April was another busy month for airline network planners — both at home and abroad.
Perhaps most excitingly, two international airlines added new pins to their U.S. route maps. Philippine Airlines is adding service to Seattle, and Turkish Airlines is expanding to Denver, its 14th U.S. destination.
U.S. airlines also kept themselves busy this month.
You’ll find all the latest route news from April below.
Map watching: The award for ‘sexiest new route’ of the year goes to …
Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines continues to grow in Southern California. This time, the airline is adding three routes beginning in October.
This includes nonstop service from San Diego International Airport (SAN) to Harry Reed International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas, as well as flights from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Tri-Cities Airport (PSC) in Pasco, Washington.
Alaska will also add two daily round trips from LAX to Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO) — a route that was previously operated last summer but will now return for year-round service.
The news comes as Alaska recently announced a noticeable uptick in business demand, as reported on the airline’s first-quarter earnings call.
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American Airlines
American Airlines had a busy April with changes to both its domestic and international networks.
Closer to home, the carrier is adding its 228th domestic destination: Provo, Utah. This airport used to be mainly served by budget rivals, namely Allegiant Air, but American will now offer hundreds of one-stop options via its Phoenix and Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, hubs.
The airline also made some major changes to its long-haul network this month. It officially delayed the introduction of its new Flagship Business Suite product, which was supposed to debut later this year on new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. Due to delivery delays, the introduction of this new product has been postponed, along with over 10 long-haul routes.
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As part of these delays, American is also scrapping service from Dallas-Fort Worth to Kona, Hawaii, before it even launches.
It isn’t all bad news for American’s long-haul network. The airline is boosting service in four markets at the end of the year (thanks to increased pilot training), and it’s deploying the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in New York for the first time on a handful of routes, including its newly announced service to Tokyo.
Finally, American is adding a special never-before-operated flight from Philadelphia to Sao Paulo for the Philadelphia Eagles’ season opener in Brazil.
Avelo Airlines
Avelo unveiled just one new route in April: Burbank, California, to Las Vegas. This new service begins May 2 with two weekly flights. It’ll compete with Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines and JSX.
Breeze Airways
Breeze made some big moves in April.
The airline startup added five new routes to its summer schedule beginning in June, three of which are from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The other two routes are from Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina, to West Palm Beach, Florida, and from Westchester County, New York, to Portland, Maine.
Despite giving flyers just a few weeks’ notice to book these flights, the airline seemingly sees an opportunity to boost service in these markets for the peak summer season.
The airline is also growing in Fort Myers, Florida, by establishing an operating base there. The carrier hasn’t announced new routes there (yet), but it already flies to 19 destinations from the Florida city.
Delta Air Lines
It was a pretty quiet month for Delta. The airline just made one big network announcement — boosting Africa service — but it stopped short of adding any new routes.
After a two-year hiatus, Delta will resume flights from New York to Lagos, Nigeria, in December, and it’ll upgauge the route from New York to Accra, Ghana, with an Airbus A330-900neo. This represents a big boost in the premium passenger experience, as the A330neo features Delta One Suites.
Meanwhile, the airline’s flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg will become the first to be operated by the new premium-heavy Airbus A350-900 configuration, which offers two extra rows of Delta One Suites.
Frontier Airlines
Frontier continues to push into major U.S. markets already served by network airlines. This month, the airline expanded its presence with eight new flights touching big hubs like Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth and Philadelphia.
Interestingly, the airline is also adding service from Charlotte to Miami, a hub-to-hub route already served nearly 10 times a day by American.
Frontier is also growing in the Caribbean with new intra-island routes from Puerto Rico.
JSX
Beginning June 27, JSX will relaunch service to Monterrey, California, with flights from Burbank and Orange County, California.
JSX operates from private terminals with spacious 30-seat regional jet configurations, giving travelers a more premium gate-to-gate experience than flying on a major carrier.
Silver Airlines
Silver Airlines cut two routes this month from future schedules. This includes service from Orlando to Huntsville, Alabama, as well as from Fort Lauderdale to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos.
Spirit Airlines
Like Frontier, Spirit has also been busy tweaking its network with new service to major U.S. cities that are already blanketed with flights by major network airlines. (This comes as traditional ultra-low-cost destinations like Orlando have seen plummeting fares due to overcapacity.)
