Summary

  • New York JFK has more Europe-bound passenger flights between June and September than any other year.
  • Many developments, including HiSky to Bucharest, Delta to Naples, Norse Atlantic to Athens, JetBlue to Dublin and Edinburgh, have helped.
  • JFK-London Heathrow has 23 daily departures, 10 more than the second-largest market, Paris CDG.

Everyone knows New York JFK is the USA’s number one gateway to Europe. Examining all schedule data using OAG shows between 112 and 126 daily passenger departures to Europe (double for both ways) between June and September 2024. Approximately 30 airlines operate, with 39 European destinations served non-stop, although its network is not quite at a record level.

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Destination #39: Bucharest

It took 15 years, but JFK – and the US – has regained non-stop passenger flights to Romania. This is because of the June 7 launch of the tiny Romanian airline HiSky, which runs four times weekly on its first, and for now only, widebody, 14-year-old YR-KID (I kid you not). Hopefully, nothing will go wrong, as it will have no equipment to fall back on. Flights arrive in JFK at 11:25 and depart at 13:25.

Delta last served the 4,132 nautical mile (7,652 km) market in 2009 and TAROM in 2003.

HiSky A330-200

Photo: HiSky

Airlines need premium passengers, freight, and feed to help make long-haul work. HiSky’s Bucharest network is tiny, and its booking engine shows that no transit destinations are available. It will rely on point-to-point (P2P) traffic, which is always massively risky for long-haul operators.

It will be partially offset by only running in the summer when demand and fares are higher. Booking data shows that Bucharest-Greater NYC had about 29,000 roundtrip P2P passengers between June and October 2023.

That’s 95 passengers daily each way (PDEW) and more in the absolute peak months. Even if it captured half of the indirect market (for instance, 333 weekly passengers each way), it’d only have 83 passengers per flight – and its A330-200 has 274 seats. Stimulating demand will be vital to having any chance, but it’s much harder than in short-haul markets.

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JFK’s Europe network: August

Examining JFK’s European route map in the week starting August 12 shows 852 weekly departures (120-125 daily). The following list details the destinations and frequencies.

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Airlines and equipment details aren’t provided to make the list more readable. The information is based on August 12-18 only; frequencies will vary at other times. It is simply a snapshot of the analyzed week.

  • 23 daily departures: London Heathrow
  • 13 daily: Paris CDG
  • Eight to nine daily: Rome Fiumicino (nine daily just once in this week)
  • Five to six daily: Amsterdam
  • Five daily: Frankfurt, London Gatwick
  • Four to five daily: Madrid, Milan Malpensa
  • Four daily: Barcelona, Dublin, Istanbul (yes, it is on the European side of the river)
  • Three to four daily: Athens, Keflavik
  • Three daily: Zurich
  • Two to three daily: Copenhagen (twice daily just once in this week)
  • Twice daily: Brussels, Edinburgh, Geneva, Manchester, Shannon, Warsaw
  • Daily to twice daily: Berlin, Munich
  • Daily: Belgrade, Helsinki, Lisbon, Naples, Nice, Ponta Delgada, Prague, Stockholm Arlanda, Venice
  • Six weekly: Vienna
  • Four weekly: Bucharest
  • Three weekly: Oslo
  • Twice-weekly: Palermo
  • Weekly: Funchal, Porto, Terceira

In another article, I will examine how JFK’s European network has changed. But for now, what other destinations would you like to see? Let us know in the comments section.

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