Welcome to my 177th weekly routes article! It includes seven mini-stories about subjectively exciting services that took off between July 29 and August 4. While dozens of routes worldwide were introduced during the examined period, only a select few intriguing additions are covered in this article.

Emirates Begins Passenger Flights To 5th Chinese City

On July 30, Emirates began passenger flights to its next destination: Hangzhou. Flights run daily on first-class-equipped 777-300ERs, competing against Air China (three weekly). It joins Emirates’ existing offerings to Beijing Capital, Guangzhou, Shanghai Pudong, and Shenzhen, the latter welcoming Emirates in early July.

Hangzhou has China’s sixth-highest number of billionaires, and it is home to around 13 million people. Like many Chinese cities, it has seen significant economic development and is known for its huge technology, logistics, and manufacturing sectors. No wonder freight will be key, with the 777-300ER being renowned for its considerable belly hold capacity.

Except for the first flight, which had a different schedule to enable daytime celebratory images, EK310 leaves Dubai at 09:40 and gets to China at 22:00 local time. Returning, EK311 departs at 00:10 and returns at 04:55.

As usual, the schedule is designed for connectivity over Dubai. In 2024, Hangzhou had 700,000+ passengers who flew to/from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Dubai itself was very popular, with 81,000+ local passengers.

Delta & United Begin 3 Routes

On August 1, the South Dakota city of Watertown welcomed Delta Connection and United Express. Using SkyWest’s three-class, 50-seat CRJ550s, Delta Connection runs daily from its Minneapolis hub, just 168 nautical miles (311 km) away. The short route was last served a decade ago.

Having last served the city on an EAS-funded basis from Denver in January 2022, United Express is back. It runs daily on SkyWest’s single-class, 50-seat CRJ200s, still on an EAS basis. It replaced Denver Air Connection, which ended Denver flights (and those to Chicago O’Hare) on July 31.

United Express has also reintroduced another South Dakota link: Denver to Pierre. This EAS-funded service was also last served by United Express in early January 2022. Denver Air Connection replaced it, and United Express returned on August 1. SkyWest CRJ200s operate between 12 and 19 times weekly.

Istanbul Gets Aleppo Flights After 13 Years

Aleppo is Syria’s second most populous city. Due to the country’s then-civil war, its last service from Istanbul was in 2012. That changed on August 1, when Turkish Airlines took off from Istanbul Airport (daily 737-800/737-900). The next day, its lower-cost unit AJet launched from Sabiha Gökçen (daily 737-800).

Aleppo flights materialized half a year after the return of service to Damascus, which is now served by AJet, Syrian Air, and Turkish Airlines.

Many Aleppo passengers will connect to cities across Europe, with those in Germany, Austria, and Sweden, among others, having significant numbers of Syrian diaspora due to the war. For example, an airport source tells me that 290,000+ Syrians live in North Rhine-Westphalia (served by Cologne, Düsseldorf, etc.), while 40,000+ live in Berlin.

Wizz Air UK Begins 2 Routes

The ultra-low-cost carrier has started two routes from its London Gatwick base. On August 1, it took off to Medinah with a daily A321XLR operation. Unusually for the airline, flights operate overnight to Saudi Arabia, arriving at 04:25 local time.

It is the sole carrier from the UK to Medinah, which is, of course, particularly well-known for pilgrims. With a block time of up to 6h 40m in August, it is Wizz Air’s’ new 2nd-longest route by time. At up to 7h, only Gatwick-Jeddah is longer.

Its second route is more standard. On August 2, it began flying from Gatwick to Warsaw Chopin, Poland’s busiest airport. It is the first time that Wizz Air has served this route. It last had flights in 2019, when easyJet pulled out. In the past 20 years, Aer Lingus, British Airways, Centralwings, and Norwegian have operated it. Wizz should do better.

Batik Air Malaysia Jets Off From Subang To Bangkok

Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok is an enormous point-to-point market. When all airports serving each city are combined, more than 1.6 million passengers flew between them in the 12 months to June 2025. That’s over 4,000 people daily.

On July 30, Batik Air Malaysia inaugurated its first flight from Subang to Bangkok Don Mueang. Both airports are closer to the downtown areas of both cities than the main facilities.

Batik operates four weekly on the 737-800, marking what seems to be the first time the airport pair has been served. It supplements its existing operation from Kuala Lumpur International to Suvarnabhumi.

In the current week, 143 flights will operate between the two cities—about 20 daily. AirAsia’s different units are collectively number one (57 weekly), followed by Malaysia Airlines (40), Batik Air Malaysia (32), and Thai Airways (just 14).

Take Off: Etihad’s 1st A321LR Enters Service

On August 1, Etihad’s first A321LR entered commercial service. At 15:07 UAE time, the 160-seater—which has two first-class suites and 14 fully flat business beds—took off from Abu Dhabi bound for Phuket.

While this is not a new route, it is worthy of inclusion. The narrowbody runs daily, although it is only scheduled to operate until the end of September, before returning in January. It replaces the 290-seat 787-9, which will be flown elsewhere. The switch should further improve Etihad’s yields and load factors to the ever-popular Thai resort destination.

Cathay Pacific Is Back In Belgium

After an absence of nearly five and a half years, Cathay Pacific has reintroduced flights from Hong Kong to Brussels. Then as now, a four-weekly year-round A350-900 service operates. As with Cathay’s other European routes, Brussels flights detour around Russian airspace.

Some 80% of the airline’s Europe-bound services operate overnight from Asia, and Brussels is no exception. This helps with connectivity and selling premium seats. CX291 leaves Hong Kong at 23:50 and gets to Europe at 07:20+ local time. Returning, CX294 departs at 13:25 and returns at 06:55+1.

Brussels is one of 12 European airports to see Cathay’s passenger jets. The others are Amsterdam, Barcelona, Frankfurt, London Heathrow, Madrid, Manchester, Milan Malpensa, Munich, Paris CDG, Rome, and Zurich. It has an average of 14 daily European flights in August, down by a fifth compared to August 2019. Dublin and London Gatwick have still not returned to its network.

Source: Simple Flying