Welcome to my 168th weekly routes article! It includes eight mini-stories about subjectively exciting services that took off between May 12 and 19. Many dozens of routes worldwide started in the examined period. However, as always, only a selection of intriguing additions is covered.

Alaska Airlines’ 1st Long-Haul Route

On May 12, Alaska Airlines’ first long-haul route took off. It uses Hawaiian Airlines aircraft, with Hawaiian now a fully owned subsidiary of the Alaska Air Group. Seattle to Tokyo Narita runs daily on the 278-seat A330-200. Passengers can connect to Alaska Airlines’ full network over Seattle and to Japan Airlines’ codeshare destinations via Narita.

It joins Japan Airlines’ flights between Narita and Seattle (daily 787-9), with Narita far less well-positioned for downtown Tokyo than the very slot-constrained Haneda. In contrast, All Nippon serves Seattle from Haneda (daily 787-9), as does Delta (daily A330neo, but A350-900 from May 22). Tokyo will now have four daily Seattle flights, a frequency last available in 2014.

In the year to July 2024, Seattle-Tokyo had 167,000 round-trip local passengers. It was Seattle’s largest Asian market, after Delhi (129,000), Seoul (117,000), Manila (90,000), and Shanghai (77,000).

Uganda Airlines Jets To The UK

Uganda and the UK have nonstop flights for the first time in 10 years. On May 18, Uganda Airlines started Entebbe to London Gatwick service. The carrier benefits from lower fees/charges and greater slot availability at the UK’s second-busiest airport, which is also closer to the African community in South London. BA served Entebbe from Heathrow until 2015.

After last serving the UK in the late 1980s, Uganda Airlines operates four times weekly on the 258-seat A330-800. With a block time of up to 9h 30m, it is the rare variant’s longest route, although it is second by distance. It is the A330-800’s only UK route.

The small carrier’s somewhat politically driven route focuses mainly on diaspora, visiting friends and relatives, and tourists. London-Entebbe had 78,000 passengers in 2024, with connections available to multiple other African cities, including Dar es Salaam, Harare, Johannesburg, Lusaka, and Nairobi.

United Airlines Begins Faro Flights

On May 16, United made history by beginning the first service ever from the US to Faro, Portugal. Delayed by a year, the brand-new link from Newark runs four weekly on the 757-200. It is part of United’s creative network development, which has seen multiple ‘different’ markets added.

Big incentives and other risk-sharing agreements are probably involved, which is just as well. In 2024, only 40,000 people flew between the US and Faro, with NYC necessarily being the largest market. United will easily increase traffic from its nonstop flights.

United now serves a record four Portuguese airports: Faro, Lisbon, Ponta Delgada, and Porto. However, it’ll jump to five in June, when the first Newark-Funchal service takes off. It’ll be the first time any North American airline has served so many Portuguese airports.

Air Canada Now Serves 4 Italian Cities

Montreal has gained its first flight ever to Naples, Italy, gateway to the Amalfi Coast and more. Air Canada inaugurated the link on May 15, and it covers 3,673 nautical miles (6,802 km) each way. It is served four times weekly in the summer on the 255-seat 787-8, the carrier’s lowest-capacity widebody equipment.

This marked Air Canada’s first time in the Southern Italian city. It does not serve Naples from Toronto—in fact, no airline ever has. Naples’s local traffic to/from Toronto and Montreal is tiny, at 14,000 and 9,000 round-trip passengers, respectively. Air Canada will easily double or triple Montreal’s volume, while carrying many connecting passengers.

Air Canada now serves four Italian cities—Milan, Naples, Rome, and Venice. It is one of four North American carriers to serve Naples, joining American, Delta, and United. They have up to seven daily flights this summer.

Global’s 1st Passenger Transatlantic Flight

On May 15, Global Airlines started its first transatlantic passenger-carrying service. It was between Glasgow and New York JFK, with the return leg (operating during the day to the UK) on May 19. It was just a one-off round-trip operation.

It sold fewer than 20% of the A380’s available seats, which is obviously exceptionally low, even with minimal promotion and time on sale. While Global owns 9H-GLOBL, it is operated by Hi Fly Malta; it is effectively a travel agency chartering it.

On May 21, Global will operate from Manchester to JFK, returning during the day on May 25. The reason for the multi-day stopovers in New York, which incur significant parking and crew costs, appears to be that Global does not have permission to sell tickets from the US. As such, those who flew out will fly back. It remains to be seen if any regular services will operate.

WestJet Begins Flights To Salt Lake City & Mexico City

Salt Lake City has welcomed WestJet as its next airline, marking the first time the Canadian carrier has served Utah. It does so from Edmonton, 754 nautical miles (1,396 km) away, with a thrice-weekly 737 service, primarily the 737-700.

WestJet launched the route because of its partner Delta, which recently revealed it’ll purchase 15% of the carrier. It is the latest in a long line of WestJet routes to Delta hubs in recent years, with passengers able to connect to Delta’s network. Between 2005 and 2010, Delta Connection flew Salt Lake City-Edmonton on the CRJ200, with up to three daily flights.

Elsewhere, nonstop flights are again available from Calgary to Mexico City. They are because of WestJet, which reintroduced the route on May 14, having last served it in 2018. Aeromexico did so between 2017 and 2019, while the now-defunct Mexicana operated between 2018 and 2010.

WestJet primarily deploys the 737-700 on the five-weekly service, although the 737 MAX 8 will be exclusively used this winter. Surely partly influenced by Mexico City’s lack of slots, WS2200 leaves Alberta at 19:40 and arrives at 00:58+1 local time. Returning, WS2215 departs at 01:55 and gets back at 07:25.

TAP Air Portugal’s 2 New US Routes

TAP has started two US routes in the past week. On May 14, it launched a four-weekly A321LR service from Porto to Boston. It replaced Azores Airlines, which served it weekly in 2024. While Azores Airlines operated back to Europe during the day, TAP runs overnight, which will help with yields and connectivity.

On May 16, TAP inaugurated a four-weekly A330neo service from Lisbon to Los Angeles, with the Californian city Lisbon’s largest unserved long-haul market in 2024. At 4,944 nautical miles (9,156 km), it is the carrier’s new longest nonstop route networkwide, replacing Lisbon to San Francisco. When TAP last flew to Los Angeles in 1990, it did so via Terceira.

Avelo Dumps Chicago Midway For O’Hare

While Avelo has served Chicago for three years, it has always flown to Midway—until now. It shifted to O’Hare on May 15, with its twice-weekly service from Tweed New Haven deploying the 737-700 and 737-800. Avelo has not had more than one Chicago route, and that probably won’t change now.

O’Hare has flights to HVN again. After all, they existed for years until 1996, when United operated using the 737-300 and 737-500. Service has returned after 29 years.

The US DOT shows that Avelo carried 18,446 round-trip Tweed New Haven-Midway passengers last year. It filled 82% of seats, down three points year-on-year. Still, it was meaningfully higher than the carrier’s network average load of 75%, which partly explains why it is still served. Avelo probably expects higher yields at O’Hare, offset by higher charges and the consequences of much more congestion.

Source: Simple Flying