Air China inaugurated operations between Chengdu and Milan on July 29th. The airline, in accordance with our database, will offer three services a week by Airbus A350-900s configured for 312 passengers in two classes, which represents more than 3,500 monthly seats each way.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday

• CA 445  Chengdu TFU 01:50 · 07:30 MXP Milan
• CA 446  Milan MXP 12:45 · 05:45+1 TFU Chengdu

The Air China route schedule to/from Malpensa airport reaches four regular connections, for a total of 21 weekly frequencies between them, operated with Airbus A330-200 and A350-900 aircraft.

Air China’s routes in the China-Italy market

Milan Malpensa

• Beijing (PEK): 7 weekly · Airbus A350-900
• Chengdu (TFU): 3 weekly · Airbus A350-900
• Shanghai (PVG): 7 weekly · Airbus A350-900
• Wenzhou (WNZ): 4 weekly · Airbus A330-200

Rome Fiumicino

• Beijing (PEK): 7 weekly · Boeing 777-300(ER)
• Hangzhou (HGH): 3 weekly · Airbus A330-300

All Nippon Airways returns to Vienna after four and a half years

The first service arrived in the Austrian capital on August 2nd at 06:05 local time from Tokyo Haneda. ANA will have three flights per week on this route with 244-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner jets.

Monday, Thursday and Saturday

• NH 205  Tokyo HND 22:45 · 06:20+1 VIE Vienna

Tuesday, Friday and Sunday

• NH 206  Vienna VIE 11:25 · 06:55+1 HND Tokyo

Vienna joins Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Munich and Paris as its destinations in Europe. Furthermore, as we published in this article, the Japanese airline will add three new connections to Europe between December 2024 and February 2025.

Croatia Airlines incorporates its first Airbus A220

On July 30th at 10:01 local time, Croatia Airlines’ first Airbus A220-300, named “Zagreb”, landed at Franjo Tuđman Airport. The aircraft, new from the factory, arrived from Montreal YMX via Copenhagen on a nearly 11-hour ferry flight.

Jasmin Bajić, President of the Management Board and CEO of Croatia Airlines, said: “This day will go down in history as the start of a new era in the history of Croatia Airlines, in the history of Croatian aviation and the Croatian state, as well as in the hearts of all of us that have gathered here, and all our employees and passengers. Today, a new era begins, one in which new development opportunities for Croatia’s tourism product and economy are opening up.”

Then, he commented: “Thanks to our great Airbus A220 fleet, we can now successfully spread our wings to new destinations, and optimize our flight network, while being more energy efficient, consuming less fuel and, most importantly, enhancing both passenger and stakeholder satisfaction. I look forward to the arrival of every new Airbus in our fleet because, with each arrival, we are getting closer to achieving the goal that we set together in our Post-COVID-19 Strategy, while consistently following our mission and vision, aware at every moment of the importance of Croatia Airlines for the Croatian state and its passengers.”

Croatia Airlines is scheduled to add its second Airbus A220 by the end of this year, six during 2025, four in 2026 and three in 2027. Considering the A220 Family, the airline will have 13 Airbus A220-300s with 147 seats, and two Airbus A220-100s configured for 129 passengers.

We review other highlights of the European market during July and August

• Aer Lingus adds three routes from Dublin.

• Aeroitalia started operations between Bacau and Cuneo.

• Air France schedules flights to Las Vegas.

• Aurigny Air will have charter services between Guernsey and Ibiza.

• Bees Airlines began regular passenger flights.

• British Airways to boost frequencies on its London – Bangkok route.

• Corendon and SunExpress add services to Europe.

• Emirates changes its operations between Dubai and Edinburgh.

• Eurowings to increase routes in the Sweden – Italy market.

• Finnair boosts flights to London Heathrow.

• French Bee to introduce Airbus A350-1000 on Paris Orly – Newark route.

• KLM schedules new routes with its Airbus A321neo.

• LOT will commence operations to Portugal.

• Qantas changes its schedule between Perth and London.

• Ryanair to fly to Naples from Tirana.

• Smartwings Slovakia schedules charter flights between Bratislava and Doha.

• Swiss will have services to Málaga with Airbus A330-300.

• Virgin to introduce the A330neo on more routes to the United States.

• Wizz Air will launch new connections within Europe.

Aer Lingus

The Irish company will inaugurate three new destinations to/from Dublin in late October. At the time of publication, Aer Lingus will offer this schedule, with Airbus A320s:

• Malta (MLA): 3 weekly · October 25th
• Seville (SVQ): 3 weekly · October 25th
• Marrakech (RAK): 3 weekly · October 26th

Its only competitor on these three routes will be Ryanair, which operates using Boeing 737-800s and Boeing 737 MAX 8s.

