Welcome to my 167th weekly routes article! It includes nine mini-stories about subjectively exciting services that took off between April 28 and May 5. Click here to see my last jam-packed article! Many dozens of routes started in the examined period, but, as always, only a selection is covered.

United Begins 1st Mongolia Flights

History was made on May 1, when United became the first US airline (and first carrier from the Americas) to fly to Mongolia. It did so from its resurgent Tokyo Narita hub, inherited from Pan Am, with a thrice-weekly 737-800 summer service. It comes after launching flights from Narita to Cebu, while Kaohsiung starts next. United will also reintroduce two intra-Asian routes from Hong Kong: Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City.

UA7 leaves Tokyo at 16:30 and arrives in Ulaanbaatar at 20:55 local time. After remaining overnight, UA6 departs at 09:55 and returns to Japan at 15:45. The schedule is designed so that passengers can connect from multiple US hubs to Mongolia via the Japanese capital, with only one to two hours on the ground.

Ulaanbaatar-US had 40,000 round-trip US passengers last year, influenced by Mongolia’s tourism development, mining/engineering travel, travelers’ keenness for more adventure, Mongolian diaspora in the US, etc. In contrast, Mongolia-Tokyo has 117,000 passengers, with United having traffic rights. It competes directly with Aero Mongolia and MIAT.

Aer Lingus Begins 1st Flights To Indiana

On May 3, in time for the peak season, Aer Lingus took off from Dublin—with US preclearance—to Indianapolis. The Indiana capital is one of 18 US airports served. This is the first time the city has had a long-haul passenger service since 2020, when Delta ceased flying to the huge SkyTeam hub of Paris CDG.

The year-round route from Dublin has four weekly flights on the 184-seat A321XLR. Indeed, without such a narrowbody, it would not have started. It contributes to Aer Lingus having up to 24 daily flights to the US/Canada this summer.

In the winter, when headwinds to the US are more substantial, the block time will be up to 8h 50m, 15 minutes longer than during the summer. At 8h 50m, it is Aer Lingus’ new second-longest single-aisle route, after Dublin to Nashville.

Porter Now Flies To New York State

On May 1, Canadian regional carrier Porter began flying from Toronto Pearson, Canada’s busiest airport, to New York LaGuardia. It is served thrice daily (including on Saturdays) on 132-seat E195-E2s.

Porter’s entry means the airport pair has four carriers for the first time since 2023. Porter joins Air Canada (mainline and Express; up to 12 daily flights this year), American Eagle (up to five daily), and Delta Connection (up to seven daily). Porter replaces WestJet, which served the market until 2023.

LaGuardia is Porter’s second airport in the Greater NYC area. Since 2008, it has flown to Newark exclusively on the Dash 8-Q400 and remains by far its most-served US airport.

In 2025, it will have three Newark routes: Montreal (up to twice daily), Ottawa (up to three daily), and Toronto Billy Bishop (up to nine daily). When the new route is added, Porter will have up to 12 daily Toronto-Greater NYC flights, becoming the second-largest operator after Air Canada.

Vietnam Airlines Now Serves Bengaluru

Until May 1, Vietnam’s capital and key tourist city, Hanoi, had not had fights to the southern Indian city of Bengaluru. This is unsurprising. In 2024, the local market only had 15,000 round-trip local passengers, most of whom connected en route in Kolkata, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur.

Vietnam Airlines serves the city pair four times weekly, summer seasonally, on the A321ceo. This is the carrier’s first time in Bengaluru. Currently, VN983 leaves Hanoi at 19:00 and arrives in India at 22:00 local time. Returning, VN982 departs at 23:30 and arrives at 05:25+1. Passengers can connect to/from multiple Asian cities, including in Japan.

Air India, IndiGo, Vietjet, and Vietnam Airlines operate between Vietnam and India, with up to 13 daily flights this year. Some 14 city pairs are served, involving three Vietnamese cities (Da Nang, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City) and seven in India (Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, and Mumbai).

