New routes launched during the last week
(Saturday 6 June – Friday 12 June):

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JetStar’s Auckland to Wellington

Wednesday: Jetstar’s first New Zealand domestic flight arrives in Wellington from Auckland. The NZ domestic operations will complement existing trans-Tasman connections to Australia from Wellington using the full-service Qantas brand, Jetconnect. The music accompanying this anna.aero animation is called Nato’s Theme by Fly My Pretties – an act appropriately drawn from both cities served by this new route. During May’s NZ Music Month Fly My Pretties performed at Wellington Airport’s Mojo Café before a nationwide tour which kicked off in Christchurch on May 22. http://www.myspace.com/fmpretties

• Qantas’ low-cost subsidiary JetStar International has started domestic flights in New Zealand. Between Auckland (AKL) and Christchurch (CHC) there will be five daily flights (increasing to six from 24 June), while between Auckland (AKL) and Wellington (WLG) there will be two daily flights (increasing to three from 24 June). There will also be daily flights from Queenstown (ZQN) to both Auckland (AKL) and Christchurch (CHC). Air New Zealand and Virgin Blue (with its Pacific Blue brand) also operate on some or all of these routes. View a TV news report about when seats went on sale.

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AirTran’s Atlantic City to Atlanta

“Earth, Wind and Fire” are given the key to the AirTran fleet from the airline’s senior director, John Kirby. Mr Peanut, Mackie the stilt-walker and a roll of the dice greeted passengers at the gate. (Photos: Terri Hanson)

• OK, we know it’s not a cake (and it may contain nuts).

  AirTran started flying to the 59th airport in its route network this week when it began services at Atlantic City (ACY) in New Jersey. Flights from Atlanta (ATL) will operate twice-daily using a 717 while Orlando (MCO) will be served thrice-weekly. “We could not be more pleased that AirTran will be providing air service out of the Atlantic City International Airport,” said New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine regarding the Atlanta route. “The dynamic environment in Atlantic City and ongoing economic opportunity development throughout South Jersey has created the opportunity for AirTran to serve a market that has been eager for more convenient access to national air service. This new addition is a real boost for commerce and tourism in the Garden State.” Orlando (MCO) also gets two more new AirTran services this week with the start of flights to Asheville (AVL) in North Carolina, and Knoxville (TYS) in Tennessee. Asheville will be served thrice-weekly and Knoxville four-times weekly, both routes operated by 717s. “Travelers looking to escape colder climates for warm, sunny weather will be happy to know that AirTran can get them there on non-stop flights with the lowest fares around,” said Kevin Healy, senior vice president of marketing and planning for AirTran Airways. “AirTran Airways is proud to expand in Orlando, our hometown, with these new flights and destinations.” Finally, AirTran also resumed flying between Milwaukee (MKE) and Washington National (DCA). The airline abandoned its single daily service last September but is returning nine months later with a double-daily flight using a 737. Midwest already operates over 30 weekly departures on the route.

Route of the Week Candidate – VOTE HERE
TAP’s Lisbon to Moscow

At Moscow/Domodedevo’s official opening ceremony, Sergey Rudakov, airport director, said: “This is a wonderful event not only for us, but our passengers who now have a unique opportunity to fly directly between these two great capitals.”

• It has been a big week for the Portuguese national carrier TAP Portugal. It launched three new routes to major cities in Europe from Lisbon (LIS). Helsinki (HEL), Moscow Domodedovo (DME) and Warsaw (WAW) are all being served five-times weekly using an A320. Only Helsinki is already served from Lisbon (by Finnair, who else?)

Route of the Week Candidate – VOTE HERE
Delta’s Pittsburgh to Paris

In a week of four route launches, Delta Air Lines has started a new service from Pittsburgh to Paris-CDG. The new route, enabled by Delta’s successful joint venture with Air France, is the only non-stop transatlantic service from Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh Channel.com’s Sally Wiggin reports on what it means to have transatlantic services again after a five year break: “You can’t put a price tag on it,” says Brad Penrod, executive director of the Allegheny County Airport Authority. (You may get a commercial for a local pizza delivery before the actual item.)

The rest of this week’s new route launches:

This is Delta’s first non-stop summer service between New York JFK and Zurich. Thomas Brandt, Delta’s commercial manager (Switzerland & Germany) said: “The new service provides passengers with over 40 convenient onward connections to other destinations in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean from New York-JFK.”

On Thursday, Delta became the first airline to offer direct services from New York’s JFK to the Nigerian Capital, Abuja. Twice-weekly flights will increase to three from 1 July. Bobby Bryan, Delta’s commercial manager (West and East Africa): “Our new service will offer our passengers more than 45 connections to destinations such as Washington DC, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Boston and Chicago.”