Aeroitalia

On August 4th at 15:34 local time, Aeroitalia’s inaugural flight from Bacau, Romania, arrived in Cuneo. The airline will perform two services a week between the two cities with Boeing 737-800s configured for 189 passengers.

Wednesday and Sunday

• XZ 3315  Bacau BCM 12:00 · 13:30 CUF Cuneo
• XZ 3314  Cuneo CUF 14:20 · 17:40 BCM Bacau

Aeroitalia reaches three destinations from/to Bacau, after Milan Bergamo and Rome Fiumicino, while Cuneo joins the company’s regular schedule.

Air France

As we published in the USA/Canada report, American will add international flights from Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025, which will take place in the U.S. city during the first fortnight of January.

Regarding Air France, the airline will operate services to Las Vegas between January 5th and 12th, 2025, coinciding with this event.

Flights will be every day except January 8th, with 324-seat Airbus A350-900 aircraft.

Daily except Jan 8th

• AF 304  Paris CDG 10:45 · 13:05 LAS Las Vegas
• AF 305  Las Vegas LAS 15:15 · 10:35+1 CDG Paris

Aurigny Air Services

For summer season, Aurigny Air will perform seasonal operations between Guernsey and Ibiza, which will be carried out on 72-seat ATR 72-600s. The first service is scheduled for August 17th.

Saturday

• GR 800  Guernsey GCI 14:00 · 18:00 IBZ Ibiza
• GR 801  Ibiza IBZ 18:40 · 20:40 GCI Guernsey

Aurigny will be the only company to operate this route.

Bees Airlines

The Romanian carrier Bees began its commercial passenger flights on August 5th with its Airbus A320-200. 

Bucharest – Heraklion was the first regular route launched, and the company plans to continue adding connections to/from Bucharest during August, as well as flights from/to Chișinău and Suceava.

• Bucharest (OTP) – Heraklion (HER): 2 weekly · August 5th
• Bucharest (OTP) – Prague (PRG): 3 weekly · August 23rd
• Bucharest (OTP) – Verona (VRN): 2 weekly · August 27th
• Chișinău (RMO) – Verona (VRN): 2 weekly · August 27th
• Bucharest (OTP) – Tel Aviv (TLV): 2 weekly · August 29th
• Suceava (SCV) – Tel Aviv (TLV): 1 weekly · September 8th
• Suceava (SCV) – Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden (FKB): 2 weekly · October 11th

British Airways

By winter 2025, British Airways intends to boost its frequencies between London Gatwick and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi. The airline will commence this route on October 28th with three operations per week using Boeing 777-200(ER) jets.

According to its website, British will reach five weekly services from January 10th, 2025.

Daily except Tuesday and Wednesday

• BA 2231  London LGW 21:15 · 16:10+1 BKK Bangkok

Daily except Wednesday and Thursday

• BA 2230  Bangkok BKK 22:50 · 05:30+1 LGW London

As of October 28th, flights will depart from Gatwick on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays, while on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays from the Thai capital.

Corendon Airlines

The company will operate two new routes between Gazipaşa, Türkiye, and Germany during October. Both will be carried out twice weekly by Boeing 737-800s with 188 seats.

• Berlin (BER): effective October 4th
• Leipzig (LEJ): effective October 6th

Croatia Airlines

As can be seen through our database, the first regular service of its A220, registered 9A-CAE, was on August 7th between Zagreb and Frankfurt, covering flight OU 416.

The aircraft departed the Croatian capital at 09:21 arriving at FRA at 10:35, after a 1 hour and 14 minutes flight.

Croatia Airlines fleet

• Airbus A220-300: 1
• Airbus A319-100: 4
• Airbus A320-200: 3
• De Havilland Canada DHC-8-400: 6

In addition to the first scheduled flight of the A220, Croatia Airlines celebrated on Wednesday, August 7th its 35th anniversary. Zagreb Airlines was registered in Zagreb on August 7th 1989, beginning operations in December of that year, offering postal services. In July 1990, Zagreb Airlines changed its name to Croatia Airlines, becoming the country’s airline for passenger and cargo flights.

Emirates

The company will again change its Airbus A350 aircraft operations, postponing the start of flights to December.

Back in July, following a new schedule update, Emirates planned on November 4th the first scheduled service of its A350s on the Dubai – Edinburgh route. With this new modification, the airline will operate to Edinburgh during November by Boeing 777-200(LR).

