New routes launched during the last week
(Saturday 25 April – Friday 1 May):

Route of the week
Ryanair’s Memmingen to Dublin, Barcelona and London Stansted

Ryanair’s COO Michael Cawley (left, wearing a now-rare Hapag-Lloyd Express tie) with Memmingen’s managing director Ralf Schmid. After the formalities there was a ‘fiesta’ and the separate launch of the all-important cheap bus to Munich. “Memmingen has the potential to be one of the most important Ryanair airports in Germany” said the characteristically generous Irishman.

• Believe it all not this is the first time Ryanair has ever won this – awarded for all three new services stemming from its adoption of Memmingen Airport (FMM) – dubbed “Munich West” by Ryanair. anna.aero has closely watched the development of Memmingen after profiling the newly-civilianised former air base in our first-ever edition. This week Ryanair launched a total of nine new routes including four from Trapani (TPS), its new base in Sicily. New services to the Sicilian airport come from Turin (TRN) and Venice Treviso (TSF) which will both be operated four-times weekly, Brussels Charleroi (CRL) and Oslo Torp (TRF). There are also two more new routes from the airport’s new Sardinian base at Cagliari (CAG) to Basel (BSL) and Valencia (VLC).

Cake of the week
airberlin’s Hamburg to Helsinki

Special thanks to Gesa Zaremba, Hamburg’s manager, aviation marketing (pictured here) and photographer Michael Penner for these photos of airberlin’s first Hamburg-Helsinki service, with six weekly flights.

• Hot on the heels of Lufthansa airberlin has also started flying daily from Dűsseldorf (DUS) to both St Petersburg (LED) and Venice (VCE). Also this week the airline has begun six-times weekly non-stop flights between Hamburg (HAM) and Helsinki (HEL), and four-times weekly flights between Berlin Tegel (TXL) and Krakow (KRK). The latter route will be operated using one of the airline’s new Q400s. Finnair already operates twice daily between Helsinki and Hamburg but airberlin is the only carrier offering flights on the 530-kilometre journey between Berlin and Krakow.

VIP reception: Tonci Peovic – General Manager Dubrovnik Airport (middle picture wearing ‘Big Orange’ shirt) was on hand for this important new development. Tonic is also vice chairman of ACI EUROPE’s Small and Medium Airports Action Group (SMAG) which will meet in the Croatian jewel and World Heritage Site next year.

• easyJet has added another two destinations from its ever expanding London Gatwick (LGW) base. The latest routes to be launched are Dubrovnik (DBV) in Croatia, which will be served four times weekly during the summer, and Naples (NAP) which will be served daily. This is the first time that easyJet has flown to Dubrovnik though in the next few months it will start seasonal services from five other bases to the Croatian city on the Adriatic coast. Naples incidentally is not technically a new route as easyJet did operate this route briefly during the summer of 2004. This becomes easyJet’s seventh route to Naples with two more coming in June (to Liverpool and Venice).

Continuing its expansion of services at London Gatwick, Aer Lingus has introduced new services this week to Zurich and Faro and seasonal scheduled flights from Cork to Rennes.

• Aer Lingus completed its raft of new route launches this week as it started two more services from London Gatwick (LGW). It has added daily flights to Zurich (ZRH) and twice-daily flights to Faro (FAO). easyJet already serves Zurich daily while Faro is already served by British Airways, easyJet and Monarch. Aer Lingus has also added a new seasonal route from Cork (ORK) to Rennes (RNS), located in the east of Brittany in north-west France. It will be served twice-weekly on Tuesday and Saturday until 28 September, and complement the airline’s existing seasonal service from Dublin. Last year Rennes airport handled just under half a million passengers ranking it 21st among French airports. Flybe already operates seasonal flights to Rennes from several UK regional airports while Iberia offers services to Madrid. Traffic at Rennes airport in the first two months of 2009 is down 17% versus 2008.

• Aeroflot-Don has begun weekly (Saturday) services from Rostov-on-Don (ROV) to Prague (PRG) using a 737-500. Czech Airlines already operates this route with three weekly flights. In 2008 Aeroflot-Don ranked 10th among Russian airlines handling a total of 1,314,351 passengers. The airline ranked 8th for international traffic with 758,801 passengers.

• Air Canada this week began operating between Toronto (YYZ) and Sydney using a CRJ. Before anyone questions Air Canada’s sanity it should be noted that this Sydney (YQY) is in Nova Scotia and not Australia. The airport’s only year-round scheduled service is to Halifax, which Air Canada’s Jazz subsidiary serves up to five times daily using 37-seat Dash 8-100s.

• Air Europa appears to have caught us out by bringing forward the launch date of its Madrid (MAD) to London Gatwick (LGW) flights. Originally planned for 1 May, flights actually began at the end of March. The twice-daily service is operated by one of the airline’s new 122-seat Embraer 195s. Competition on the route will come from British Airways (with daily flights) and easyJet (with up to four flights per day).

Osaka Kansai pulls out the red carpet to celebrate the start of daily non-stop All Nippon Airways flights between Osaka Kansai and Gimpo airport in Seoul.

