New Long-haul Flights: 9 Amazing Nonstop Routes Launching This Week

Welcome to my place The 202nd every week ways title! On Sunday, March 29, northern flights switched to summer schedules based on IATA Slot times. Therefore, many hundreds of new and returning routes began at that time.

As always, the purpose of this article is to discuss a small selection of subjectively pleasant services. Seven little stories were selected this week. They all relate to long-distance paths, which started or restarted between them March 24th and 30th.

Travel: America from Miami to Milan

American has flights from ten destinations and other US airports to Europe this year. Less than 9% of trips, Miami it is only the sixth level. Despite the small area, flights are up 8% this year, making it the second fastest growing US destination in Europe, after Philly (+10%).

Part of Miami’s growth is because the carrier returned flights to Milan Malpensa on March 28. Since the beginning of December, this route is used every day by a 787-8 that takes 234 people. American used to serve this route between 2013-when Alitalia left-and 2020. For a while, it competed with Air Italy which is no longer active.

Despite a lack of non-stop flights last year, the domestic market had more than 100,000 passengers. It was one of Europe’s largest non-US markets. Click here for a list of ten popular US long-haul markets without nonstop flights.

Iberia launches New US Route

Other US airports have joined the Iberia network. Must be Newarkon the first Iberia flight to depart Madrid which takes place on March 29. To start means to oneThe global airline will serve ten airports in the Lower 48 this year.

The seasonal service operates daily on the 182-seat A321XLR. When services to In North America they are banned until 8h50mwhich is a long time in itself, never made the list of the top 10 Atlantic XLR tracks.

With New York JFK included, Iberia will have three daily flights to Greater NYC this summer, which will be its highest volume to date. That’s up a quarter from the previous report, which was held 14 years ago.

Three notable developments at London Heathrow

On March 29, Virgin Atlantic took off Heathrow at Seoul Incheonwhich marked the airline’s first flight to South Korea. This route operates daily on the 787-9. Due to avoiding the Russian plane, is Virgin’s new longest running service.

It is mainly available to help Korean Air get approval to acquire Asiana from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority. As of 2020, when BA pulled out, only Korean Air and Asiana operated between London and Seoul. Therefore, the UK authorities believed that their merger would reduce competition. Enter the Virgin segment, although it shares with Korea Air.

On the same day, Heathrow welcomed the return of Pakistan International. After the ban is lifted, PIA is slowly returning to UK airports. Manchester flights restarted last year, and now it’s Heathrow’s turn. It’s a shame that PIA used AP-BGK – with an ‘I love Manchester’ sticker – at a busy UK airport (haha!).

The carrier has two routes to the UK’s busiest airports, both using the 777-200ER. First, to leave Islamabadit is eaten three times a week. Second, departure Lahorewhich is offered every week. It will benefit from the ongoing connectivity issues in the Gulf regions. The operational flight flew Islamabad-Heathrow-Lahore-Heathrow-Islamabad.

Cathay Pacific is back in Seattle

The US plays an important role in Cathay Pacific’s passenger network. It is the fourth most-served country by airlines this year, behind only China, Japan and Taiwan. It is its top long-haul market, just ahead of Australia.

On March 30, Cathay rescheduled passenger flights from departure Hong Kong to Seattleas previously used between March 2019 and March 2020. Its return, after six years, is very notable.

By 2026, Cathay will serve Seattle five times a week using the A350-900, the same fleet as before. With a long flight restriction period of 14h in April, it is true that it is the shortest flight path in the US. The first return service was operated by B-LRJ, which looks resplendent in its so-called lettuce sandwich retro livery.

Cathay currently has passenger flights to seven US airports: Boston, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York JFK, San Francisco, and Seattle. Compared to pre-pandemic 2019, regular trips are down 14%, which shows that Newark and Washington Dulles are not back on the map.

LATAM Jets To Amsterdam

LATAM recently launched its first passenger service between São Paulo Guarulhos and Amsterdam. It is the first time KLM has had a head-to-head competition in a long time.

The South American airline operates six times a week on the 787-9, against KLM’s daily service on the 777-300ER. At 5,265 nautical miles (9,751 km), it is the sixth longest new LATAM route, behind Santiago-Sydney, Santiago-Melbourne, Santiago-Madrid, São Paulo-Los Angeles, and São Paulo-Frankfurt.

LATAM will focus on the domestic market (90,000 passengers last year) and connect traffic throughout Brazil and beyond. On the other hand, KLM does not have codeshares in Brazil, so it focuses on the domestic market and passengers flying to Europe and beyond.

Air India Returns to the Italian Capital

On March 25, Air India aircraft recovered from Delhi to Romewhich is the largest market between South Asia and Rome. After serving the Italian capital between 2014 and 2021, the Star Alliance member uses seat 259-787-8 four times a week. This, of course, is completely different from a passenger stopping on the way to the US to fill up and change crew.

Due to Air India’s inability to fly over Pakistan and Iran, the return was very bleak. The detour is significant, requiring the carrier to fly over Oman, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and up Europe.

The distance is about 30% longer than the shortest route between these two cities, with all the implications of cost, competition, productivity, etc.

Compared to March 2019, the length of the ban has increased by an hour to 9h 15m. However, Flightradar24 shows that the first departure took 10h 18m. which suggests that more changes may be coming.

Aeromexico is back in Barcelona

With 160,000 passengers last year, Barcelona it was the fourth largest market in Europe to/from Mexico City. Only Madrid, Paris and London were bigger.

Aeromexico initially served the market between 2007 and 2012. The carrier returned in 2019 following Emirates’ launch of Dubai-Barcelona-Mexico City flights in the same year. Gulf Coast continues to operate Dubai-Barcelona-Mexico City daily with a fifth freedom route.

Now Aeromexico – which was very much against Emirates – is back, and the two airlines are operating at the same time for the first time in six years. It left its base on March 26, and offers a six-weekly service on the 787-8.

Barcelona is one of the six European cities in the traffic network. About one in two flights operate during the day when we return to Mexico, and those from Barcelona are among them.