Announcement of new overseas routes by airlines slows to a near-halt during the peak travel season of summer. This year, it’s even a little slower, driven in part by the widespread grounding of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft after two planes of the model crashed during a recent period of less than four-and-half months: An Indonesian-based Lion Air flight crashed last October, followed by an Ethiopian Airlines crash this past March 10. Shortly thereafter, most airlines grounded the aircraft. Some carriers were unable to find replacement craft before the start of the airline year’s peak season, which begins at the end of March. As a result, some flights were suspended as carriers re-routed some customers and found replacement aircraft.
Since the beginning of last month, the following major additions to international service to the United States have been added.
—American Airlines launched three new transatlantic routes from between June 6 and June 8, with two of the routes being Philadelphia-to-Bologna and Philadelphia-to-Berlin Tegel. The Berlin Tegel route operates four times a week. The Philadelphia-to-Bologna route operates four times a week as well. In addition, American has launched a Dallas/Fort Worth-to-Munich flight.
—KLM has begun nonstop transatlantic service between its hub in Amsterdam to Las Vegas. The flight will operate on Thursdays and Sundays, with the flights expanding on the Air France-KLM transatlantic network, while also serving to strengthen the joint venture portfolio with Delta Air Lines. KLM will be the sole operator on the Amsterdam to Las Vegas.
—United Airlines launched a New York/Newark to Naples route in late May. The non-stop seasonal service will face no direct competition from any other carrier.
—LOT Polish Airlines this month started direct flights between Warsaw Frederic Chopin and Miami International Airport. The four-times-weekly service will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. At the launch of the flight, Rafal Milczarski, CEO of LOT Polish Airlines said: “At present there are nearly 500,000 people of Polish origin living in Florida. We are very glad that we can meet the expectations and needs of the Polish Diaspora in America who now…can take advantage of direct flights on the route between Poland and the U.S.”
—El Al has begun transatlantic service three-times-a-week between Tel Aviv and San Francisco International. El Al will further expand its US route offering later this year, launching flights from Tel Aviv to Las Vegas in June, and seasonal service to Orlando is scheduled to begin in July. The carrier has also confirmed more flights to the US for 2020, with Chicago O’Hare service expected to begin in March next year.
—Alitalia launched its latest U.S. route early last month, adding Washington Dulles to its network. The operates five times weekly from Rome Fiumicino.
—Also, early last month, American Airlines introduced daily summer service between Chicago O’Hare and Athens.
—Norwegian has launched flights between Madrid and Boston. It operates three times weekly.
Source: anna aero