• The US authorities may have stepped in to prevent Delta starting its new routes to Kenya (Nairobi) and Liberia (Monrovia) but this week saw the start of new services to Nigeria. Abuja (ABV) will now be connected to New York JFK (JFK) with a thrice-weekly (twice-weekly until 2 July) 757-200 service that stops en-route in Dakar (DKR). Also this week, Delta started non-stop flights from New York JFK (JFK) to Zurich (ZRH). The service will initially operate five times per week but will increase to daily by 29 June. American (daily) and Swiss (twice-daily) already link these two airports, while Continental and Swiss also serve Newark from Zurich. Closer to home Delta (through its partner Comair) starts a new seasonal service between New York LaGuardia (LGA) and Traverse City (TVC) in Michigan. Traverse City is the self-proclaimed “Cherry Capital Of The World” and serves the popular summer recreation area of Grand Traverse Bay.

At Eugene, passengers on the first Allegiant Air flight to Oakland were given generous goodies including a mesh backpack, frisbee, sunglasses and sun screen. At the gate, cookies and punch were served and DJs gave away two round-trip flights to Oakland.

• Allegiant Air began linking Oakland (OAK) near San Francisco with Eugene (EUG) in Oregon. Flights operate twice-weekly on Monday and Friday. “Allegiant Air continues to be a great partner to the Eugene Airport,” airport director, Tim Doll, A.A.E., said. “With this latest addition in service to Oakland, passengers will have even more options when travelling to the bay area.” Allegiant already serves Las Vegas and Phoenix/Mesa from Eugene. What makes this route slightly unusual for Allegiant is that neither Oakland nor Eugene are major hubs or even focus cities. This is the airline’s second route to Oakland as it already serves the airport from Bellingham.

• Air Malta has added Verona (VRN) to its network on non-stop destinations from Malta (MLA). Twice-weekly services began this week with Thursday flights operated by an A320 and Saturday flights utilising an A319. The airline also recently began twice-weekly non-stop flights to Stuttgart (STR) which replace the twice-weekly Germanwings service operated last year.

• A week after several other US majors launched new routes, American Airlines has added five new destinations from its Dallas / Fort Worth (DFW) hub. Through its regional affiliate American Eagle Airlines it is starting new routes to Brownsville (BRO) in Texas, Lake Charles (LCH) in Louisiana, Montgomery (MGM) in Alabama, Santa Fe (SAF) in New Mexico and Tallahassee (TLH) in Florida. Brownsville will have three daily flights, Lake Charles and Montgomery two and the remaining two will be served daily. All routes will be served by a mix of Embraer ERJ140s and ERJ145s.

• B&H Airlines, which recently received its first 737, has begun two more routes from Sarajevo (SJJ). However, both new routes to Berlin Tegel (TXL) and Prague (PRG) will be operated by the airline’s ATR72. Berlin is served on Tuesday and Sunday while Prague operates four-times weekly. Neither route is currently served by any other airline.

Blu Express rolls out its version of the red carpet as it starts Rome Fiumicino-Genoa services. In the photo: Carlo Parmeggiani, external relations director (ADR), George Michalopoulos, commercial director, Blu-express and Raffaele Pasquini, head of airport marketing development (ADR).

• Blu Express has begun twice-daily weekday services linking Rome Fiumicino (FCO) with Genoa (GOA) using a 737. Competition on the route is provided by the new Alitalia. The route was previously served by both Alitalia and Air One. Last year traffic at Genoa airport reached 1.19 million, up 6.6% on the previous year. Blu Express’ scheduled network this summer consists of seven domestic routes from Rome Fiumicino plus Ibiza (twice-weekly) and Nice (six times weekly). The Blu Express fleet consists of just two 737-300s, but parent company Blue Panorama has a fleet of three 737s, two 757s and four 767s according to JP Fleets.

• Cebu Pacific has added a further domestic route from its main Manila (MNL) hub. It now operates thrice-weekly (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) to Cauayan (CYZ) using an ATR 72-500. Between 1999 and August 2008 there were no scheduled flights at Cauayan airport. Last August, PAL Express launched thrice-weekly flights from Manila but these appear to have been axed earlier this year. Cebu Pacific is now the only airline serving the airport.

• Croatia Airlines now flies to both Barcelona (BCN) and Gothenburg (GOT) from its home base at Zagreb (ZAG). The Barcelona route will be operated thrice-weekly (Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday) while Gothenburg will be operated twice-weekly (Monday and Friday), with SAS as a codeshare partner. Airbus A319s/A320s will be used on both routes. According to AEA data, in the first quarter of 2009 Croatia Airlines passenger numbers were down a modest 2.8%. However, capacity (ASKs) was up 10.8% resulting in the airline’s load factor tumbling 7.8 points to just 49.4%. Last year Zagreb airport handled 2.19 million passengers and passenger numbers have been up in both January and April this year.

• easyJet has started two significant new Italian domestic routes. It now links Venice (VCE) with both Naples (NAP) and Rome Fiumicino (FCO) twice-daily. What is particularly interesting is that none of these airports are easyJet bases, which therefore requires some creative scheduling. easyJet’s only Italian base at present is at Milan Malpensa. New Alitalia (Air One plus Alitalia) operates on both routes while Meridiana also serves the Naples – Venice market.