This month, the airline added 10 new routes, including several in hotly contested markets like Chicago to Newark and Los Angeles to Seattle. The airline followed up on April 30 with another network expansion; this time, from Delta’s Detriot hub and from American’s Dallas-Fort Worth hub.
Separately, Spirit is dropping service from Houston to San Jose, Costa Rica.
Southwest Airlines
Southwest hasn’t exited a city since 2019, but things are getting heated down in Dallas as the airline makes some major adjustments to its network.
On the carrier’s first-quarter earnings call, Dallas-based Southwest said it would drop four cities from its route map: Bellingham, Washington; Cozumel, Mexico; Syracuse, New York; and Houston (at IAH). The airline will also shrink at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD).
Additionally, Southwest is scrapping two existing routes: Atlanta to Little Rock, Arkansas, and Chicago (at ORD) to Tampa.
It wasn’t all bad news, though. Southwest will add four new routes, including a new contender for the shortest route in its network: Richmond, Virginia, to Baltimore.
United Airlines
United’s big international growth hit a roadblock this month after the Federal Aviation Administration’s increased scrutiny over the carrier’s recent high-profile safety-related incidents.
While the review is ongoing, United is barred from adding new destinations, which means cutting the carrier’s hotly anticipated new service from Newark to Faro, Portugal, before it even begins. The airline is also delaying its new service from Tokyo to Cebu in the Philippines.
United is allowed to continue growing to existing destinations, and it’s doing just that with four new North American routes launching in the coming months:
- San Francisco to Detroit
- San Francisco to Montreal
- San Francisco to St. Louis
- Chicago to Joplin, Missouri
Aeromexico
Aeromexico added one new U.S. route this month from Atlanta to Queretaro, Mexico. This new daily flight will take off Aug. 5 on board an Embraer E190.
This new route comes just a few months after Aeromexico and Delta were told by the Department of Transportation that they needed to end their joint venture partnership.
Hainan Airlines
Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines will become the first airline to connect the U.S. with Chongqing, China. Hainan filed this new flight from Chongqing to Seattle beginning in May.
Furthermore, Hainan is set to bring back its Boston-to-Beijing flight in May. It was last served in March 2020.
Norse Atlantic Airways
Norse is adding a new route from London Gatwick Airport (LGW) to LAS beginning Sept. 12.
It’s not all good news for the airline, as the carrier will suspend three routes at the end of the summer. This includes New York to Athens, Greece; New York to Rome; and Los Angeles to Paris.
Philippine Airlines
Philippine Airlines is adding a new U.S. gateway: Seattle. The airline will fly a new 6,651-mile route to Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) in the Philippines beginning Oct. 2 on a three-times-weekly basis.
Flights will operate in both directions on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays on board a 370-seat Boeing 777-300ER. This jet features 42 lie-flat business-class seats and 328 economy seats.
Seattle becomes PAL’s sixth destination in the U.S., joining Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Honolulu and Guam.
This route has been in the works for years, as it was originally supposed to launch just before the coronavirus pandemic.
Turkish Airlines
Turkish Airlines is also adding a new U.S. gateway: Denver.
Turkish’s new Denver-to-Istanbul route launches June 11 with three-times-weekly service. This route will give Denver-based travelers hundreds of one-stop itineraries to cities across the airline’s impressive global network.
It also comes as Denver has seen a major increase in air service, particularly with expanded options from fellow Star Alliance carrier United Airlines.
Viva Aerobus
Mexican low-cost carrier Viva Aerobus is launching new once-weekly flights between Charlotte and Cancun, Mexico, on May 25.
Viva will go head-to-head against American Airlines, which offers up to three daily flights in this market.
WestJet
WestJet is adding new twice-weekly seasonal service from Nashville to Winnipeg, Manitoba. This limited-time service will only operate from Sept. 16 to Nov. 15.
Nashville will become WestJet’s seventh direct link between Winnipeg and a U.S. destination and its 23rd nonstop U.S. flight overall.
Xiamen Airlines
Xiamen Airlines filed twice-weekly service from New York to Fuzhou, China, starting in June. The market was last served in April 2020.
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