Welcome to my 53rd routes newsletter! Routes go to the heart of airlines and airports, and I celebrate them in my weekly newsletter.
I've covered a selection of new routes that took off or resumed in the past week. Why not sign up and receive my newsletter in your email inbox every week?
After last serving Kota Kinabalu to Singapore using its own metal until September 2009, Malaysia Airlines has returned. It links the two airports, some 890 miles (1,432km) apart, 3x weekly using 160-seat B737-800s. While it also had 3x weekly flights 13 years ago, it then used B737-400s.
Malaysia Airlines is the third airline in the market, joining AirAsia (currently 1x daily, but 2x daily from January) and Scoot (1x daily). There is no Singapore Airlines itself, although now-defunct Silk Air, its former regional narrowbody partner, served Kota Kinabalu for years until late 2019. Then Scoot, the lower-cost unit of the Singapore Airlines Group, took over. Historically, the market peaked at 5x daily flights (in 2009); in the next year, it'll have up to 3x.
Kota Kinabalu is one of four routes to Singapore operated by Malaysia Airlines. Naturally, it joins Kuala Lumpur (currently 4x daily, gradually rising to 10x daily next year; B737-800, A330-200, A330-300), along with Kuching (currently 3x weekly, but later 1x daily; B737-800) and Penang (4x weekly; B737-800).
Located 753 miles (1,212km) south of Lincoln, the capital of Nebraska now has nonstop service to Houston Intercontinental. Following the loss of Delta this year, United is currently the only passenger airline serving Lincoln, with Houston flights supplementing those to Chicago O'Hare and Denver.
More specifically, United Express started a 1x daily Houston-Lincoln service utilizing 50-seat Embraer 145s belonging to CommutAir. While the flight number varies, it leaves Texas at either 18:15 or 18:40. It remains overnight in Nebraska, leaving at 06:30.
Lincoln-Houston is a tiny point-to-point market, with fewer than 5,000 people in 2019 (PDEW of seven) and even fewer carried in 2020 and 2021. Of course, United will focus on connections over its Houston hub.
Analyzing schedules shows that over 30 US and international airports will be connectable on a two-way basis with a less than four-hour wait. In 2019, roundtrip traffic totaled around 25,000. The five largest markets were Orlando, Austin, San Antonio, New Orleans, and Cancún, all easily reachable over Houston.
As the old song goes, it's a long way to Tipperary. In a modern twist, it's a long way from the east coast of China to Portugal, although admittedly, that's less catchy.
Still, the nations again have nonstop service, although there was little by way of celebration. In late August, Capital Airlines restarted – you guessed it – Hangzhou, an enormous city in its own right and not far from Shanghai, to Lisbon. It runs 1x weekly using 222-seat A330-200s and has a flight time to Portugal of over 14h and about 12h 30m back. Those arriving back in China face a week of quarantine.
Presumably driven by Chinese tour groups, the long 6,683-mile (10,755km) route has history. Initially served by Capital Airlines in 2017, routing Hangzhou-Beijing-Lisbon and back, it later switched to Beijing-Xi'an-Lisbon. Now Hangzhou's back, although entirely unconnected with Beijing.
Passengers flying between Aberdeen and Oslo, some 521 miles (838km) apart, again have the option of nonstop service. It's thanks to Loganair, so-called Scotland's Airline, running 6x weekly (no Saturday flights) using 49-seat Embraer 145s.
During the week, LM59 leaves Aberdeen at 08:30 and arrives at 11:05. On the way back, LM60 departs at 11:40 and arrives back at 12:20.
The going hasn't always been easy for Aberdeen-Oslo. Since 2006, it has seen five airlines at different times: bmi regional, City Star, Eastern Airways, SAS, and Loganair. Following the exit of bmi regional, Loganair started the route in March 2019, but it ended three months later. Now it's back, and happily for Loganair, no longer with direct competition from SAS.