• ANA has begun daily flights between Osaka Kansai (KIX) and Seoul Gimpo (GMP) using a 767. From 1 July a 737-700 will be used on the route instead.

• airBaltic has started flying from Riga (RIX) to Linköping (LPI) in Sweden. Flights depart from Riga at 19:30 in the evening and return from Linköping the following morning arriving back in Riga at 09:35. A Fokker 50 operates the route daily except Saturday night / Sunday morning. Linköping is famous as the home of Saab aircraft and is located around 170 kilometres south-west of Stockholm.

• This week sees the start of Allegiant Air services to Los Angeles (LAX). Over the coming weeks 13 regional airports will be linked to LAX starting this week with Grand Junction (GJT) in Colorado, and Medford (MFR) in Oregon. Both routes will be operated twice weekly using MD80s. Alaska Airlines (through its partner Horizon Air) already serves the Medford route with 13 weekly departures using Q400s. In the first quarter of 2009 Allegiant increased its passenger numbers by almost 15% to 1.21 million. Load factor increased by almost four percentage points to an incredible 90.8%. Oh, and they made lots of money as well, reporting a record-breaking operating margin of 31.3% for the first quarter. According to the airline’s latest quarterly report the number of cities served has increased from 58 at the end of March 2008 to 70 one year later. However, the number of routes operated has increased by just 13 from 103 to 116. Fort Lauderdale has seen the number of routes operated by Allegiant drop from 11 to just six during this period.

• American Airlines has launched a new transatlantic service from Dallas / Fort Worth (DFW) to Madrid (MAD). Flights will operate daily using a 767. American already serves Frankfurt, London Heathrow and Paris CDG from its Texan base. Other US airports linked to Madrid with non-stop services include Atlanta (Delta), Boston (Iberia), Chicago O’Hare (Iberia), Miami (American and Iberia), New York JFK (Delta and Iberia), New York Newark (Continental), Philadelphia (US Airways) and Washington Dulles (Iberia).

Andalus’ CEO Jose Maria Martin Delgado (left) and Gibraltar minister Ernest Britto. Seated behind: Gibraltar’s Transport Minister Joe Holliday (left) with Julio Montesinos, Spain’s representative to the Campo de Gibraltar (the area of Spain bordering the Rock). Pictures Johnny Bugeja, Gibraltar Chronicle. The little fella on the Gibraltar Airport centerline is the publisher’s son Louis who walked across the border (which requires crossing the runway) during his Easter holiday in Marbella when he went to see the famous apes.

• New Spanish regional Andalus Airlines (www.andalus.es) has started flying twice-daily (once-daily at weekends) between Madrid (MAD) and Gibraltar (GIB) using ERJ145s. This is a route that Iberia gave up operating last September.

Aurigny has launched daily services to Jersey (today), ahead of the Jersey boat show, which starts tomorrow. From bank holiday Monday, Stansted will also offer a direct connection to Bodrum, operated by Pegagus Airlines.

• UK regional operator Aurigny has added two new routes to the Channel Islands to its network. From this week it offers daily flights from Jersey (JER) to London Stansted (STN), and also from Guernsey (GCI) to East Midlands (EMA). Both routes will be operated with at ATR72.

• BH Airlines (from Bosnia & Herzegovina) now offers a weekly service from Sarajevo (SJJ) to Stockholm Arlanda (ARN) using a 737-400.

• China Southern has commenced twice-weekly operations between Mudanjiang (MDG) and Seoul Incheon (ICN). An A320 will fly between the two cities.

• Continental has this week shifted its Cleveland (CLE) to London service from London Gatwick to London Heathrow (LHR). A 757 will operate the route daily.

• Croatia Airlines has begun a seasonal service from Pula (PUY) to Paris CDG CDG). The route will be flown twice-weekly using an A320.

• CSA Czech Airlines now serves Novosibirsk (OVB) from Prague (PRG). The route will be flown twice weekly with an A319 and means that Novosibirsk becomes the sixth destination in Russia to be served by the airline.

• Delta has expanded its presence in New York this week. From New York JFK (JFK) it now serves Milwaukee (MKE) in Wisconsin daily with a CRJ, while New York LaGuardia (LGA) is now connected to Omaha (OMA) in Nebraska with a daily CRJ service.

• Estonian Air is now operating a twice-weekly service between Parnu (EPU) and Stockholm Arlanda (ARN) using a Saab 340.

• Firefly has added Phuket (HKT) in Thailand to its list of destinations that it serves from Kuala Lumpur’s downtown Subang (SZB) airport. Flights operate daily with an ATR72.

• Garuda Indonesia has started flying two new domestic routes. It operates daily 737-300 services between Denpasar Bali (DPS) and Kupang (KOE), and between Jakarta (CGK) and Jambi (DJB).

• Germanwings has begun seasonal weekly flights from Berlin Schönefeld (SXF) to Bastia (BIA) on the island of Corsica.

