Welcome to my 64th routes newsletter! I've covered a selection of new routes that took off in the past week. Why not sign up and receive my newsletter in your email inbox every week?

Europe to Kruger National Park

In what was indisputably the most exotic route launches this week, Eurowings Discover – the leisure airline of the Lufthansa Group – introduced Frankfurt to South Africa's Kruger National Park. While designed for German holidaymakers, passengers can connect to Eurowings Discover's flights with Lufthansa to/from Frankfurt.

The launch comes in time for the Southern Hemisphere's summer season, although funnily enough, winter is apparently the best time to visit the world-famous park.

Flying 3x weekly, Eurowings Discover uses Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport, routing Frankfurt-Windhoek-Kruger-Windhoek-Frankfurt. It'll mainly use 283-seat A330-300s.

Click here for Frankfurt-Kruger flights!

United's second Cape Town route

On November 17th, Cape Town welcomed its second nonstop route from the USA. United inaugurated Washington Dulles, running 3x weekly utilizing 787-9s. It joins United's Newark-Cape Town, which first started in December 2019 and relaunched in December 2021. It comes ahead of Delta's first Atlanta-Cape Town, to begin next month.

UA2222 leaves Dulles at 18:40 on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 18:40 and arrives in South Africa the next day at 16:10. Returning, UA2223 leaves Cape Town at 20:50 on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, arriving back at 05:50 (+1).

While the route will be geared towards transit passengers over Dulles, the P2P market had nearly 20,000 passengers in 2019. It was the USA's second-largest unserved Cape Town P2P market, behind only JFK.

Click here for Dulles-Cape Town flights.

United Airlines Cape Town
Photo: Cape Town Airport

Düsseldorf gets Doha flights

On November 15th, Qatar Airways inaugurated Doha to Düsseldorf, its fourth German route, joining Berlin, Frankfurt, and Munich. Its launch came in time for the World Cup.

Served 1x daily using 254-seat 787-8s, it leaves Qatar at 08:20 and arrives in Germany at 13:05. After a two-hour turn, QR86 departs at 15:05 and returns home at 23:00. As usual, it is timed to maximize connectivity over Doha.

Qatar Airways is one of a handful of Middle East airlines serving Düsseldorf this winter. They include Emirates (Dubai), Middle East Airlines (Beirut), TUS Airways (Tel Aviv); UR Airlines (Erbil); FlyErbil (no prize for guessing), and Iraqi Airways (Baghdad via Erbil).

Click here for Düsseldorf-Doha flights!

Qatar Airways Dusseldorf launch
Photo: via ACCONIA.

A second airline for Muscat-Phuket

The 2,856 miles (4,596km) between Muscat (Oman's capital) and Phuket (the Thai resort destination) has a second airline. On November 15th, Oman Air introduced a 4x weekly service using the two-class, 162-seat 737 MAX 8. There are now two Saturday flights. It joins fellow Omani carrier SalamAir, which runs 4x weekly with the 212-seat A321neo.

To increase two-way connections, importantly from Europe, Oman Air's Phuket flights have a split schedule. On Tuesdays and Saturdays, they leave at 09:40 and arrive at 18:50 local. They then depart at 20:10 and return at 23:50, in time to feed early morning outbound flights.

On Thursdays and Saturdays, they leave Muscat at 22:50 and arrive at 08:00 the next day. On Fridays and Sundays, they depart at 09:50 and arrive back at 13:20, feeding onward flights, including to various European cities.

Click here for Muscat-Phuket flights!

Oman Air Phuket launch
Photo: via Oman Air.

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San Antonio welcomes Spirit

Spirit has returned to San Antonio after last serving the airport nearly 14 years ago in March 2009. On November 17th, it launched 1x daily service from the Texas airport to Orlando and Las Vegas, while Baltimore and Fort Lauderdale start in March.

San Antonio-Las Vegas is now served by five airlines. Alongside Spirit are Southwest, Frontier, Allegiant, and Sun Country, with up to 7 daily flights. However, Sun Country ends the route in mid-December. San Antonio-Orlando, meanwhile, has three carriers, with Spirit joining Southwest and Frontier.

Click here for San Antonio-Las Vegas flights!

Spirit San Antonio-2

A double celebration for Tampa

On November 16th, Frontier commenced St Louis, returning to the market after last serving it between December 2015 and April 2018. It has a 4x weekly operation and competes head-to-head with Southwest's 16 weekly flights (2-4 daily). Over the years, the route has seen TWA, American, Spirit, and Sun Country. Fellow ULCC Spirit ended it in April this year.

Meanwhile, Avelo launched Lexington on the 12th. As it had no regular flights before it is a brand-new market, one that Avelo serves with its customary 2x weekly flights. Alas, it seems that forward bookings have been unsatisfactory, as the route is unavailable for booking after January.

Click here for Tampa-St Louis flights!

Aeroitalia begins Bergamo-Rome

New entrant Aeroitalia has taken off on its first domestic route from Milan Bergamo. It serves the nation's capital, Rome, with typically 16 weekly 737-800 flights to Fiumicino. There are 3x daily flights Monday-Friday, 1x daily on Saturday, and none on Sunday. However, Sunday will have 1x daily from January.

Flights are timed, in part, for business day trips in Bergamo and Rome. During the week, they leave Bergamo at 07:10, 12:20, and 18:35 and depart from Fiumicino at 09:20, 14:30, and 20:50 (rather late for a Rome day trip).

Aeroitalia is the only carrier on the 296-mile (476km) airport pair. However, in the past decade, it has seen Alitalia, Blue Panorama, and Ryanair.

Click here for Bergamo-Rome flights!

Aeroitalia BGY-FCO
Photo: via Aeroitalia.

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Arajet launches Kingston

The expansion of new entrant Arajet, a carrier from the Dominican Republic, isn't letting up. It has started Santo Domingo to Kingston, Jamaica's capital, with 737 MAX 8 flights on Mondays and Fridays.

Arajet has 18 routes from Santo Domingo this winter. Aside from Kingston, there's also Aruba, Barranquilla, Bogotá, Cali, Cartagena, Cancun, Curaçao, Guatemala City, Guayaquil, Lima, Medellín, Mexico City, Santa Lucia, Monterrey, Quito, San Salvador, San Jose (Costa Rica), and St Maarten.

Click here for Santo Domingo-Kingston flights!

Arajet Kingston
Photo: via Arajet.

TUS makes history with Tel Aviv-Doha

While it's not a normal, regular operation, special mention must go to Cyprus' TUS Airways. On November 20th, flight U81162 left Tel Aviv bound for Doha, the first time the 1,115-mile (1,795km) route has had nonstop commercial flights. After all, Israel-Qatar have no diplomatic relations.

It wouldn't be permitted but for the World Cup. Tus Airways runs 2x weekly for the duration of the global event. It was previously expected to have to fly via Cyprus, but it was granted temporary permission for nonstop services.

Click here for Tel Aviv-Doha flights!

TUS Airways TLV-DOH
Photo: Getty Images.

That's it for the 64th edition of my routes newsletter. Sign up to get something like this in your inbox each week.