The Most Notable New Airline Routes This Week

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

Breeze begins six routes

Between September 7th and 9th, Breeze commenced Las Vegas from Charleston (2x weekly), Hartford (2x weekly), Huntsville (2x weekly), Jacksonville (2x weekly), Norfolk (2x weekly), and White Plains (2x weekly). Given the sector lengths, it's not surprising that the A220-300 is used on all. They supplement existing Fort Myers, Richmond, and Syracuse. Next to start is Provo (October 6th) and Akron-Canton (October 6th).

While Breeze has head-to-head competition with Frontier from Hartford (1x daily, A320s), it's the only airline from Charleston, Huntsville, Jacksonville, and Norfolk. Of the four without competition, point-to-point passenger traffic in 2019 varied between 18,000 (Huntsville) and 140,000 (Jacksonville).

Of those that started in the past week, only Charleston and White Plains to Las Vegas haven't had nonstop service before. In contrast, Southwest linked Hartford nonstop from November 1999 to November 2018, joined by American West between June 2000 and August 2002. JetBlue replaced Southwest in December 2020 but ceased it in April 2022. Then it was the turn of Frontier in August, now operating alongside even newer entrant Breeze.

Photo: via Breeze Airways.

Back: Billund to London City

Use of the Dornier 328JET anywhere is rare, and it's scarcer still in normal scheduled operations. On September 5th, British Airways' franchise partner, Denmark's Sun-Air, recommenced Billund to London City using the equipment.

The 474-mile (763km) route, primarily designed for business travelers, was last operated two and a half years ago, in March 2020. It now runs 6x weekly: 1x daily on Monday and Tuesday and 2x daily Wednesday and Thursday. There's no service on Fridays or the weekend. In pre-pandemic 2019, the route was served up to 11x weekly.

There remain three airlines on London-Billund: Sun-Air to London City (6x weekly), BA itself Heathrow-Billund (1x daily), and Ryanair from Stansted (up to 3x daily).

Sun-Air is one of three operators between Billund and London. Photo: via London City Airport.

Akasa Air: first Chennai route

New entrant Akasa Air, which launched operations in August, has inaugurated its latest route: from Chennai to Bengaluru. At just 167 miles (269km), it's a short airport pair, with a typical flight time of around 40 minutes. It presently runs 2x daily but will soon rise to 3x daily. When it does, its flights will leave Bengaluru at 08:30, 12:00, and 15:15 and depart Chennai at 10:15, 13:40, and 21:15.

Akasa Air is currently the third airline between the two big cities. It joins IndiGo – who else? – with up to 8x daily, and AirAsia India at 1x daily. A fourth airline, SpiceJet, will resume next March at 1x daily; it last served the route earlier in 2022.

When Akasa Air is added, there will be up to 13x daily services – far from the record of 25x daily held in 2007 and 2008.

Later this month, Akasa Air will begin Chennai-Mumbai (September 15th) and Chennai-Kochi (September 26th). Photo: via Akasa Air.

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Vueling links Paris and Shannon

Paris Orly and Shannon have connected for the first time thanks to Vueling. Running on Mondays and Fridays, great for a long weekend, flights – which use 220-seat A321ceos – are currently bookable through March. Presumably, if performance is sufficient, it'll be back next summer. Shannon is Vueling's third Irish airport, joining Dublin and Cork.

The 566-mile (911km) offering is the latest between Shannon and Paris. Ryanair, Shannon's biggest airline, served Beauvais for years until October 2010, then from April 2014 to November 2016.

Meanwhile, Shannon-Paris CDG was linked by Air France's regional partners between February 2008 and October 2009 using RJ85s and Embraer 145s, while Aer Lingus itself tried it from December 2010 to October 2011 with A320s. Aer Lingus returned briefly in 2020.

Over the years, Beauvais and CDG have had flights from Shannon. Now it's the turn of Orly. Photo: via Shannon Airport.

Aeroexpress Regional takes off

It's not often a new operator begins utilizing rare aircraft. But that's what happened on September 5th, when Hungary's Aeroexpress Regional took off using one a 33-year-old Embraer 120. It has 30 seats.

It has three routes to Romania: Budapest to Cluj-Napoca (the fourth airline since 2004) and Debrecen to Cluj and Targu Mures. Each is served 3x weekly, with operations only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It's a strange setup as it is effectively wet leasing aircraft from its owner, long-standing BASe Airlines Ltd (or Budapest Aircraft Service).

Subject to the performance of these services, it aims to add more regional routes, perhaps especially from Debrecen.

It is the fourth airline on that specific airport pair in the past 18 years. Photo: via Budapest Airport.

VietJet: Phú Quốc to India

For years, Vietnam was barely connected to India, meaning most passengers had to fly via somewhere. That's beginning to change with many new nonstop routes, especially with VietJet.

Brand-new routes include Phú Quốc – an island and tourist beach destination – to Delhi and Mumbai. The markets almost didn't exist in 2019, with each seeing just a few hundred passengers. VietJet is doing what other ULCCs do elsewhere, especially in Europe: experimenting and creating route opportunities.

Using A320s, VietJet links Phú Quốc-Delhi on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, and Phú Quốc-Mumbai on Thursdays and Sundays. Looking at Mumbai, VJ957 leaves Vietnam at 21:00 and arrives in India at 00:20 local time (block time of 4h 50m). Returning, VJ958 departs at 01:25 and arrives back at 08:05 (5h 10m).

Celebrating Delhi now having nonstop flights to Phú Quốc. Photo: via The Bird Group.

Omaha-San Francisco returns

September 2016 marked the start of United between San Francisco and Omaha. Having carried 78,914 passengers in 2019, it ran until coronavirus inevitably stopped it in March 2020. Now the 1,433-mile (2,306km) route is back.

United departs California at 18:44 and arrives in Nebraska at 00:09. After remaining overnight, it leaves at 07:30 and returns at 09:23. It's possible to have a day trip to San Francisco, although you'd be exhausted. The relaunch came shortly after United inaugurated Houston to Lincoln.

The route will use Embraer 175s, A319s, and A320s this winter. Between September 7th and 29th, it'll deploy E175s from Nebraska. From September 30th until October 29th, the A320 will run, followed by the A319 from October 30th to January 3rd. The E175 will reappear from January 4th.

United serves Omaha and Lincoln in Nebraska. Photo: via Omaha Eppley Airfield.

Allegiant grows in Utah

Located around 46 miles (74km) south of Salt Lake City, Allegiant now links Provo to Portland, Oregon (2x weekly). It also reinstated Los Angeles (2x weekly), which previously ran from October 2013 to August 2021, and last month began Las Vegas (4x weekly). All utilize 156-seat A319s and come about because of its new Provo base.

While it's the first time the Utah airport has had Portland flights and regular service to Las Vegas, Allegiant won't be alone in Sin City for long. Coincidentally or not, Breeze will begin the route in October, and it'll also compete head-to-head with Allegiant to Los Angeles.

Things are hotting up in Provo, an airport first served by Allegiant in February 2013. Since then, DOT data shows that it has carried over 1.3 million passengers. It'll have 11 routes this winter, with Orlando Sanford beginning on December 15th.