The Most Notable New Airline Routes This Week

By Dr. James Pearson - Journalist | Simple Flying

Sign Up To James' Routes Newsletter Here ??

Welcome to my 155th weekly routes article! I have analyzed some subjectively exciting services that began or resumed between January 28 and February 3 (unless stated). Click here to see my last jam-packed article!Dozens of routes have started or resumed in the past week. However, as always, only a selection is covered.

All Nippon jets to Sweden

All Nippon is the largest operator between Japan and Europe. On January 31, it began flying between Tokyo Haneda and Stockholm Arlanda—a Star Alliance route—with a three-weekly 787-8 service. It will become daily next winter.

The Japanese capital was Stockholm's largest unserved Asian market. It has not had flights before—at least not in the past 20 years.

Meanwhile, Stockholm was Tokyo's largest unserved European city following the return of service to Milan. The Italian airport regained Japanese flights in December 2024, when All Nippon launched a three-weekly 787-9 service (daily next winter).

Find tickets here!

Tokyo Haneda to Istanbul is next; All Nippon flights start on February 12. Like the others, there will initially be three weekly flights, rising to daily. When it is daily, All Nippon and partner Turkish Airlines will jointly have a record triple daily Istanbul-Tokyo service.

Take off: flyadeal to South Asia

Saudi low-cost carrier flyadeal is now in Pakistan and South Asia. On February 1, the airline, the lower-cost unit of Saudia, inaugurated flights from both Jeddah and Riyadh to Karachi.

In the 12 months to July 2024, Jeddah-Karachi had 925,000 roundtrip passengers (2,500 daily), and Riyadh-Karachi had 127,000 (348 daily). flyadeal serves Pakistan's most populous city twice-weekly from Riyadh and four weekly from Jeddah.

Click here to fly these new routes!

When all airlines are considered, Jeddah-Karachi has up to seven daily flights in February. Saudia has the most departures (A330/777), followed by PIA (A320/777), Air Sial (A320), Airblue (A320), flynas (A320neo), Serene Air (A330), and flyadeal (A320neo). Yet about one in five passengers connect to another flight en route, particularly in Dubai.

LOT Polish has started Lisbon flights

On February 3, LOT Polish Airlines inaugurated its first flight from its Warsaw Chopin hub to Lisbon. The 1,487 nautical mile (2,754 km) market is currently served five weekly, but it'll be daily in the summer. Flights use the 737-800 and 737 MAX 8.

LOT Polish is the third operator at the airport level, joining fellow Star Alliance member TAP Air Portugal along with ultra-low-cost carrier Wizz Air. Ryanair serves Lisbon from Warsaw Modlin.

Search for tickets here!

In March 2024, LOT Polish began Warsaw-Tashkent, followed by Oradea and Riyadh in June, Lyon in September, Tenerife South in November, and Innsbruck in December. Beirut, Keflavik, Malta, and Thessaloniki will all begin or resume in 2025.

Air India Express is now in Phuket

It is always particularly pleasing when a never-served-before market gets its first non-stop flight. This occurred from Hyderabad to Phuket on January 31. Air India's lower-cost unit, Air India Express, operates, and it marked the carrier's debut in the Thai destination.

737 MAX 8-operated flights usually run six weekly, but the schedule varies. In mid-February, flights depart India at 0640/11:10/11:50/12:20 and return at 15:55/19:55/20:10/20:25.

Find tickets here!

Hyderabad is Phuket's fifth-largest Indian market for point-to-point traffic. In the 12 months to November 2024, it had 19,000 passengers, which will easily grow with the new non-stop service and relatively low fares. It is a smaller market than Delhi (234,000), Mumbai (180,000), Bengaluru (79,000), and Ahmedabad (23,000).

Seven Indian cities now have Phuket flights provided by Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, and Thai AirAsia. Up to 11 daily services are available, the highest number to date. SpiceJet, which operated from Delhi, pulled out of Phuket in mid-January.

SAS begins 5 routes in 2 days

The Scandinavian operator's network now includes five more routes, all operated by Braathens Regional Airlines' 72-seat ATR 72-600s.

In late January, it started flying to S?len (or Scandinavian Mountains Airport) from Aarhus (weekly), ?ngelholm (weekly), and Stockholm Arlanda (three-weekly). S?len's airport, which is in Western Sweden near the Norwegian border, opened in 2019.

Separately, SAS now serves Stockholm Arlanda to Halmstad. It runs twice daily during the week and once daily on Sundays. It is the latest in a string of carriers on the 241 nautical mile (446 km) link, and a huge array of props and small jets have been used.

While the four links mentioned above are new to SAS, the fifth isn't. It is from Stockholm Arlanda to Kalmar, which the carrier flew until 2023, when the ATR 72 and CRJ900 were deployed. The six-weekly service (no Saturday flight) is now exclusively in the hands of the prop.

Click here to fly!

3 new domestic Indian routes

The Indian regional carrier Star Air gets little attention. Its first flight was in January 2019, just over six years ago. It now has eight aircraft: four ERJ145s and four E175s.

Its two latest routes are to the small city of Jharsuguda, in the eastern state of Odisha, both of which use the 76-seat E175. Running three weekly, it now flies from Lucknow, while it operates four weekly from Raipur. Only Raipur has previously had flights, with Alliance Air's ATRs operating until 2022.

Various other Indian domestic routes started this week, including Air India Express from Mangalore to Delhi. Its daily 737 MAX 8 service coexists with IndiGo's daily A321neo offering. The city pair last had two or more carriers in 2019.

At 941 nautical miles (1,743 km), Mangalore is Delhi's 10th-longest domestic market. Meanwhile, Delhi is around two and a half times the length of Mumbai, now Mangalore's second-longest link.

Poland gets Vietnam flights

Warsaw Chopin, Poland's main airport, now offers non-stop flights to the Vietnamese beach resort gateway of Nha Trang. Charter flights for Anex Poland and Anex Tour Vietnam will be available until April.

The first departure left Poland on January 28, with flights operated by SkyLine Express' 531-seat 777-300ER, of which it has one example. It is reported that 498 passengers were on the first outbound service (94% load factor). Ukrainian carrier SkyLine Express was previously called Azur Air Ukraine.

Poland's first (and for now only) scheduled Vietnamese service operated between 2010 and 2012. It was when LOT Polish flew Warsaw-Hanoi using the now-withdrawn 767-300ER.

23rd birthday for easyJet's Gatwick base

On February 1, easyJet celebrated the 23rd anniversary of its London Gatwick base. Its first flight using Gatwick-based aircraft and crew was to Barcelona on February 1, 2002. At the time, the carrier's fleet exclusively consisted of the 737 (both the -300 and -700).

The UK's second-busiest airport has been part of the low-cost carrier's map since 1999. Since then, it has carried over 250 million Gatwick passengers and has over 70 aircraft there.

In 2008, easyJet acquired the former British Airways franchisee, GB Airways, to grow at Gatwick. This enabled the low-cost carrier to overtake British Airways as the airport's leading operator.

The West Sussex airport remains easyJet's leading facility out of the 161 airports in its network this year. It plans an average of 165 daily take-offs throughout the year (although the exact number varies massively by season), twice as many as its second most-served airport, Geneva. It accounts for 47% of Gatwick's flights, with 113 destinations served.