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Beginning July 1, Juneyao Air will offer 3X-weekly service from Shanghai to Manchester, England, the carrier’s first UK destination.
Juneyao Air, Philippine Airlines and Air Transat are entering new international markets this summer, expanding their long-haul networks.
SHANGHAI-MANCHESTER
Chinese carrier Juneyao Air has selected Manchester, England, as its first UK destination, with flights from Shanghai scheduled to open this summer.
Service between Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) and Manchester Airport (MAN) will start on July 1, operating a Boeing 787-9 3X-weekly. The move comes more than four years after the airline was forced to suspend plans for the same route due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 5,705 mi. (4,958 nm) sector will become MAN’s second nonstop route to mainland China alongside Hainan Airlines’ flights from Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK). Additionally, Cathay Pacific Airways offers flights from Hong Kong International (HKG).
Juneyao’s entry into the UK market comes as Chinese inbound and outbound travel continues to recover, with O&D traffic between Manchester and China rising to almost 140,000 two-way passengers in 2023, compared with 28,000 during the previous 12 months. Traffic amounted to around 301,000 passengers in 2019, Sabre Market Intelligence data show.
Manchester already has strong ties to China, with one of the largest Chinese communities in the UK outside of London at more than 13,500 Chinese residents, according to the 2011 Census. The city has seen significant growth since then; more than 9,000 Chinese students reside in Manchester, comprising around one in nine of the student population and marking a 43% increase since 2018. Other cities in the north of England, such as Liverpool, Sheffield and Leeds, also have sizable Chinese populations.
MAN expects the regional impact of the new route to be significant. When service from Manchester to Beijing was first launched in 2016, export values to China grew 41% to £1.29 billion ($1.6 billion) and inquiries about investment in the area from China doubled in the two years that followed.
Manchester is one of two new European routes being launched by Juneyao this summer alongside flights between PVG and Brussels starting on July 3. This expansion brings the airline’s European network to five destinations.
MANILA-SEATTLE
Philippine Airlines (PAL) is set to become the first carrier to link the Philippines and the US Pacific Northwest when it launches nonstop flights between Manila and Seattle.
Service connecting Manila International Airport (MNL) and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) will start on Oct. 2, operating 3X-weekly on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The airline will deploy Boeing 777-300ERs on the 6,650 mi. (5,779 nm) route.
Seattle marks the sixth US destination in PAL’s network, joining Guam, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York John F. Kennedy (JFK) and San Francisco. The carrier also serves Toronto Pearson (YYZ) and Vancouver International (YVR) in Canada.
PAL has been seeking to launch a route to Seattle for several years—initially announcing plans to open flights to the city in January 2020—but the proposed launch scheduled for May 2020 was cancelled indefinitely because of the pandemic. However, with more than 900,000 Americans visiting the Philippines in 2023, making the US the country’s second largest source of tourism, the airline believes there is sufficient travel demand to resurrect the network plans.
In addition to attracting leisure traffic, PAL will be targeting the growing number of Filipinos visiting family and friends in Oregon and Washington state, together home to more than 240,000 Filipino Americans.
According to Sabre data, Manila-Seattle was the fourth-largest Philippines-US city pair during 2023, with O&D traffic totalling 82,500 two-way passengers. Only Manila-Los Angeles, Manila-San Francisco and Manila-New York, each of which are sectors served by direct flights, saw more traffic.
PAL plans to offer connections via Manila to its extensive domestic and regional international network, including cities such as Cebu and Davao in the Philippines, alongside Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. Additionally, the MNL-SEA route will offer 60 tons of weekly cargo capacity between the cities.
MONTRÉAL-MARRAKESH
Air Transat is set to launch year-round flights to Morocco this summer, marking its first route to Africa.
The Canadian airline will initiate a nonstop route connecting Montréal with Marrakesh, targeting both inbound VFR traffic and outbound leisure passengers. According to Canada’s 2021 census, about 81,000 Canadians who claimed full or partial Moroccan ancestry live in Quebec—and nearly half of that population is in Montréal.
Flights between Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL) and Marrakesh Menara Airport (RAK) will run from June 14, operating 2X-weekly on Wednesdays and Saturdays using Airbus A321LRs. The route, spanning 3,574 mi. (3,106 nm) will continue through the winter months with a 1X-weekly roundtrip on Saturdays until April 20, 2025.
O&D traffic between Canada and Morocco totalled nearly 200,000 passengers in 2022, Sabre figures show, with Montréal-Casablanca being the largest city pair, accounting for about 68% of total traffic between the two countries.
Air Transat will become the sole North American carrier to fly to Marrakesh once the route begins and the third airline to provide scheduled service between North America and Morocco. Data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser show that Air Canada flies from YUL to Casablanca’s Mohammed V International Airport (CMN), while Royal Air Maroc offers service from CMN to Miami, Montréal, New York JFK and Washington Dulles (IAD).
Additionally, United Airlines is set to launch a Newark-Marrakesh service on Oct. 24, becoming the second route between the New York area and Morocco and the only nonstop service between the US and Marrakesh.
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