dailynewsnblog
Welcome to my 205th weekly routes article! As always, the purpose of this article is to discuss a small selection of subjectively exciting services. Six mini-stories were chosen this week; all the routes launched or restarted between April 15 and 21.
JetBlue Arrives In Next European City
On April 16, JetBlue took off from Barcelona—the carrier’s second most-served airport—to Barcelona. This marked its debut in Spain’s second most populous city and ever-popular tourist destination, which is also a great place for cruises. The airline now serves two Spanish cities, with Madrid joining its network last year.
JetBlue runs daily to Barcelona on the low-capacity, high-premium, 138-seat A321LR, with the final flight of the season leaving Massachusetts on October 23. It competes directly with Level and Delta, the latter airline entering the market last year. It is the first time three carriers have operated.
Boston-Barcelona is currently JetBlue’s new longest route by the great circle distance. That’ll change next month, when the airline introduces its new market: Boston-Milan Malpensa. But despite covering 4% more distance, Milan’s maximum block time will be 8h 47m—one minute (!) shorter than Barcelona’s. That’s driven by the Spanish airport’s slots and congestion.
Separately, JetBlue also introduced flights between Portland, Maine, and Fort Lauderdale, on April 15. With only ten departures, the route exists for the spring break. It was last served in 2022. When Miami’s included, the ordinarily unserved South Florida market is decent-sized, with 48,000 passengers last year.
|
Frequency |
Boston To Barcelona; Local Times |
Barcelona To Boston; Local Times |
|---|---|---|
|
Daily |
8:04 PM-9:45 AM+1 |
12:50 PM-3:38 PM |
Long-Haul, Short-Haul: BA Introduces These Two Routes
British Airways’ aircraft can now be seen in Missouri. On April 19, the oneworld member made history by beginning the first service from London Heathrow to St. Louis. It is the first time the UK capital has had St. Louis flights in 23 years. It follows American ceasing Gatwick flights in 2003.
Served seasonally, BA runs four times weekly. Except for the first round-trip operation, the route uses the 204-seat 787-8, which has Club Suites. It is the airline’s lowest-capacity widebody and has the fewest business seats on any of its twin-aisle aircraft. Both things are great for reducing risk on a brand-new route.
The addition contributes to BA’s serving 26 US airports from London Heathrow this summer. It also helps with having more flights than ever. In Q3, the carrier will have an average of 47 daily departures from the UK’s busiest airport, up from 43 in the same period last year, which was the prior record. This is partly because its US operation from Gatwick has been reduced substantially.
In 2 Days: British Airways Launches New Record-Breaking Long-Haul US Route
BA will now serve a record 26 US airports from London Heathrow this summer.
On the same April day, BA reintroduced flights from Heathrow to Guernsey, which became the carrier’s third-shortest route from London and second-shortest link from Heathrow. It runs daily using the A319/A320neo.
Heathrow last had flights to Guernsey in 2020, when the now defunct flybe operated. BA last flew there from London City in 2022 using CityFlyer’s E190s, from Gatwick in 2003 using the now defunct CityFlyer Express’ ATRs, and from Heathrow in the most distant past.
Just 40 Minutes: British Airways Launches Flights On This Very Short New Route [Map]
BA last served this route from Heathrow 40+ years ago, but…
Air France Begins Its 1st Regular Flights To Sin City
After years of very time-limited service for the Consumer Electronics Show, Paris CDG-Las Vegas has a regular operation again. In fact, it is more than that. The prior ‘normal’ airline was the now-defunct leisure operator XL Airways France, which served Sin City between 2010 and 2014. It focused exclusively on the local market.
Things are very different this time. On April 15, 
Air Francecommenced a three-weekly, year-round operation using the A350-900. This will be good for the point-to-point demand—Las Vegas was Paris’ largest unserved US city last year and vice versa—but also for considerable connectivity over CDG.
This development contributes to Air France having a record number of US flights this summer. It’ll have an average of 32 daily departures in Q3, up by two daily services compared to the prior high, held in Q3 2025.
Wizz Air & easyJet Start 13 Routes
On April 15, Wizz Air began flying from Bucharest Baneasa—closer to downtown Bucharest than the main airport of Otopeni—to Karlsruhe, Germany. On the same day, the ultra-low-cost carrier took off from Ohrid, Tuzla, and Warsaw Modlin to Stuttgart.
The next day, two more routes began: Banja Luka and Nis to Stuttgart. Five more additions followed on April 17 and 18: Kraków to Stuttgart and Bratislava, Iasi, Targu Mures and Wrocław to Karlsruhe.
Cirium data shows that half of Stuttgart’s routes have seen another airline before. One still does, with Wizz Air competing directly with Eurowings to the ever-popular Kraków. Meanwhile, Wizz Air itself served Targu Mures-Karlsruhe in 2016, while it competes head-to-head with Ryanair from Baneasa to Karlsruhe.
Then there’s easyJet. On April 17, the LCC introduced service from Nantes to Strasbourg, with train travel between the two cities taking quite a long time. Despite competing directly with Volotea, easyJet has only scheduled ten round-trip flights to test the market.
The next day, the carrier’s first flight from Bristol to Bari took off. This city pair was not served until 2026. As sometimes happens, two airlines—easyJet and Ryanair—will operate this year. As they say, you wait forever, and two airlines—or buses—arrive at the same time.
China Eastern Jets Off To Austria
That’s a first! The Chinese city of Xi’an now has nonstop flights to Vienna. Not only is Xi’an’s metro area enormous, with 12+ million people, but the city is also famous for the Terracotta Warriors.
China Eastern operates three times weekly on the A330-200. At 3,997 nautical miles (7,402 km) each way, it is the Austrian capital’s second-shortest service from China to date. Only Urumqi-Vienna, which China Southern served in 2019/2020, covered less distance.
Xi’an will now have nonstop passenger flights to eight European airports in the peak summer: Budapest, Istanbul Airport (which is on the European side of the Bosphorus), London Heathrow, Milan Malpensa, Minsk, Moscow Sheremetyevo, Paris CDG and now Vienna. Up to five daily departures will be available.
China-India Welcome Two More Routes
Everyone knows that India and China are the two most populous countries. Between them, they have nearly 2.9 billion inhabitants, which is equivalent to 34% of the world’s population.
Despite this, traffic between the two countries is not significant. In 2025, fewer than 700,000 passengers traveled. For context, Toronto-Delhi had 660,000 passengers last year.
In terms of nonstop flights, there are only an average of five daily flights between China and India in Q2 2026. Most people flew indirectly and it is, therefore, relatively underserved and undeveloped. While a thoroughly unfair comparison, up to three daily flights exist between St. Louis and Kansas City.
Various returning routes have contributed to the number of flights between the two nations. In the examined week, China Eastern reintroduced Kunming-Kolkata (six-weekly 737-800)—which is the shortest link between the two nations—while Air China resumed Beijing Capital-Delhi (three-weekly A330-200). Both routes were last served in 2020. While it is Air China’s sole route to India, China Eastern also serves Shanghai Pudong-Delhi.