JetBlue Begins 5 New Routes

JetBlue has started five routes that it has not previously served: Fort Lauderdale to Guatemala City (daily A320), New York JFK to Hartford (daily A320) and Providence (daily A320), both partly for slot-sitting reasons, and Boston to Norfolk (daily A220-300) and Wilmington (NC; daily A220-300).

Elsewhere, it reintroduced JFK-Pittsburgh flights (daily A220-300/A320) after last serving the market 12 years ago. It was to begin Boston to Islip flights, but it pulled them shortly before they were due to start on April 30.

Let’s briefly examine one randomly chosen route: Boston to Wilmington. JetBlue has become the market’s record third carrier, joining Delta Connection (mainly twice-weekly) and American Eagle (daily). It is hard to believe the city pair was not served before 2021.

French bee Jets Off To Montreal

On April 30, French bee began flying between Paris Orly and Montreal, its new shortest route. It replaces Corsair, which served it until 2024. French bee runs four times weekly on 411-seat A350-900s. You might have thought the long-haul low-cost carrier already operated the route, which covers 2,993 nautical miles (5,543 km) each way, but it is brand-new to its network.

When all airlines are combined, the local Paris-Montreal market is obviously huge. In 2024, over 670,000 round-trip passengers flew between the two cities, over 1,800 daily, with those connecting to other flights adding to the volume.

French bee is one of four carriers to serve the city pair. It joins Air Canada, Air France, and Air Transat, all operating to/from CDG. In all, the quartet plans up to nine daily Paris-Montreal flights.

United Begins Denver’s 1st Italian Service

United has inaugurated various routes in the past week. Beyond Tokyo to Ulaanbaatar, mentioned earlier, the other notable addition is Denver to Rome Fiumicino. It is the first time the Colorado airport has had flights to Italy, representing the burgeoning demand for flights to Southern Europe.

The first departure on the long route occurred on May 1. The daily service uses the 787-9, with the last takeoff from Colorado on September 24. At 4,834 nautical miles (8,953 km) each way, it is United’s second-longest Denver route, after Tokyo Narita. When all airlines are included, it is third, behind Istanbul (Turkish Airlines) and Narita.

United now has five Rome routes: Chicago O’Hare, Denver, Newark, San Francisco, and Washington Dulles. It has up to seven daily flights, one more than last year. In the all-important third quarter, Rome is the carrier’s third most-served European airport after London Heathrow and Frankfurt.

Breeze Introduces 5 New Routes

Five routes have joined Breeze’s map: Columbus to Portland (Maine), Greenville/Spartanburg to Fort Myers, Pittsburgh, Westchester, and Raleigh/Durham to Pensacola. In keeping with Breeze’s typical frequency, they all have a twice-weekly A220-300 operation.

You’ll know that Breeze ordinarily begins airport pairs that have not been served before, or no longer have nonstop service. Only two of the five additions have been flown before: United Express operated Columbus-Portland in 2021, and UA Airways Express served Greenville/Spartanburg from its Pittsburgh hub until 2004.

Flights from Raleigh/Durham to Pensacola started on May 2. The US DOT shows the hitherto unserved market had 27,000 round-trip passengers last year, making it the North Carolina airport’s largest unserved Florida airport. Most people connected in Atlanta (Delta) and Charlotte (American), although also in Nashville (Southwest).

Discover Airlines Arrives In Minneapolis

The German leisure carrier Discover, a member of the Lufthansa Group, has started flying between Frankfurt and Minneapolis. It replaced Lufthansa, which served the market between June 2024 and April 2025, although passengers may still connect to Lufthansa’s network.

Discover primarily operates four weekly flights on its A330-300s, although its A330-200s appear, too. Compared to last year, summer departures have fallen from five weekly flights, contributing to a 19% drop in weekly seats for sale.

This capacity reduction will help with higher loads. This will be important: Lufthansa only filled 75% of its Minneapolis seats from June 2024 to January 2025. Yes, it was a brand-new market (they take time to develop), but it was its lowest load factor across all its Frankfurt-US routes. Winter was horrible, hence Discover will only run seasonally.

Source: Simple Flying