- Another new, rather returning, transatlantic route for Aer Lingus: The International Airlines Group carrier will return to Hartford from Dublin on March 26 after a three-year hiatus. The announcement comes a week after Aer Lingus unveiled new service to Cleveland. The addition of the two smaller cities to the Aer Lingus network confirms IAG’s strategy to turn Dublin, which benefits from U.S. preclearance facilities, into a European gateway for second-tier cities.
- Air Canada is cozying up to United. After unveiling plans for a transborder joint venture in July, the Canadian carrier will add two routes to United hubs in December: Halifax to Newark, and Vancouver to Houston Bush. While neither is an out-of-the-box route — United flew the Halifax route until 2020, and flies the Vancouver route to this day, per Diio by Cirium — both connect key nodes in each airlines’ networks. Expect more of this if Air Canada and United’s pact gets the OK.
- Delta has cut three routes, and added one. The carrier will end daily flights between Detroit and South Bend, and New York LaGuardia and Northwest Arkansas on November 7 and 8, respectively; and has dropped plans to resume Boston-Bangor flights in May, per Diio. At the same time, it will launch a new daily flight between Boston and Rochester, N.Y., with an Airbus A319 on November 9.
- Alaska has dropped four routes that it deemed as “not major” markets for its travelers. Gone are nonstops from Los Angeles to Austin on January 8, and Salt Lake City on November 29; Austin — a 2022 all-star — to Palm Springs; and San Diego to Santa Barbara, per Diio. The latter two routes were seasonal and will not resume as planned this winter and spring.
- And in the latest fallout from the Ukraine war, and resulting closure of Russian airspace to western airlines, Virgin Atlantic has decided it will not return to Hong Kong. The carrier cited “significant operational complexities” stemming from the airspace closure for the decision. Virgin Atlantic had served Hong Kong for 30 years; Shanghai will remain as the airline’s only East Asian destination.
- Avianca has notified Colombia authorities of plans to add 12 new routes, including two new transatlantic flights to Barcelona. The Star Alliance carrier plans to connect Bogotá to Belo Horizonte, Boston, Cuzco with continuing service to La Paz, Bolivia, and Manaus; Cali to Barcelona; Cartagena to Guayaquil; and Medellin to Barcelona, Guayaquil, Quito, San Juan, and Santo Domingo. All of the routes would be flown with Airbus A320 family aircraft except the Barcelona flights, which would operate with Boeing 787s. The new routes continue Avianca’s post-bankruptcy strategy of diversifying away from its Bogotá by offering more point-to-point routes to compete with ultra low-cost carriers.
- Route tidbits: Ryanair will connect Shannon to Béziers, France, and Newcastle in its summer 2023 schedule, which begins in March. Frontier Airlines will connect Montego Bay to Chicago Midway, Denver, and St. Louis from February. And Spirit Airlines will add Norfolk, Va., to its map with daily nonstops to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando from March 8.
Edward Russell
October 10th, 2022