United Adds a Slew of New International Routes in 2022
United Airlines announced a major expansion of international flights today to new destinations in Europe and the Middle East. The carrier is adding 10 new transatlantic routes in all in 2022 — in addition to restoring previous routes that had their introduction delayed by the pandemic — betting that U.S. customers will return to international travel in droves next year.
New destinations for United include:
- Washington/Dulles to Amman, Jordan (AMM) 3x-weekly beginning May 5
- Newark to Bergen, Norway (BGO), 3x-weekly beginning May 5
- Newark to Palma de Mallorca (PMA), 3x-weekly beginning June 2
- Newark to Tenerife, Spain in the Canary Islands (TFS), 3x-weekly beginning June 9
- Newark to Ponta Delgado, Portugal in the Azores (PDA), daily beginning May 13
Other new routes to previously served destinations include Denver to Munich, Chicago/O’Hare to Milan and Zurich, Washington/Dulles to Berlin, Los Angeles to Tokyo/Haneda, San Francisco to Bangalore, and Newark to Nice. There were probably more, but we were distracted by Southwest again making more excuses for melting down and lost track.
In the teeny-tiny fine print of United’s announcement, the carrier also announced it would end three previously flown routes: Newark to Manchester, Newark to Glasgow, and San Francisco to Dublin, news that came as a big relief to the people of Manchester and Glasgow as the regular service from Newark was ruining their reputations.
For more on today’s United new destination announcement, please visit today’s post on crankyflier.com.
Air Canada Expands Worldwide
Air Canada announced increases in service in South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and India today as it tries to regain its footing now that borders are open in its home market.
Beginning with South America, the carrier will fly its maple leaf-adorned aircraft to São Paulo daily from Toronto beginning December 6, and 4x-weekly from Montreal beginning December 8. Those flights will tag on to Buenos Aires 4x-weekly. Montreal to Bogotá resumes with 3x-weekly service on December 2 with Toronto to Bogotá increasing to 4x-weekly beginning November 7. Toronto to Santiago will resume in January with 3x-weekly service.
Air Canada’s summer schedule for Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India includes year-round service to 19 destinations and summer seasonal flights to an additional 10. The 29 destinations will operate from AC’s four Canadian hubs – Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Calgary. Year-round service returns include Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Lyon, Madrid and Lyon, along with seasonal returns to Athens, Rome, and Lisbon.
Beginning October 31, Air Canada will begin new nonstop service from Montreal to Delhi, with Toronto service on the route increasing from daily to 10x-weekly.
ANA to Begin Mixed Fleet Flying
ANA will begin Mixed Fleet Flying (MFF) for the A380 and A320 family of aircraft after the concept was approved by Japan’s Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB). ANA will become the first airline in the world to introduce MFF between these two types of aircraft.
Mixed Fleet Flying is a unique concept to Airbus aircraft, due to commonality on its aircraft in both the flight deck and passenger cabin. The level of technical commonality between Airbus fly-by-wire aircraft also simplifies maintenance activity, leading to reduced costs, or so they want you to believe.
The change will allow the carrier to swap different sized aircraft at short notice without having to disrupt crew scheduling, so when that tidal wave of demand hits the Tokyo – Nagasaki market, the A380 will be ready to step in. This idea is certainly something that Southwest will be watching with a careful eye.
- Advanced Air has earned the EAS contract for Merced Yosemite Regional Airport (MCE), operating 12-weekly nonstops to each of Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The flights are being timed to provide easy connections to the city’s bus schedule to and from the airport, something more airlines should take into consideration.
- Air Astana will begin twice weekly service to Phuket on October 31st.
- Alliance Air is the latest airline owned by the Indian government to be put up for sale.
- Alt Air has offered up an alternate start date, now expecting to begin operations in Q2 of next year.
- Connect Airlines‘s parent company Waltzing Matilda responded to the DOT’s request to fix the mistakes in its AOC application. The new document has been spell checked and everything.
- Ethiopian linked up with Airlink on an interline agreement.
- HelloFly said hello to Trapani, Italy (TPS), the site of its new Italian base.
- JSX will begin 5x-weekly service between Westchester and Miami beginning November 18.
- LATAM group plans to keep its B767s around, canceling its yard sale which was planned for Thanksgiving weekend.
- PIA is suspending service to Kabul indefinitely.
- Ryanair is launching new routes from Derry (LGY) to Manchester (operating 3x-weekly through March) and from Leeds (LBA) to Poznan, Poland (POZ).
- SARPA plans to begin scheduled passenger operations late this year.
- Singapore is bringing the A380 back into service on November 18.
- SWISS plans to retire its entire A340 fleet by 2025.
- TruJet has been sold to former promoter Vankayalapati Umesh. It’s tru.
What’s the difference between a clown and an athletic rabbit? One is a bit funny and the other is a fit bunny.