Welcome to my 140th weekly routes article! I have analyzed subjectively exciting services that began or resumed in the past week or so. As usual, other example launches are listed at the bottom. Click here to see the last jam-packed edition.
As always, this article does not cover all services but rather those that intrigue or are particularly significant.
Kuala Lumpur Subang gets two airlines
Subang was once the main gateway to Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia. However, since most airlines shifted to KLIA years ago, Subang—much closer to downtown—has had a much quieter existence.
As part of Subang’s rejuvenation, AirAsia launched operations on August 30 to Kota Kinabalu and Kuching, each served double daily. Subang was the carrier’s first home. On September 1, Scoot introduced daily Singapore flights.
Subang has not had passenger jet flights for most of the past decade. Instead, most flights were domestic on turboprops, interspersed by a smattering of prop-operated international services to Singapore and parts of Thailand and Indonesia. That changed in early August 2024 following the arrival of TransNusa’s A320s from Jakarta.
T’Way arrives in Paris
Seoul-Paris has four passenger airlines for the first time, thanks to the August 28 launch of services by South Korean low-cost carrier T’Way. The airline operates four times weekly on the 246-seat A330-200, rising to five times weekly later this year. Despite the duration, flights don’t have inflight entertainment.
Funnily enough, its A330-200s are leased from Korean Air, one of the three carriers with which it competes directly. There’s also Air France and Asiana. The Asiana-Korean Air tie-up will change the competitive dynamics—partly hence T’Way’s entry into the market. When the quartet’s flights are combined, they have up to four daily flights in September.
Despite being an LCC, T’Way uses the market’s lowest-capacity equipment. The first rotation deployed HL8211, a 14.2-year-old example—older aircraft are less good for fuel burn but at least cheaper to acquire. Still, it’s pretty odd economically for an LCC, let alone on hard-to-make-work long-haul services.
Like the other three airlines, T’Way avoids Russian airspace. This increases Incheon-CDG’s real-world distance to an estimated 5,730 nautical miles (10,612 km) each way—around 19% more than the Great Circle distance through Russia. The consequences are obvious. Considering the detour, it appears to be the world’s fifth-longest non-stop A330ceo service.
Is it the Bee’s knees?
Romanian low-cost carrier Bees Airlines partly exits to fill the void left by defunct Blue Air. The airline’s fleet currently comprises just one aircraft: a 21.7-year-old A320ceo, YR-BUZ (what else?).
The carrier commenced revenue-generating flights on August 23 by introducing Bucharest-Prague service. It initially runs three times weekly, rising to four weekly this winter. As Wizz Air exited the route in March 2024, Bees’ flights face TAROM’s A318/737-700/737-800s four times a week.
While Bees operates various charter flights, its next scheduled international route was Bucharest-Chișinău on August 27 (twice-weekly), the same day that Chișinău-Verona took off (twice-weekly). Wizz Air served the latter until 2022. Bee’s Bucharest-Chișinău leg is probably at least partly for positioning reasons. It is strange that it started a non-Romanian route so quickly, spreading itself thinly.
Next was Bucharest-Tel Aviv on August 29 (twice-weekly; it did begin despite the war) and Bucharest-Heraklion on September 2 (also twice-weekly), with various other routes starting in September/October. Let’s hope passengers don’t get stung.
Take off: flynas’s multiple routes
Saudi Arabia’s flynas added five Middle East routes to its network in 48 hours. On September 1, three links began: Jeddah-Abu Dhabi (daily), Riyadh-Dubai Al Maktoum (daily), and Jeddah-Sharjah (daily).
The next day, Medina-Abu Dhabi (twice-weekly) and Medina-Sharjah (twice-weekly) took off. Sharjah is a brand-new airport on its route map, while Abu Dhabi and Dubai Al Maktoum last saw its frames in 2022. The airline now serves both Dubai airports.
flynas has also reintroduced two European routes. It was the turn of Jeddah-Marseille on September 2 (three times weekly), which last saw its aircraft in May 2024. The next day, Jeddah-Brussels relaunched (three times weekly), having also been served in May. The latter covers 2,387 nautical miles (4,421 km) each way on the A320neo.
On September 4, the day after publication, the first-ever Jeddah-Berlin flights will begin, evidently funded (like the others) by the Saudi Air Connectivity Program. That route will be covered properly next time.
Jetstar begins 11th Adelaide route
History was made on September 1 when Jetstar began the first flights between Adelaide and Proserpine, Queensland. The Qantas Group low-cost carrier operates on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays—good for long weekends—on the A320ceo.
Proserpine is a gateway to the famous Whitsundays. Last year, the ~13,000 people who flew to/from Adelaide had to connect, particularly in Brisbane. Jetstar will find it easy to grow traffic.
Hamilton Island also serves the Whitsundays. Like Proserpine, it has never had Adelaide flights. When the two places are combined, they had around 25,000 indirect passengers from the capital of South Australia—Adelaide’s largest unserved area.
New York-Tulsa gets 2nd airline
On September 3, the day of writing, Delta Connection inaugurated its second route from New York LaGuardia to Oklahoma. This time, it was Tulsa, with a daily Endeavor Air CRJ900-operated service. The first flight from Tulsa left on September 4.
The schedule varies. On day one, DL5342 is scheduled to leave the Big Apple at 17:35 and arrive in Oklahoma at 20:10 local time. Eagle-eyed readers will notice that it’s after this article is published; hence, there are no celebratory photos. The operating aircraft remains overnight, with DL5039 due to leave at 07:55 and arrive at 12:55 local.
It is the first time LaGuardia-Tulsa has had two airlines. Delta Connection coexists with American Eagle (six weekly E175), which introduced it in 2022—the first time the airport pair had non-stop flights. United served Newark-Tulsa until 2015, which remains unserved. JFK-Tulsa has never had flights.
easyJet Hungary for latest route
In 2023, Budapest-Lyon had 22,000 roundtrip passengers flying indirectly via hubs. It was among the largest intra-European unserved markets, crying out for non-stop service. Lyon was Budapest’s largest unserved European destination and vice versa for the French city.
Photo: Budapest Airport
On August 28, easyJet reintroduced a twice-weekly service, last serving it between 2016 and 2020. It was one of two routes from Western Europe to Central/Eastern Europe that the airline started this week (see later).
The 595 nautical mile (1,101 km) Budapest link was last served by Transavia France in 2022. Air France’s regional unit flew it in 2012/2013, while it was in the hands of the long-defunct Malev until 2008.
Then there’s…
Other launches in the past week or so include United Airlines resuming Los Angeles-Shanghai Pudong flights after more than four years, becoming its fourth Asian route from LA. American Eagle recommenced Chicago O’Hare-Evansville service, reconnecting the Indiana city to O’Hare and enabling more connectivity.
SalamAir started Muscat-Mumbai, easyJet Amsterdam-Krakow, SꓘY Santiago de Chile-Salvador non-stop flights (alongside one-stop options), and China Eastern introduced the first-ever service from Xian to Hanoi. Elsewhere, Etihad reinstated the A380 to Mumbai after seven years, while Air India inaugurated its first A350 service to London Heathrow.
That’s all for this week. See you next time.