The latest airline route news, featuring network changes, schedule alterations, codeshares and interline agreements.
June 27
Copa Airlines has inaugurated nonstop service between San Diego and Panama City. Flights will operate four times per week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. “The launch of our San Diego route marks a significant milestone in solidifying our connectivity on the West Coast of the U.S.,” Copa CEO Pedro Heilbron says. “In addition to meeting growing demand for business, academic and leisure travel to Southern California, this route also opens new opportunities for travelers to discover the wonders of our country.”
Volotea will launch a new connection between Seville and Verona, Italy, operating 2X-weekly from Nov. 6 to Dec. 14, 2025, and again from Feb. 12 to March 26, 2026. “With this new route to Verona, we expand our presence in Andalusia and connect Seville with one of the most emblematic cities in northern Italy,” says Gabriel Schmilovich, Volotea’s strategy director. “This connection responds to growing demand for cultural destinations.” The route brings Volotea’s total from Seville to six, joining flights to Asturias, Bilbao, San Sebastián, Santander and Bordeaux.
Finnair will continue operating state-subsidized domestic routes from Helsinki to five Finnish cities through February 2028 under an extended agreement with Traficom, the government’s transport and communications agency. The airline will serve Kajaani, Kokkola, Kemi, Jyväskylä and Joensuu with ATR 72 aircraft operated by Norra, a joint venture between Finnair and DAT. The extension runs from March 29, 2026, to Feb. 27, 2028.
Pegasus Airlines has added two new Turkish destinations to its UK route map, launching direct flights from London Stansted to Gaziantep and Kayseri. The Gaziantep service operates weekly on Saturdays, while flights from Kayseri are offered on Wednesdays.
AirAsia has launched nonstop service between Kuala Lumpur and Darwin, Australia. Flights will be operated four times per week using Airbus A321 aircraft. AirAsia Malaysia CEO Fareh Mazputra says the route offers “the only direct, affordable link between Darwin and Kuala Lumpur.” The airline will offer approximately 100,000 seats annually between the cities.
IndiGo will begin nonstop flights between Hindon Airport in Ghaziabad and Goa on July 20. Hindon, located in the Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh, is a rapidly developing urban and industrial hub within India's National Capital Region.
June 26
International Airlines Group subsidiary Level will offer its largest-ever winter schedule in 2025-26, increasing capacity by 51% and surpassing 400,000 total seats. Capacity to North America will rise 64% across routes to New York, Boston, Miami and Los Angeles. The Barcelona–New York JFK service will see the biggest boost, increasing 126% year-over-year with daily flights from November to January and six per week in February and March. In South America, Level will offer up to 12 weekly flights between Barcelona and Buenos Aires in peak weeks—its highest ever—and increase Santiago frequencies to five per week during December, January and February.
Ryanair has announced a significant expansion of its winter 2025-26 schedule at Warsaw Chopin Airport. The expanded winter schedule features 12 routes, including six new winter destinations: Leeds, Malaga, Pisa, Porto, Seville and Tirana. The airline will also increase flight frequency on popular routes including Alicante, Brussels-Charleroi and Paphos. Ryanair's expanded service will add more than 150,000 additional seats, bringing the total to 340,000 seats. Additionally, the ULCC intends to add two new routes from Göteborg Landvetter Airport, Sweden, to Malta and Porto. Both will be offered twice a week.
SunExpress will launch a new scheduled passenger service between East Midlands Airport and Antalya, Turkey, during the summer 2026 season. The service will operate up to three times per week on Tuesdays, Fridays and Wednesdays during peak summer. SunExpress, a joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, will operate from 14 airports across the UK and Ireland in summer 2026.
Indonesia AirAsia has launched its first-ever service to Adelaide, marking the LCC’s debut in South Australia. The new route from Bali will operate four times per week using Airbus A320-200 aircraft, adding more than 74,000 seats annually. Flights will arrive into Adelaide on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, and depart the following day. “In addition to offering direct access to Bali, an ever-popular favourite, this new service expands the options for travellers seeking an affordable gateway to AirAsia's network of over 130 destinations across Asia and beyond,” says Indonesia AirAsia Acting CEO Achmad Sadikin Abdurachman. In 2024, Indonesia injected A$49 million ($32 million) into South Australia's visitor economy, up 18% compared to the previous year.
TUI plans to introduce a new route from Newcastle Airport (NCL) to Sofia, Bulgaria, during the winter 2025-26 season. The weekly Saturday service will begin Dec. 20, complementing the airline’s existing services to Sofia from Birmingham, Dublin, London Gatwick and Manchester airports. "This exciting new destination gives our passengers even more choice to explore some of Europe's best-value ski resorts and it's another great addition to our growing winter schedule,” says NCL director of aviation development, Leon McQuaid.
AirBaltic and Turkish Airlines are expanding their existing codeshare agreement to include several new destinations across Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. The expanded partnership builds on the airlines' initial codeshare arrangement established in 2023 for flights between Riga and Istanbul. Under the new agreement, airBaltic will place its flight code on Turkish Airlines routes from Istanbul to Tbilisi and Batumi in Georgia, Ashgabat in Turkmenistan, Baku in Azerbaijan, Dushanbe in Tajikistan and Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan. In return, Turkish Airlines will add its code to airBaltic flights from Riga to the Finnish cities of Turku and Tampere, as well as Palanga in Lithuania. The new routes will be implemented following regulatory approvals.
Canada’s Porter Airlines has launched a new domestic summer seasonal route between Toronto Pearson International Airport and Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport. The service will operate three times per week on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays through September, utilizing Embraer 195-E2 aircraft. This new route complements Porter’s existing service from Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and Ottawa to Moncton.
