dailynewsnblog
Welcome to my 202nd weekly routes article! On Sunday, March 29, northern airlines switched to summer schedules based on IATA slot seasons. Consequently, many hundreds of new and returning routes took off around then.
As always, the purpose of this article is to discuss a small selection of subjectively exciting services. Seven mini-stories were chosen this week. They all concern long-haul routes, which launched or restarted between March 24 and 30.
Take Off: American From Miami To Milan
American has flights from ten hubs and other US airports to Europe this year. With less than 9% of the departures, Miami only ranks sixth. While from a relatively small base, flights are up by 8% this year, meaning it is American’s second-fastest-growing hub to Europe, after Philly (+10%).
Part of Miami’s growth is because the carrier reintroduced flights to Milan Malpensa on March 28. Flown through early December, this route is served daily on the 234-seat 787-8. American previously served this route between 2013—when Alitalia pulled out—and 2020. For some of the time, it competed with the now-defunct Air Italy.
Despite the lack of nonstop flights last year, the local market had over 100,000 passengers. It was among the US’s largest unserved European markets. Click here for a list of the US’s ten most popular long-haul markets without nonstop flights.
Iberia Starts New US Route
Another US airport has joined Iberia’s network. It is Newark, with Iberia’s first flight from Madrid taking place on March 29. The launch means the oneworld airline will serve ten airports in the Lower 48 this year.
The seasonal operation runs daily on the 182-seat A321XLR. While services to North America are blocked at up to 8h 50m, which is notably long in itself, it is not long enough to have made the XLR’s top 10 transatlantic routes list.
When New York JFK is included, Iberia will have three daily flights to Greater NYC this summer, which will be its highest volume to date. That’s up by a quarter from the previous record, which was held 14 years ago.
|
Frequency |
Madrid To Newark; Local Times* |
Newark To Madrid; Local Times** |
|---|---|---|
|
Daily |
7:35 pm-10:25 pm (8h 50m) |
11:55 pm-1:30 pm+1 (7h 35m) |
|
* First week of April |
** First week of April |
Three Notable Developments At London Heathrow
On March 29, Virgin Atlantic took off from Heathrow to Seoul Incheon, which marked the airline’s first-ever flight to South Korea. This route runs daily on the 787-9. Due to avoiding Russian airspace, it is Virgin’s new longest service by block time.
It mainly exists to help Korean Air gain approval to acquire Asiana from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority. Since 2020, when BA pulled out, only Korean Air and Asiana have operated between London and Seoul. As such, the UK authorities believed that their tieup would reduce competition. Enter the role of Virgin, although it codeshares with Korean Air.
On the same day, Heathrow welcomed the return of Pakistan International. Following the lifting of the ban, PIA is slowly returning to UK airports. Manchester flights resumed last year, and now it’s Heathrow’s turn. It’s a shame that PIA deployed AP-BGK—with an ‘I love Manchester’ sticker—to the UK’s busiest airport (haha!).
The carrier has two routes to the UK’s busiest airport, both using the 777-200ER. First, from Islamabad, served three times weekly. Second, from Lahore, served weekly. It’ll benefit from the ongoing difficulty in connecting at Gulf hubs. The operating aircraft flew Islamabad-Heathrow-Lahore-Heathrow-Islamabad.
14 Hours Nonstop: Inside Virgin Atlantic’s New Longest Route
Discover the intriguing backstory behind Virgin’s new longest service…
Cathay Pacific Is Back In Seattle
The US plays a critical role in Cathay Pacific’s passenger network. It is the fourth most-served nation by flights this year, behind only mainland China, Japan, and Taiwan. It is its top long-haul market, slightly ahead of Australia.
On March 30, Cathay reintroduced passenger flights from Hong Kong to Seattle, with the route previously served between March 2019 and March 2020. Its return, after six years, is quite notable.
In 2026, Cathay serves Seattle five times weekly using the A350-900, which is the same equipment that was used before. With a maximum block time of 14h in April, it is, of course, the airline’s shortest US route. The first return service deployed B-LRJ, which looks resplendent in its so-called lettuce leaf sandwich retro livery.
Cathay now has passenger flights to seven US airports: Boston, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York JFK, San Francisco, and Seattle. Compared to before the pandemic in 2019, departures remain down by 14%, which partly reflects that Newark and Washington Dulles have not returned to its map.
Up To 17-Hour Nonstop Flights: Cathay Pacific’s 10 New Ultra-Long Routes In 2026
One of the routes started exactly 11 months before this article was written. Find out which!
LATAM Jets Off To Amsterdam
LATAM has just started its first-ever passenger service between São Paulo Guarulhos and Amsterdam. It is the first time that KLM has had head-to-head competition in a long time.
The South American airline runs six times a weekly on the 787-9, against KLM’s daily service on the 777-300ER. At 5,265 nautical miles (9,751 km), it is LATAM’s new sixth-longest route system-wide, behind Santiago-Sydney, Santiago-Melbourne, Santiago-Madrid, São Paulo-Los Angeles, and São Paulo–Frankfurt.
LATAM will focus on the local market (90,000 passengers last year) and connecting traffic across Brazil and beyond. In contrast, KLM does not have codeshares via Brazil, so it focuses on the local market and passengers flying to wider Europe and elsewhere.
Air India Returns To The Italian Capital
On March 25, 
Air India reintroduced flights from Delhi to Rome, which is the largest market between South Asia and Rome. Having last served the Italian capital between 2014 and 2021, the Star Alliance member now uses the 259-seat 787-8 four times weekly. This is, of course, entirely different to the carrier’s stopovers en route to the US to refuel and change crews.
Given Air India’s inability to fly over Pakistan and Iran, the return was quite inauspicious. The detour is reasonably significant, requiring the carrier to fly over Oman, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and up through Europe.
The distance is around 30% longer than the shortest route between the two cities, with all the consequences on expenses, competitiveness, emissions, etc.
Compared to March 2019, the maximum block time has risen by an hour to 9h 15m. However, Flightradar24 shows the first departure took 10h 18m. which suggests that more changes might be coming.
Aeromexico Is Back In Barcelona
With 160,000 passengers last year, Barcelona was Europe’s fourth-largest market to/from Mexico City. Only Madrid, Paris, and London were larger.
Aeromexico originally served the market between 2007 and 2012. The carrier returned in 2019 in response to Emirates’ launch of Dubai-Barcelona-Mexico City flights the same year. The Gulf carrier continues to operate Dubai-Barcelona-Mexico City daily on a fifth-freedom basis.
Now Aeromexico—which was very anti-Emirates’ entry—is back, with two airlines operating simultaneously for the first time in six years. It took off from its hub on March 26, and offers a six-weekly service on the 787-8.
Barcelona is one of six European cities in the carrier’s network. Nearly one in two of the airline’s flights operate during the day back to Mexico, and those from Barcelona are among them.
