New Airline Routes Coming This Summer

Airlines are gearing up for the summer travel season by tweaking schedules, adding destinations and dropping some routes altogether; many of the alterations are seasonal, but other changes are decidedly more permanent.

Summer is a time of change in the airline industry, but this season a change in philosophy appears to be accompanying the annual alterations to scheduled service. The route map inside next month’s inflight magazine is likely to look a little different – no matter which airline’s name is on the cover.

American Airlines is betting big on tropical destinations. The world’s largest airline is trimming service from Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) in favor of new service to Honolulu Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL). The carrier says it will also fly additional flights from Chicago to Caribbean destinations including Aruba Queen Beatrix International Airport (AUA), Grand Cayman Owen Roberts International Airport (GCM), Nassau Lynden Pindling International Airport (NAS) and Providenciales International Airport (PLS).

“American is operating more seats from Chicago this summer than in the past 10 years, and we are excited to continue to grow in this important hub,” American Airlines Vice President of Network and Schedule Vasu Raja said in a statement explaining the move away from Asia and towards the Caribbean.  “However the current fare environment severely limits our ability to successfully compete between Chicago and Beijing. We remain committed to China and anticipate that moving to the new Beijing airport in the future will improve the viability of the route through the additional connectivity in conjunction with our codeshare relationship with China Southern in the long run.”

American Airlines’ Miami International Airport (MIA), Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) hubs will also see dramatically stepped-up service to Caribbean resort destinations. AA will buck the focus on fun and sun, however, by adding a daily non-stop flight from DFW to London Heathrow Airport (LHR).

United Airlines is beefing up service to two of its busiest east coast hubs. The airline will add a number of direct flights to and from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). In addition to expanding service to more than 15 destinations currently served from EWR, the carrier will add seasonal direct daily flights to Palm Springs International Airport (PSP) and year-round non-stop service to Key West International Airport (EYW) from the former Continental hub.

Meanwhile, United will focus on routing more connecting flights through Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) rather than EWR. IAD will see dozens of new UA flights from regional airports including Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (CHA), Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport (ITH) and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport (AVP).

“As we set out to build this schedule for our customers, we considered Washington-Dulles’ more optimal schedule offering for connecting flights and conducted an in-depth analysis of some of the short-haul flights scheduled from our Newark hub,” United VP Ankit Gupta explained. “We determined that by shifting certain regional flights from Newark to Dulles, our customers will have more schedule flexibility and better options for connections on regional routes.”

Delta Air Lines announced this month that it will return with service to India for the first time in nearly a decade. The ATL-based legacy carrier expects to offer direct flights from the U.S. to destinations in India beginning early next year.

In addition to announcing new daily non-stop service between Edmonton International Airport (YEG) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO),  Air Canada announced plans to take advantage of rival WestJet’s labor woes. Air Canada announced plans to add capacity to its domestic route map following a strike authorization vote by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) which represents West Jet’s pilots.

-Jeff Edwards