Welcome to my 180th weekly routes article! It includes five mini-stories about subjectively exciting services that took off between August 19 and 25. Few routes begin in August, so the offering is smaller than usual. And not all that started in the past week had celebratory photos, which is a shame.

Flyadeal’s New Pakistan Routes Take Off

The little-discussed flyadeal is the lower-cost unit of Saudia. It has existed since 2017. Last October, its CEO, Steven Greenway, described it as this: “We’re a bus. That’s what we are. We are unashamedly a bus.” It knows its market position, which is critical.

Greenway also said that 20% of its passenger traffic is international, which is expected to grow to 35% by the end of this year. This probably includes both scheduled and pilgrim passengers. Its latest Pakistani routes will help with this endeavor.

On August 24, flyadeal took off from Riyadh to Peshawar (two weekly) and Islamabad (two weekly). Riyadh-Islamabad, which has 1,410 daily passengers, is now served by eight carriers. While Dammam-Karachi was scheduled to begin on August 25, flights have been pulled. Riyadh-Sialkot started on August 26 (three weekly).

Alaska Airlines Becomes 4th Airline Between Phoenix & San Diego

Flights from Phoenix Sky Harbor to San Diego International cover just 264 nautical miles (489 km) each way. Between April 2024 and March 2025, 1,977 local passengers—those who didn’t connect elsewhere—flew daily.

Historically, multiple carriers have served the market. However, in the past two decades, two airlines have usually operated simultaneously—particularly US Airways and Southwest, and then American and Southwest. Frontier entered the fray in 2019 and continues to coexist with American and Southwest.

On August 20, Alaska Airlines joined them for the first time, with a three times daily mainline service. Alas, no celebratory photos are available. Its entry means four carriers operate for the first time since 2003. They currently have 118 one-way flights between them, as broken down below.

* Each way. Double for both ways

** Chosen to reflect Alaska’s first week

STARLUX Begins Its New Shortest Route

At just 214 nautical miles (396 km) each way, STARLUX’s shortest route is from Taiwan Taoyuan to Shimoji Island, whose terminal only opened in 2019. Time-limited service runs twice-weekly on the A321neo, which is the carrier’s lowest-capacity equipment. Flightradar24 shows that flights can take less than 40 minutes.

STARLUX is the only airline to serve the Japanese destination (which is best known for its natural beauty, including beaches and water) from Taiwan. It is the carrier’s 14th Japanese route.

While STARLUX is the first Taiwanese carrier to fly to Shimoji Island, it is the third foreign operator. It joins HK Express from its homeland and Jin Air from Seoul Incheon.

Frontier Has Returned To This US Route

Nashville to Dallas/Fort Worth is a good-sized market. Between April 2024 and March 2025, the airport pair had 1,030 local passengers daily. When Dallas Love is included, traffic rose to 1,985 daily passengers. Connecting traffic would increase these numbers considerably.

For obvious reasons, American transported 910 of the 1,030 local passengers who flew between Nashville and Dallas/Fort Worth (88%). On August 22, Frontier re-entered the market with a Monday and Friday operation, although I could not find any celebratory images. It provides limited head-to-head competition.

It is the third time Frontier has served the market. It previously did so in 2021 and 2024. When it operated last year, it filled an absurd 61% of seats. Facing the troubled Spirit did not help. It won’t have that trouble this time, as Spirit pulled out last August.

Lufthansa Has Served Singapore For 60 Years

This article occasionally covers a non-route celebration. In the past week, Lufthansa has celebrated 60 years of flights to Singapore. They began in 1965, when a Boeing 720 departed from Frankfurt and stopped en route in Athens, Karachi, and Bangkok. As Changi didn’t exist, Paya Lebar was used.

Six decades later, Lufthansa serves Lion City 13 times weekly. A daily 747-400 service exists from Frankfurt (the airline’s busiest hub). This is the fourth-longest nonstop 747 passenger flight from Frankfurt. Meanwhile, Munich-Singapore—a route that returned to Lufthansa’s map in 2018—has six weekly flights on the A350-900.

Focusing on Frankfurt to Singapore, Lufthansa flew the A380 between 2011 and 2020. In the past five years, the A340-300 (2020-2022) and 747-8i (2022-2024) have been deployed. Historically, the A340-300/A340-600 were used to/from Munich.

Source: Simple Flying