Welcome to my 93rd weekly routes newsletter! It will not be long until the a centesimal edition comes out. I’ve covered a few subjectively exciting routes that took off recently. Why not enroll and receive my newsletter in your email inbox every week?
EgyptAir begins 2nd UK route
Manchester again has non-stop flights from Egypt’s capital. It’s because of EgyptAir, which inaugurated the two,328-mile (3,747 km) route on July fifteenth. It was last served by the carrier in 2015.
Running five weekly using the Boeing 737-800, it is principally about transit passengers over Cairo, especially given the high frequency. Vital destinations include those in wider Egypt, together with the Middle East (especially Saudi Arabia and Iraq) and parts of Africa.
Manchester-Cairo had 27,000 point-to-point roundtrip passengers in 2019, based on booking data. That yr, Cairo was the Northwest England airport’s fourth-largest unserved African market behind Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Lagos.
Click here for Manchester-Cairo flights.
Photo: via EgyptAir.
In the opposite direction, Manchester was Cairo’s fifth-largest unserved market, behind Düsseldorf (now served by Eurowings), Berlin (now served by EgyptAir), Stockholm (now served by Nile Air), and Hamburg (still unserved).
Welcome, Northern Pacific!
Taking the cake for probably the most ‘different’ launch (to place it mildly) is undeniably Northern Pacific. Its first revenue-generating service took off on July 14th between Ontario and Las Vegas using – what else? – the Boeing 757-200. Covering just 197 miles (317 km), it’s the kind’s shortest scheduled route globally.
Its first route – Ontario to Las Vegas – is as odd because it is temporary, a far cry from the rationale the carrier has been created. Running weekly, Northern Pacific competes directly with Southwest’s 43 weekly services and Frontier’s every day. It’s Las Vegas’ twenty seventh most-served route, based on July 18th-Twenty fourth.
Click here for Ontario-Las Vegas flights.
Trois latest routes for Nice
Positioned on France’s Côte d’Azur, Nice welcomed Air France’s July 18th launch of Santorini (served weekly using the A319), a day after it began Nice-Marrakech (twice-weekly, A318/A319).
In a more exotic move, Georgian Airways began Nice on June fifth. Served twice-weekly from Tbilisi using the 737-700, it’s the primary time that Nice has had Georgia flights. Very controversially, the carrier is keen to draw Russian passengers who transfer in Tbilisi from Moscow to Nice.
Click here for Tbilisi-Nice flights.
Photo: via Nice Côte d’Azur Airport.
While it appears to be the primary time that Nice has had Santorini flights, Air France competes directly with easyJet to Marrakech (4 weekly). It’s the primary time since 2019 that it has had two operators when TUI served it. Royal Air Maroc operated until 2014.
Virgin ends Pakistan flights
Because the name of this text suggests, it covers latest routes, but sometimes I make exceptions. On July ninth, Virgin Atlantic ceased serving Pakistan, a big volume visiting friends and relatives promote it launched in December 2020 due to Pakistan International Airlines’ EU/UK ban, which still exists. It operated Heathrow-Islamabad, Heathrow-Lahore, and Manchester-Islamabad.
Its last flight left Islamabad at 13:07 and landed at Heathrow at 17:21. Naturally, most airlines keep quiet after they end a route, let alone a rustic. Nevertheless, Virgin’s Chief Customer and Operating Officer reported the carrier’s exit from the market on social media.
Click here for Heathrow-Islamabad flights.
Photo: via Virgin Atlantic.
In 2022 and across all airlines, just two markets (Heathrow-Islamabad and Lahore) alone had 450,000 roundtrip passengers, with most obviously connecting within the Middle East. Despite this volume, only British Airways now serves UK-Pakistan non-stop: Islamabad three weekly from Heathrow using the 787-8. It seems PIA now not uses wet-leased aircraft to avoid the ban.
Fujairah welcomes SalamAir
To finish with excellent news, Oman’s SalamAir has began flights from Muscat to Fujairah, UAE. Operating 4 weekly (curiously twice every day on Mondays and Wednesdays), the short 162-mile (261 km) route takes around half-hour and uses A320neos.
It’s the primary time in 20 years, and possibly endlessly, that it has been served. Its first flight back to Muscat reportedly had 120 passengers, a 67% load factor. It’s, after all, latest.
Photo: via SalamAir.
Fujairah is SalamAir’s second UAE destination, joining Dubai’s nine-weekly services. Within the week starting July 18th, Dubai is amongst SalamAir’s most-served international routes, together with Jeddah (double every day), Dhaka (11 weekly), Lucknow (11 weekly), and Doha (also nine weekly).
That is it for the 93rd edition of my routes newsletter. Join to get something like this in your inbox each week.