa 2023 plan. It means that the route has a broader reason for being created.

flydubai begins Pisa

A third Italian destination has joined flydubai's route network: Pisa. Serving the city, Florence, and Tuscany generally, it is the first time Pisa has ever had flights from Dubai (and indeed the UAE). Combined with partner Emirates' network, the pair serve seven Italian airports.

Operating 3x weekly year-round, the 2,820-mile (4,539km) route to Pisa uses 166-seat B737 MAX 8s. These have ten fully flat beds and 156 seats in regular economy. FZ1295 leaves the UAE at 07:30, and FZ1296 arrives back at 21:45.

It is no surprise that Pisa is timed to depart and arrive in Emirates' peak waves. While the arrival time back is a bit earlier than most European flights, partly because of the relatively shorter distance and a 1h turn in Italy for aircraft productivity, a longer transit time is offset by passengers having fewer alternatives to/from the Italian city.

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l'odyssey takes off

l'odyssey launched operations on June 30th. Its first route was between Geneva and Toulon, south of France, followed by Deauville, Normandy, the next day.

On July 3rd, Deauville-London began, served on a 'W' pattern with Geneva. It temporarily used Biggin Hill but will switch to London City this week; I'm delighted to be on it. Flights from Geneva to Bergerac start later this month.

Focused on "speed, simplicity, and well-being," l'odyssey's website promotes arriving in Geneva just 20 minutes before flying. That's because it uses an FBO rather than the normal terminal. The new operator – which calls itself a broker – uses a wet-leased RAF Avia Saab 340, registered YL-RAL, with 27 seats.

Fukuoka gets two new airlines

The Japanese city of Fukuoka has welcomed two new airlines: Air Do, previously known as Hokkaido International Airlines, and VietJet. Air Do has a 1x daily service to Sapporo, one of Japan's longest domestic routes, using 144-seat B737-700s. The fifth airline with nonstop service, it'll run until October 2nd.

The introduction of VietJet from Hanoi means more choice than ever on the 1,730-mile (2,785km) airport pair. Its 3x weekly offering using A321s competes directly with Vietnam Airlines (up to 3x weekly). Flight VJ958 departs Hanoi at 01:50 and arrives in Japan at 08:05 local. Returning, VJ959 leaves at 09:15 and arrives back at 11:45.

Nice says bonjour to four routes

Serving the famous French Riviera, Nice has welcomed four new routes this week. First, Norway's Widerøe introduced a 3x weekly service from Bergen, the country's second-largest city. It joins flights by Norwegian (3x) and Flyr (2x).

Then came easyJet's domestic link from Brest in Brittany (served up to 3x weekly), supplementing Volotea (2x weekly this summer). easyJet's short hop between Nice and Alghero, on the Italian island of Sardinia, then took off (2x weekly), meaning the airport pair is reconnected after 17 years. Alghero comes shortly after Volotea began Cagliari, also on Sardinia, to Nice.

French regional operator Amelia then launched a 1x weekly service to Brive, 299 miles (482km) away in Southwest France. Having only had three flights in 2011, it is virtually a brand-new route.

easyJet introduces Inverness route

Manchester and Inverness might only be 298 miles (480km) apart as the crow flies, but it often takes seven-plus hours by car and train. The airport pair welcomed easyJet on June 27th, with up to a 4x weekly service. It competes directly with Loganair's 11x weekly operation.

easyJet's summer-seasonal service, which ends on October 28th, is well-timed for weekend breaks, with flights on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays. It is one of 32 new routes to open between June and July.

The route uses 186-seat A320s. It is the largest ever aircraft type to be used, with the previous record Flybe's 118-seat Embraer 195s, albeit only on 35 occasions a decade-plus ago. It even saw 19-seat Jetstream 32s by Air Kilroe (remember them?).

City of Derry gets Faro & Palma

Northern Ireland's City of Derry now has nonstop charter flights to Faro and Palma. Using Albastar B737-800s, they run on behalf on Travel Solutions, a leading tour operating in the country. 1x weekly flights to both summer destinations began on June 29th and will continue until August 31st. It means Derry again has international service.

Faro and Palma aren't strangers to Derry. Most recently, Ryanair served Faro, for the Algarve, between April 2010 and September 2016. That length of service suggests it did well overall. Palma, meanwhile, saw TUI between May 2009 and September 2014.

Derry has also seen scheduled sun service to Alicante, Lanzarote, Reus, and Tenerife South in the past two decades with Ryanair and/or TUI. Might some return?

That's it for the 44th edition of my routes newsletter. Please sign up to get something like this in your inbox each week.