Welcome to my 72nd 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?

A Bonza take off

Australia has a new airline: Bonza. On January 31st, the new entrant took off on its first commercial and passenger-carrying service. The route: the Sunshine Coast – its first base – to the outstandingly beautiful tourist hotspot of the Whitsundays, served through Proserpine.

The route, which was never served before, used 3.8-year-old 737 MAX 8 VH-UIK. (Note that the airline kicks off properly from mid-February.) Bonza was set up to launch new, non-stop, leisure-driven routes and, like other (U)LCCs, will stimulate demand with much lower fares. It is designed to save people money and time by not having to fly via hubs.

I am delighted to have played a (small) role in Bonza's history. Working closely with Tim Jordan, the founder and CEO, I helped with data, the business plan, and network things, which helped to gain the capital it needed to fly. I have recommendations in my LinkedIn profile based on my work. The airline has a fantastic team, and it's brilliant to see it take off.

Click here for Sunshine Coast-Whitsunday flights.

Bonza's first flight cale
(Now THAT'S a new launch cake.)
Photo: via Bonza.

Lynx Air begins 1st international route

Canadian ULCC Lynx Air has inaugurated its first international route: from Toronto Pearson to Orlando International. It took off on January 27th and runs up to four weekly. It is one of five airlines on the 1,055-mile (1,699km) airport pair.

Looking at mid-February, it joins Air Canada/Rouge (28 weekly), WestJet (18), Sunwing (7), and Air Transat (4). There are up to 10 flights daily, meaning it is Canada's seventh-largest international route in the February week. More widely, Flair and Swoop both serve Orlando Sanford from Pearson, while Swoop operates Hamilton-Sanford too.

This is just the start of Lynx Air's international operations – and the only one, for now, from Toronto. When writing, it will launch Calgary to Phoenix on February 7th (up to five weekly), Calgary to Los Angeles on February 16th (up to six weekly), and Calgary to Las Vegas on February 24th (up to daily). Each market will now have three airlines.

Click here for Toronto-Orlando flights.

Lynx Air YYZ-MCO inaugural
Photo: Lynx Air

Take off: Wizz Air to Tashkent

On January 25th, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi took off on its next new route: to the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. Some 1,434 miles (2,307km) from the UAE capital, Tashkent is served thrice weekly (later four) using – you guessed it – the 239-seat A321neo. It comes a month after the ULCC introduced its first Uzbek route: Abu Dhabi-Samarkand (also three weekly but later four).

To Tashkent, flight 5W7159 leaves Abu Dhabi at 06:00 and arrives at 10:10 local. After a 60-minute turn, 5W7160 departs Tashkent and arrives back at 14:00.

Wizz Air joins Air Arabia Abu Dhabi on the airport pair (twice-weekly); it started on December 7th. Indeebefore to its launch, it had never been served before. Of course, Dubai-Tashkent, in contrast, has long been a well-served market. This year, there are two daily flights with flydubai and Uzbekistan Airways (mainly 787-9s).

Click here for Abu Dhabi-Tashkent.

Wizz Air Tashkent
Photo: via Uzbekistan Airports.

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Akasa Air adds 13th airport

You'd not necessarily realize India's Akasa Air is a new entrant. Having taken off in August last year, it has 596 flights in the first week of February involving 13 airports across the vast nation. The latest to launch was Hyderabad, with Akasa's first flights taking place on January 25th.

It has two Hyderabad routes: Bengaluru and Goa. It is part of its 20-strong route network in the analyzed week. While it currently serves Hyderabad-Bengaluru daily, it'll rise to twice daily in mid-February. Meanwhile, Hyderabad-Goa (the new airport, which opened to commercial flights on January 5th) runs daily.

In mid-February, Hyderabad-Bengaluru has up to 27 daily flights with IndiGo, AirAsia India, Akasa, Vistara, Alliance, Air India, and Star Air. SpiceJet ended the 283-mile (455km) airport pair in 2021, and Go First in 2022. Their exit must have spurred Akasa's entry.

To New Goa Airport (GOX), Akasa is against Go First and – obviously – IndiGo; there are up to five daily flights. Naturally, Hyderabad to 'old' Goa (GOI) is bigger: up to nine daily in the examined week, IndiGo, AirAsia India, Alliance, and SpiceJet.

Click here for Hyderabad-Goa flights.

Akasa Air Hyderabad launch
Photo: Akasa Air.

On January 30th, South Africa's independent regional airline, Airlink, returned to Antananarivo. It is, of course, from Johannesburg, the operator's primary airport, and it followed the lifting of the ban that kept out South African carriers.

With an initial Monday service, the 1,378-mile (2,137km) airport pair grows to three weekly from mid-February. It has a flight time of around 2h 40m out and marginally longer back.

Over the years, Johannesburg-Antananarivo has had up to two daily services, mainly by Air Madagascar (until 2015, then briefly in 2019), SAA (until 2020), and Interair South Africa (until 2007).

Click here for Johannesburg-Antananarivo flights.

Airlink back to Madagascar
Photo: via Ravinala Airports Madagascar.

Jazeera celebrates a year in Chittagong

Kuwaiti carrier Jazeera has now served the Bangladeshi city of Chittagong for over a year, with its inaugural flight on January 24th, 2022. A year later, it runs thrice weekly. In February, J9535 leaves Kuwait at 23:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays and arrives at 08:05 the next day, a block time of 5h 35m. Returning, J9536 departs Chittagong at 09:05 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Due to headwinds, it arrives home some 6h 55m later at 13:00.

In 2019, the point-to-point market had 29,000 roundtrip passengers, according to booking data. It was the Middle East's seventh largest P2P market to Chittagong, behind Muscat (173,000), Jeddah (109,000), Dubai (105,000), Abu Dhabi (98,000), Doha (64,000), and Sharjah (58,000).

That was when Kuwait-Chittagong had no non-stop service. It has previously been served by both Kuwait Airways (2009-2011) and Biman Bangladesh (2005-2008, then 2011-2017, and a tiny number of services in 2020/2021).

Click here for Kuwait-Chittagong flights.

Jazeera Airways 1 year in Chittagong
Photo: via Jazeera Airways.

That's it for the 72nd edition of my routes newsletter. Sign up to get something like this in your inbox each week.