Welcome to my 130th weekly routes article! I have analyzed subjectively exciting services that began in the past week. As usual, multiple other example launches are listed at the bottom. Click here to see the last jam-packed edition.

This article is about choosing services that intrigue or are particularly significant, not covering them all.

Lufthansa sees double

On May 31, Lufthansa commenced Munich-Seattle, joining its long-served operation to the Pacific Northwest airport from Frankfurt, its busiest hub. The 4,439 nautical mile (8,222 km) link from Munich, which uses the A350-900, runs three times weekly year-round. Condor last served it in 2017. Seattle is one of 15 North American destinations this summer from Lufthansa’s Bavarian hub.

On the same day, May 31, the German giant switched its daily Munich-Washington Dulles service from the A340-600 to the A380. It is the first time the route has seen the superjumbo, meaning Dulles has three A380 operators for the first time since 2019. The equipment switch resulted in seats per flight rising by 80%+, nearly doubling economy capacity.

Related

Lufthansa Begins 1st Ever Munich-Washington Dulles Airbus A380 Service

Dulles has become one of three US airports with three or more A380 operators.

Qatar Airways to Kinshasa

The Middle East giant now has passenger flights to 29 African airports. It is because of the June 1 launch of Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, served four times weekly by Qatar Airways’ 787-8s.

Like many African routes, there’s a stop, with Kinshasa flights operating triangularly with Luanda, Angola. On two days, it runs Doha-Kinshasa-Luanda-Doha; on the other half, it is Doha-Luanda-Kinshasa-Doha. Passengers can fly non-stop between Qatar and the DRC in both directions.

Naturally, there’s next to no point-to-point Doha-Kinshasa market. Instead, as usual, it will be about connections, with France, Belgium, the UAE, and China being particularly important.

Qatar Airways’ new service is important for a competitive reason: Kinshasa is unserved by Emirates and flydubai and is, funnily enough, Dubai’s largest unserved market in sub-Saharan Africa.

Elsewhere, Qatar Airways began Doha-Tashkent on June 2, another brand-new destination in the carrier’s network.

Norse begins Athens-NYC

The widebody-operating long-haul-only carrier Norse Atlantic debuted in Greece on May 30 when it inaugurated Athens-New York JFK. The first departure was operated by LN-FND, a 6.3-year-old 787-9, positioned empty from London Gatwick the day before. The aircraft is, of course, ex-Norwegian, and Norwegian itself operated the route in 2019.

Norse serves Athens-JFK five times a week, reducing to three times weekly in mid-September before ending for the season from Europe on October 26. Some services depart Athens as early as 07:15, making it among the earliest scheduled transatlantic passenger flights. The start came shortly after United began Chicago O’Hare-Athens.

The budget carrier is the fifth airline on the Athens-Greater NYC city pair, with five to six daily departures to JFK/Newark. It joins American (daily in August), Delta (double daily), Emirates (daily; fifth freedom), and United (daily). Flights have risen by a quarter compared to August 2019, a massive increase in uplift. Changes will happen.

Related

Norse Atlantic Airways Commences New Service Between Athens & New York

A colleague provides background info in this article.

Buenos Aires-Montevideo’s 2nd airline

On May 29, JetSMART, the South American ULCC, began flying between Buenos Aires Aeroparque, the Argentine capital’s downtown airport, and Montevideo.

At just 119 nautical miles (221 km), the A320-operated route is exceptionally short and is the carrier’s second-shortest route networkwide. It currently operates 13 weekly but will rise to double daily every day later this year.

JetSMART competes directly with Aerolineas Argentinas, which has about three daily departing 737-800 and E190 flights this week, soon rising to four daily. The market last had two airlines in 2020.

In July, Aerolineas Argentinas will resume flying between Buenos Aires Ezeiza, Argentina’s main international airport, and the Uruguayan capital. Three E190 services will be available weekly.

Take off: Ethiopian to Sierra Leone

As everyone knows, Ethiopian is Africa’s largest carrier, including by network, not that there’s much competition. On May 31, it began flights to Freetown, Sierra Leone, its 78th African airport.

The service runs three times weekly. It stops in both directions in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, covering 3,113 nautical miles (5,766 km) in each direction, longer than London Heathrow-New York JFK. It uses the 270-seat 787-8, Ethiopian’s smallest widebody.

Having been fed by flights arriving from Asia, the Middle East, North America, and Europe, ET943 leaves Addis Ababa at 10:50 and gets to Freetown at 17:20 local. To maximize two-way connections to the same continents/regions, the aircraft remains overnight in Sierre Leone. ET942 leaves at 08:35 the next day and arrives back at 20:50.

Related

Africa’s Largest Carrier: Ethiopian Airlines Adds 2 New Destinations

Written in February, this article looks at it in more detail.

Prague-Tashkent is back

It has taken 10 years, but Prague to Tashkent – 2,319 nautical miles (4,295 km) apart on a Great Circle basis – again has non-stop flights. However, they are not by Czech Airlines (CSA), which served the airport pair until 2014 on A319s. Instead, they are by the little-discussed Uzbek carrier Qanot Sharq, which operates weekly on the A321neo. The point-to-point market is small, with only 11,000 roundtrip passengers last year.

HH405 leaves Tashkent at 10:30 and arrives at 14:30 local, a whopping 7h block time. Returning, HH406 departs at 16:00 and returns at 01:00+1. Unsurprisingly, Qanot Sharq overflies Russia en route to/from Europe.

Then there’s…

Many other routes have started in the past week or so. Among the long list was Delta restarting Atlanta-Zurich, having last served it in 2019; Kenya Airways returning to Nairobi after a nine-year absence; and Saudi Arabia’s flynas launching Dammam-Najaf.

Teesside gained its first Dalaman service in 13 years, with TUI using Freebird’s A320s; United started its first Washington Dulles-Anchorage service; and Air India said namaste to Delhi-Ho Chi Minh City.

Vancouver has welcomed Flair to Guadalajara; Hainan is back on Shenzhen-Vienna; SkyAlps’ Q400s now operate between Bolzano and Stuttgart; Breeze runs between Tampa and Orange County, among other launches; and San Antonio has flights to eight international destinations with the start of Viva Aerobus to Torreon. Atlantic Airways has arrived at London Gatwick.

easyJet has carried 250 million passengers to/from London Gatwick, its most-served airport, while beginning various new routes elsewhere, such as Belfast City and Prague to Palma and Nice-Athens. airBaltic has commenced Palanqa-Amsterdam; AirSial Sailkot-Medina; and Sunrise Airways flies the E120 between Antiqua and St Kitts.

Want more?

Among numerous other launches, Juneyao took off from Shanghai Pudong to Penang; Allegiant began Dulles-Punta Gorda; charter flights for the Czech tour operator Čedok have started from Ostrava to Kavala; Sun Country has resumed Minneapolis-Providence; and ITA Airways started Rome-Riyadh.

Gulf Air’s first-ever flights between Bahrain and Guangzhou have launched; Virgin Atlantic has reintroduced Manchester-Las Vegas after last serving it in 2020, and it’s the first time on the A350-1000; Wizz Air has started Budapest-Stuttgart, its initial operation at the German airport; avianca began San Salvador-Montreal…

That’s all for now, folks. See you next time

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