TAP Air Portugal is extending its Lisbon–Los Angeles service to year-round. The new route launched on May 16 and was previously planned to be seasonal through Oct. 25. However, fights to Los Angeles will operate three times per week during the winter season, operating on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays using Airbus A330-900neo aircraft.
June 25
China Southern Airlines will return to Christchurch Airport this November, increasing capacity by 26% and extending its seasonal service to include Chinese New Year. The Guangzhou–Christchurch route resumes on Nov. 1 with five flights per week using Boeing 787-9 aircraft, growing to daily service from Dec. 18 through March 3, 2026—coinciding with peak summer travel and Lunar New Year festivities. More than 60,000 seats will be available during the season. China Southern first began serving Christchurch with a trial charter flight in 2015.
Etihad Airways and Air Europa have expanded their strategic partnership with the launch of a wet-lease operation on the Abu Dhabi–Madrid route, marking the Spanish carrier’s first aircraft deployment from the Middle East. The new service, operated by Air Europa’s Boeing 787-9, complements Etihad’s existing daily Madrid schedule and brings the airline’s frequency on the route to twice a day.
International flights have resumed at Dunedin Airport, New Zealand, with Jetstar’s inaugural service from the Gold Coast touching down Wednesday, restoring trans-Tasman connectivity to the city for the first time since 2020. The new route will operate up to three times a week using Airbus A320ceo and A320neo aircraft, offering more than 58,000 seats annually.
June 24
Vietjet has launched its first flights between Vietnam and Russia, linking the coastal resort city of Nha Trang with Vladivostok and Khabarovsk. A third route to Blagoveshchensk is set to begin on July 9. All three are operated as regular charter flights in partnership with tour operators. Vietjet says the flights aim to meet rising demand as Russian tourism rebounds, with Vietnam welcoming more than 210,000 Russian visitors from January to May 2025. “Vietjet’s new routes are set to boost aviation and tourism during the peak summer season while further strengthening economic, cultural and trade ties between Vietnam and its international partners,” the LCC adds.
AirAsia X (AAX) will launch a new three-times-weekly service between Kuala Lumpur and Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Oct. 15, expanding its footprint in the region following the success of its first Central Asia route to Almaty, Kazakhstan, in early 2024. Flights will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. “The launch of our Kuala Lumpur–Tashkent route is a strategic milestone in AAX’s continued growth across Asia and beyond,” AirAsia X CEO Benyamin Ismail says. “We have seen a marked increase in passenger demand for Central Asia following our successful Almaty route.”
EasyJet has added a new Airbus A320neo to its Bristol base, marking its 19th aircraft at the English airport. “We're really proud to be one of easyJet's biggest European bases, which is so important for providing not only unrivaled choice of destinations, connections and frequency, but more high-quality jobs in our region,” says Bristol Airport commercial director, Rupert Lawrie. EasyJet now flies 83 routes from Bristol and has just launched new services to Almeria and Palermo. It will also add winter flights to Munich, Verona, Vienna and Zurich.
Canada’s Air Transat has inaugurated its first-ever nonstop service from Montreal Trudeau to Valencia, becoming the only airline to connect North America with the Spanish city. The new near year-round route, operated using Airbus A321LR aircraft, complements Air Transat’s existing Spanish destinations to Barcelona, Madrid and Malaga. “This destination choice perfectly aligns our strategy to diversify revenue and reduce seasonality of our operations,” Transat Chief Revenue Officer Sebastian Ponce says.
Smartwings will launch new scheduled services from Prague to Bilbao and Toulouse this winter, adding to its expanding European network. The Prague–Bilbao route begins Oct. 24 with flights on Mondays and Fridays, while Prague–Toulouse starts Oct. 25, operating Wednesdays and Saturdays. The additions follow the announcement of five other new routes from Prague this winter, including Barcelona, Brussels, Bucharest, Porto and Rome.
June 23
Air Transat has launched nonstop service between Canada and Berlin with its inaugural flight from Toronto. The 2X-weekly seasonal service runs through October and is operated with Airbus A321LR aircraft. Toronto Pearson International Airport CCO Kurush Minocher says Berlin has “long been” one of the airport’s largest unserved European markets. “Last year, 15,000 people travelled between Toronto and Berlin, all requiring a stopover on their journey,” he adds. On June 20, Aviation Week reported that Air Transat plans to further expand its European network with the addition of Berlin.
Hong Kong Airlines has commenced daily nonstop service to Sydney. The new route, operating daily using Airbus A330 aircraft, positions the airline as the second Hong Kong-based carrier flying to Sydney, alongside Cathay Pacific. The Sydney launch follows recent network additions to Gold Coast, Vancouver and Hulunbuir, and increased frequencies to destinations including the Maldives, Da Nang, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanjing. It also follows the recent bilateral traffic rights expansion between Hong Kong and Australia.
SunExpress, a joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, is adding 10,000 extra seats on UK–Turkey routes for summer 2025 in response to strong seasonal demand. The added capacity, available from August to October, will be spread across five routes: London Gatwick, London Stansted, Bristol and Birmingham to Antalya, and Edinburgh to Dalaman.
Air Serbia has resumed service between Belgrade and Geneva, operating three times per week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with a fourth flight added on Sundays during July and August. “A significant number of people from the Western Balkans region live in Switzerland, and we believe they will find this direct service very useful,” says Boško Rupić, Air Serbia general manager for commercial and strategy. “This is evidenced by both ticket sales and passenger demand, which is why we decided to introduce an additional fourth weekly flight during part of the summer season.”
Emirates will expand its operations to Barcelona with a third daily flight starting Oct. 26, increasing its total weekly service to the Spanish city to 21 flights. The Dubai-based carrier currently operates 28 flights per week to Spain using a mix of Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft, evenly split between Madrid and Barcelona. The Barcelona route includes a daily onward service to Mexico City.
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