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Sometimes lousy weather really does get in the way of a good celebration. That didn't put off the congregation awaiting the arrival of Indonesia AirAsia from Jakarta, which is just as well. Silangit International Airport, located in North Sumatra, is near Lake Toba, one of Indonesia's key emerging tourist destinations.
Served 3x weekly by Indonesia AirAsia, the 782-mile (1,259km) route – the only route to Silangit – is expected to help grow tourism and economic development in the area.
Not that Indonesia AirAsia is the only airline serving it. Funnily enough, it's joined by Citilink (1x daily), the lower-cost unit of Garuda Indonesia, and Batik Air (2x daily), the full-service unit of Lion Air.
While it's in no way a celebratory photo, Iran Air's introduction of Tehran Imam Khomeini to Ahmedabad is a noteworthy new route. Operating 1x weekly year-round, the 1,545-mile (2,487km) airport pair hasn't been served before, or at least not in the past 20 years. That's not surprising: in 2019, it had barely 5,000 roundtrip passengers.
IR814 leaves Iran at 22:30 and arrives in India at 02:00 local. Returning, IR815 departs at 03:35 and arrives home, after around three hours of flying, at 05:45.
The route uses A310-300s, an ultra-rare type in passenger config except in Iran due to sanctions. The A310 will probably be subbed at times by the A300-600, a similarly rare machine.
If you were to drive between Bathurst, in Australia's Blue Mountains, to Sydney, it'd take perhaps 3h to cover the 126 miles (203km), no doubt more at peak times. No wonder Rex, which served the route for many years, struggled to make it work. Historically, it had up to 6x daily flights, although no more than 3x daily in 2019.
Following the exit of Rex, it's now the turn of FlyPelican. It's convinced it has more appropriate equipment: 19-seat Jetstream 32s rather than 30-plus seat Saab 340s utilized by Rex. However, FlyPelican will necessarily have higher seat-mile costs and will therefore require higher fares, but with far fewer seats to fill.
With a 50-minute block time and around a 30-minute flight time, FlyPelican runs 6x weekly (no Saturday flights). That'll rise to 11x weekly (2x daily Mon-Friday, 1x on Sunday). A passenger could arrive in Sydney at 07:30 and leave at 17:30, but the lowest fare is AUD298 return (around USD$202).
The new Mexican airport of Felipe Ángeles International, which opened earlier this year, has welcomed three new routes. All are by VivaAerobús, the airport's third-largest carrier by seats for sale.
VivaAerobús has commenced Felipe Ángeles, located around 25 miles (40km) from central Mexico City, to Puerto Escondido (3x weekly), Acapulco (2x weekly), and Oaxaca (2x weekly).
Viva faces direct competition on all three routes. There’s Volaris to Puerto Escondido (3x weekly), Aeroméxico Connect to Acapulco (1x daily), and Aeroméxico Connect to Oaxaca (1x daily). Volaris has also scheduled Oaxaca (4x weekly), but it's currently not bookable.
The 5,378 miles (8,655km) between Frankfurt and Nanjing again has Lufthansa flights. After last operating in July last year using the B747-8, they resumed on September 4th using the increasingly rare A340-300.
There's currently a 1x weekly service, with LH780 leaving Germany at 19:35 on Sundays and arriving on Mondays at 15:00. Returning, LH781 departs Nanjing, which has a metro population of 10 million, at 23:20 on Tuesdays, arriving back at 06:40. Passengers must quarantine for a week on arrival in China.
Lufthansa first served Nanjing on a passenger basis over 14 years ago in March 2008. Then as now, the route used the A340-300. Over the years, Nanjing has had various European routes, including by Finnair and Italy's Neos, as well as Chinese carriers.
That's it for the 53rd edition of my routes newsletter. Sign up to get something like this in your inbox each week.
Route Development Analyst – James lives and breathes route development. Educated in Air Transport Management at Loughborough and Cranfield, James was Market Opportunity Analyst at London Luton Airport and Chief Analyst at anna.aero. Now writing data-driven analysis for Simple Flying. Based near London, UK.