The Most Notable New Airline Routes This Week

Welcome to my 107th weekly routes newsletter! I’ve covered a few subjectively exciting examples that took off recently. They include Ethiopian Airlines’ London Gatwick resumption; I am on the inaugural service back to Addis Ababa on the day of writing this article. Why not sign up and receive my newsletter in your email inbox every week?

That makes 13 US destinations

Turkish Airlines has inaugurated service between Istanbul and Detroit. The three-weekly service, which rises to four in December and five weekly next summer, is operated by the Boeing 787-9.

TK205 departs Turkey at 15:45 and arrives in Michigan at 18:50 local. Returning, TK206 leaves at 21:35 and gets back at 15:35+1.

Detroit, the carrier’s 13th US destination, is an obvious choice. While it is not a Star Alliance hub, the metro population has a significant Levant population, which competitor Royal Jordanian has served for years.

Turkish Airlines is well-placed geographically to capitalize on this traffic, particularly to Lebanon, Jordan, Israel (at least usually), and Iraq. Elsewhere, the broader Middle East will be an important target, likewise Albania, North Africa, Bangladesh, and India.

Ethiopian in Gatwick after 17 years

It is hard to imagine that Ethiopian Airlines last served Gatwick in 2006 when it operated on a one-stop basis using the Boeing 757-200ER. Things could not be different now, with three weekly non-stop Airbus A350-900 flights that started on November 21st, with some photos below. I interviewed the airline’s Chief Commercial Officer, Lemma Yadecha Gudeta; more on that soon.

The launch came a week after the Star Alliance carrier resumed Bangui, Central African Republic, after 11 years. It became its 76th African destination from its Addis Ababa hub.

While Ethiopian’s other European destinations typically see aircraft remain on the ground all day to arrive in Addis early the next day (06:00-07:00+), Gatwick is different. Flights return at 20:40, offering far fewer transit opportunities than the peak time.

But this somewhat misses the point. Entebbe, Harare, Johannesburg, Kigali, Lilongwe, Lusaka, Nairobi, and Seychelles – all significant markets from London – are available, supplementing the point-to-point market. Gatwick’s 10:10 departure provides passengers two choices of London departure times, alongside the typical 20:15 from Heathrow.

A Bonza launch

Australia’s only independent LCC, Bonza, has opened its third base at the ever-popular Gold Coast, joining existing bases at Sunshine Coast and Melbourne. Its first Gold Coast route – to Townsville – took off on November 15th and is five weekly. It used VH-UIK, a 4.6-year-old Boeing 737 MAX 8, of which it now has five.

That first service was joined by Mackay and Melbourne on the 16th, Albury and Rockhampton on the 20th, and Launceston – its first airport in Tasmania – on the 21st.

A further eight routes will begin in the coming weeks for a total of 14, including overnight services from the Northern Territory – another new state – back to the Gold Coast. In all, only three destinations will have direct competition; such is the nature of Bonza’s network plan.

That’s the Spirit!

What is better than a new route celebration? Three celebrations! Especially if they are all on the same day, from the same airport, and with one airline, as in the case of Spirit from Tampa.

It has commenced service to Charleston (SC), Norfolk, and Richmond, all served four weekly. They are relatively small markets by the ULCC’s standards. It comes as Tampa recently welcomed Porter and Lynx started two routes from the Florida airport, and as Tampa gained another Frontier route (to Baltimore).

Spirit competes directly with Breeze on all three airport pairs. Charleston is used to having two operators, with Breeze against ATR-operating Silver Airways until earlier in 2023; Spirit will be rather more challenging. Richmond had three operators in 2021 and 2022: Southwest, Breeze, and JetBlue. Only Norfolk has never had more than one carrier before – until now.

Beond different?

In a highly different launch, all-business-class brand-new airline Beond – no y – has launched operations. Its first commercial service left Male, Maldives, for Munich on November 15th, taking about 11.5 hours to reach Bavaria with a refueling stop in Dubai.

Its second route – Male to Zurich via Dubai – began two days later, while number three – to Riyadh – starts on November 23rd. All are served twice-weekly. Milan is due to begin next year, although it is not on sale. Interestingly, its lowest-priced fare family, called Delight Experience, doesn’t even include lounge access.

For now, Beyond has one aircraft: a 44-seat A319. Registered 8Q-FBA, it started life flying for easyJet as G-EZEA and was the airline’s first Airbus aircraft delivered. It is an amusing about-face: from LCC to ultra-premium.

Avelo jets off to Puerto Rico

Marking the carrier’s next chapter, Avelo has inaugurated service to San Juan from Connecticut’s Tweed New Haven and Delaware’s Wilmington. Both are served twice-weekly using the 189-seat Boeing 737-800.

When Avelo’s entire network is considered, Tweed New Haven is the airline’s most-served airport by seats for sale this winter, while Wilmington ranks third. Not surprisingly, it is the first time both airports have had Puerto Rico flights. They are based on a significant Puerto Rican diaspora.

San Juan has non-stop flights to 31 mainland US airports with nine airlines this winter. Despite low frequencies and a limited network, Avelo is not the smallest operator. Sun Country is, with its typical weekly to three weekly service from Minneapolis, rising to daily during Christmastime.

World’s new 4th longest MAX 8 route

The world has a new fourth-longest Boeing 737 MAX 8 route, although it would be very much second if the number of flights were considered. Operated by the Dominican Republic’s Arajet, it is between Santo Domingo and Buenos Aires.

Launched on November 14th, it covers a considerable 3,734 miles (6,009 km) – longer than London Heathrow to Washington Dulles. It comes shortly after it started flying to Toronto, Montreal, and Santiago de Chile.

Served three times weekly, DM333 leaves Santo Domingo at 17:55 and arrives in Argentina at 03:05+1 local. Returning, DM334 departs at 04:25 and gets back at 11:40. It is timed for two-way connectivity. Flightradar24 shows that the first outbound flight took 7h 54m and 7h 46m back. Fancy that?

Take off: flynas to Bahrain

The point-to-point market between the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and Bahrain is a pretty big one. Between January and September 2023, more than 155,000 passengers flew (roundtrip). Traffic will grow even more following the launch of flynas, which will also provide many onward connection opportunities across Saudi Arabia and more.

It is a relaunch: flynas served the 261-mile (420 km) market between 2015 and 2017. Further back, Cathay Pacific flew Hong Kong-Bahrain-Riyadh between 2008 and 2013 using the A330, A340, and 777.

Examining December data shows that flynas’ daily A320neo service will compete directly with Bahrain’s Gulf Air (35 weekly; A320, A321, and 787-9) and Saudia (five weekly; A320/A321). Coming soon is flynas’ Jeddah-Bahrain service.