This banner ad to show new Tallinn-Amsterdam services attracts much interest from passengers.

• Estonian Air this week added Amsterdam (AMS) and Berlin Tegel (TXL) to its route network from Tallinn. Thrice-weekly flights to Amsterdam will be offered in conjunction with KLM, while Berlin will be served twice-weekly. Both of these routes were planned to be served by the first of the airline’s new CRJ900s of which three are on order. However, the airline’s booking tool and web timetable suggest that 737-500s will be operating the routes, at least for now.

• After last week’s launch, flydubai adds its third and fourth routes this week with the introduction of daily services from Dubai (DXB) to Alexandria (ALY) in Egypt, and Damascus (DAM) in Syria.

• MyAir.com has added a new weekly (Sunday) service from Brindisi (BDS) to Munich (MUC) using one of its CRJ 900s. Munich is a new destination for the Italian low-cost airline which this summer will serve six destinations from Brindisi including Geneva, Paris and Vienna.

The joy of six: Ryanair based its 6th aircraft at Pisa Airport on 5th June (all shown here) coincidentally opening six new routes from Pisa – to Marrakech, Ibiza, Zadar, Lille, Memmingen and Düsseldorf Weeze.

• Just six new routes started by Ryanair this week. Four of these are from its base at Pisa (PSA). New direct services have been started to Dűsseldorf Weeze (NRN), Ibiza (IBZ), Lille (LIL) and Marrakech (RAK), all served either two or three times weekly. This summer Ryanair will serve 36 destinations non-stop from Pisa. The other new routes this week are between Bournemouth (BOH) and Carcassonne (CCF), and Reus (REU) and Nador (NDR) in Morocco.

• S7 launched a new weekly (Saturday) service between Moscow Domodedovo (DME) and Madrid (MAD). Iberia already serves the route twice-daily while Aeroflot flies daily from Sheremetyevo to Madrid.

• SATA has begun weekly (Sunday) flights between Funchal (FNC) on the island of Madeira and Zurich (ZRH). The route is also served weekly by airberlin.

• Shenzhen Airlines has started new daily services between Nanchang (KHN) and Fuzhou (FOC), and between Nanchang (KHN) and Zhengzhou (CGO) using a 737 on both routes. According to OAG data, Xiamen Airlines already serves the Fuzhou route with daily flights. Shenzhen Airlines has also started thrice-weekly flights from Shenzhen (SZX) to Hanoi (HAN) in Vietnam.

• SkyGeorgia (formerly known as Georgian National Airlines) has begun some new routes from Tbilisi (TBS). New flights to Berlin Tegel (TXL), Budapest (BUD) and Rome Fiumicino (FCO) started this week. Rome is served via Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen while Berlin Tegel is served via Budapest. The airline currently operates two DC9s. Tbilisi airport has an impressive new terminal building that was completed in 2007 and which can handle 2.8 million annual passengers.

From Ostrava, SmartWings also serves Larnaca, Heraklion, Preveza, Rhodos and Malaga.

• SmartWings, the Czech-based LCC in which Icelandair has a major stake, has started two new routes. It has added a weekly service to Naples (NAP) from Prague (PRG) and has also added a twice-weekly seasonal service from Ostrava (OSR) to Preveza (PVK).

• Tarom has resumed flying between Bucharest Otopeni (OTP) and Amsterdam (AMS) after a five-year break. Service will be daily using a 737. The airline will be going up against KLM which currently operates three daily flights on the route.

• Ukraine International Airlines has started a twice-weekly service between Kiev (KBP) and Nice (NCE). It has also begun weekly (Sunday) flights between Lviv (LWO) and Milan Malpensa (MXP).

• UTAir now offers weekly flights between Samara (KUF) and both Anapa (AAQ) and Sochi/Adler (AER).

Latvian love: Krisjanis Peters, Riga’s CEO, presents Windjet’s captain and crew with champagne, flowers and chocolates. (Source: LETA news agency)

• Wind Jet has completed its network expansion (at least for now) at Forli (FRL) airport near Bologna. It now flies weekly (Wednesday) to Riga (RIX). For local people in Riga this becomes the fifth Italian airport with non-stop flights from the airport after Milan Bergamo (Ryanair), Milan Malpensa, Rome Fiumicino and Venice (all served by airBaltic).

We know it’s from two weeks ago, but anna.aero received these pictures from the launch of Flyglobespan services between Halifax International Airport and Glasgow. A Mountie was on hand to protect the cake from hungry officials. “Increasing air service to Europe is one of our key priorities, especially in light of the recent Canada-European Union Blue Sky agreement,” said Tom Ruth, HIAA’s President & CEO. “Halifax’s strategic geographic location makes it an ideal connecting point by air between Europe and North America. And in this particular case, it’s wonderful to be making the connection with one of Nova Scotia’s founding cultures.”

Route Recycle Bin

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