• jetBlue has entered a competitive market by launching services between Boston (BOS) and San Francisco (SFO). The new route will be operated daily and will join provide customers with a fourth option. American, United and Virgin America already operate the route at least daily.

• Qantas’s low-cost subsidiary JetStar has begun two new international routes from Gold Coast (OOL) and Sydney (SYD) to Auckland (AKL) in New Zealand. Both routes will operate daily using an A320

On Sunday, KLM will resume services between Amsterdam and Calgary, with five weekly flights.

• After a 12-year gap KLM returned to Calgary (YYC) this week. Non-stop flights from Amsterdam (AMS) will operate five-times weekly using an A330-200.

• LAN Argentina has started twice-weekly flights from Buenos Aires (AEP) to Cartagena (CTG) using an A319.

• Lufthansa now serves Rzeszow (RZE) in Poland five-times weekly from its main Frankfurt (FRA) hub. Flights operate five-times weekly using a CRJ700. Lufthansa becomes just the third airline to offer scheduled services from this Polish airport, after LOT and Ryanair. In addition the airline has also started four-times weekly flights from its Munich (MUC) hub to Tel Aviv (TLV) using an A340-300. El Al already serves this route with five weekly flights.

• Norwegian has launched a new route from its Stockholm Arlanda (ARN) base to Palma de Mallorca (PMI). Palma will be served thrice-weekly initially (Thursday, Saturday and Sunday), with an additional Tuesday flight from 23 June until 11 August. SAS also serves this market but with just two weekly flights.

At Kolkata airport the ‘blue bird’ is welcomed with a traditional water cannon salute to mark the start of new services from Chennai – Paramount Airways’ first new route for 2009. The service continues on to Guwahati and Agartala. M.Thiagarajan, managing director, Paramount Airways said: “We are delighted to offer our services in the east and northeast sectors ahead of our plans. Business and leisure communities will now be able to travel along this route seamlessly.”

• Paramount Airways of India has launched a new sequence of flights. It is now operating daily flights from Chennai (MAA) to Kolkata (CCU) to Guwahati (GAU) to Agartala (IXA) to Kolkata (CCU) and back to Chennai. The airline currently operates a small fleet of Embraer E170/E175s and is definitely not a low-cost airline.

• Shenzhen Airlines has started twice-weekly flights from Guangzhou (CAN) to Denpasar Bali (DPS). This becomes the airline’s first international service from Guangzhou from where it serves almost 30 domestic destinations.

Michael Pewther, senior director of sales (Spirit Airlines) and David Ishihara, director of aviation operations, (Massachusetts Port Authority) announce the start of services from Boston to Atlantic City. Boston now serves 71 domestic destinations (non-stop).

• US ultra-LCC Spirit Airlines now operates daily between Boston (BOS) and Atlantic City (ACY) in New Jersey using an A319. Spirit serves six cities in Florida from Atlantic City and is currently the only scheduled airline operating at the airport. AirTran begins services there in June.

• Sun Country has launched a new seasonal service from Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP) to Boston (BOS) using 737s. “With the addition of this new market, customers in the Twin Cities and Boston will now enjoy low fares and the award-winning customer service we are known for,” said Stan Gadek, Chairman and CEO of Sun Country Airlines. Northwest already operates this route with five daily flights. Boston becomes the 26th destination to be served by Sun Country form its hub in MSP.

• Transaero has further enhanced its domestic network by adding Blagoveshchensk (BQS) to its network. Thrice-weekly flights will be operated from Moscow Domodedovo (DME) using a Tupolev TU214.

Interesting times for Orange County as Southwest airlines shortly begins services here from San Francisco – they will go head-to-head with Virgin America, which now serves the route five times daily.

• Virgin America touched down at John Wayne Orange County airport (SNA) in Santa Ana, California this week to start its 13th route since flights began (belatedly) in August 2007. Services from San Francisco (SFO) will operate five times daily using an A319. The route is already served by American (with 34 weekly departures) and United (with 45 weekly departures).

• Virgin Blue has added two new routes to Darwin (DRW) to its network. Melbourne (MEL) and Perth (PER) will now both be linked to the north Australian city with daily flights using a 737-800. The Melbourne route is currently flown 10-times per week by JetStar while the Perth route is already flown daily by Qantas. Virgin Blue’s only existing service to Darwin is a daily flight from Brisbane where it competes with JetStar and Qantas.

• VLM Airlines, in conjunction with CityJet (both of which are now subsidiaries of Air France), has started twice-daily flights from London City (LCY) to Nantes (NTE) in France. A Fokker 50 will serve the route 12 times each week. Christine Ourmieres, General Manager UK & Ireland for Air France-KLM, says: “We are delighted to introduce this new service which should prove a valuable link for both business and leisure travellers flying between London and Nantes. Our flights have been deliberately timed to enable travellers to undertake a day’s business in either city.”

Route Recycle Bin

To see the latest information we have on routes that have recently been dropped or soon will be, check out our unique downloadable Route Recycle Bin spreadsheet. We currently have over 900 routes in our database which may be of interest to carriers.