Daily

• EK 023  Dubai DXB 09:05 · 13:20 EDI Edinburgh
• EK 024  Edinburgh EDI 20:40 · 08:05+1 DXB Dubai

The first flight between Dubai and Edinburgh with the Airbus A350-900s is set for December 2nd.

Eurowings

During summer 2025, Eurowings schedules charter services between Sweden and Turin, which will be operated by Airbus A320-200s seating 174/180 passengers.

Stockholm

Saturday · effective January 25th, 2025

• EW 5076  Stockholm ARN 06:00 · 08:50 TRN Turin
• EW 5077  Turin TRN 09:45 · 12:35 ARN Stockholm

Gothenburg

• EW 5076  Gothenburg GOT 06:00 · 08:50 TRN Turin (February 8th, 2025)
• EW 5077  Turin TRN 09:45 · 12:35 GOT Gothenburg (February 15th, 2025)

Finnair

The carrier plans a significant frequency increase between Helsinki and London Heathrow, a route currently operated with Airbus A320, Airbus A321 and Airbus A350-900 aircraft.

Finnair expects to provide 42 flights a week, in accordance with its website.

Frequencies · effective October 27th

• AY 1331/1332: daily
• AY 1333/1334: Sunday
• AY 1335/1336: daily
• AY 1337/1338: daily
• AY 1339: daily except Saturday
• AY 1340: daily except Sunday
• AY 1341/1342: daily
• AY 1343/1344: daily

At present, it operates 28 weekly services.

French Bee

Beginning April 12th, 2025, the French airline will introduce Airbus A350-1000s on the Paris Orly – Newark route.

French Bee will operate once per week between the two cities with these aircraft, increasing to daily on May 4th, 2025.

Airbus A350-1000 schedule

• BF 720  Paris ORY 18:50 · 21:00 EWR Newark
• BF 721  Newark EWR 23:00 · 12:15+1 ORY Paris

All other flights on this route will be performed on Airbus A350-900 planes.

HiSky

A new service to France will be added by the Moldovan company on October 14th, with the start of the Bucharest – Paris Charles de Gaulle route. As can be seen on its website, HiSky will have three weekly frequencies using Airbus A320s and Airbus A321s.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday

• H4 221  Bucharest OTP 10.20 · 12:25 CDG Paris
• H4 222  Paris CDG 13:25 · 17:10 OTP Bucharest

Air France and Tarom currently offer 17 and 14 flights a week respectively between both cities.

KLM

Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, or simply KLM, announced the introduction of the Airbus A321neo on several of its destinations from/to Amsterdam.

The 227-seat A321neo will begin covering these routes:

• London (LHR): effective October 27th (KL 1001/1002)
• Manchester (MAN): effective October 27th (KL 1033/1034)
• Paris (CDG): effective October 27th (KL 1401/1402, 1403/1404, 1411/1412)
• Madrid (MAD): effective November 2nd (KL 1505/1506)
• Berlin (BER): effective December 2nd (KL 1777/1778, 1785/1786)
• Stockholm (ARN) effective December 2nd (KL 1217/1218)
• Edinburgh (EDI): effective January 6th, 2025 (KL 931/932)
• Zurich (ZRH): effective January 6th, 2025 (KL 1919/1920)

LOT

LOT Polish Airlines will inaugurate services to Portugal on February 3rd, 2025.

These operations, between Warsaw and Lisbon, will be carried out with Boeing 737-800s.

Daily except Wednesday and Saturday

• LO 425  Warsaw WAW 09:50 · 13:15 LIS Lisbon
• LO 426  Lisbon LIS 14:15 · 19:20 WAW Warsaw

Lufthansa City

In late July, the Lufthansa subsidiary began two new routes from Munich, to be served by Airbus A319-100 aircraft once weekly.

Bordeaux · July 27th

Saturday

• VL 2258  Munich MUC 08:20 · 10:15 BOD Bordeaux
• VL 2259  Bordeaux BOD 10:55 · 12:45 MUC Munich

Hamburg · July 28th

Sunday

• VL 2062  Munich MUC 15:15 · 16:30 HAM Hamburg
• VL 2063  Hamburg HAM 17:15 · 18:30 MUC Munich

Neos

At 13:47 local time on August 7th, the first Neos charter flight to Nosy Be, Madagascar, departed from Katowice. According to our database, these services will replace those from Wroclaw, which were carried out between May 29th and July 31st.

Wednesday

• NO 360  Katowice KTW 13:10 · 23:30 NOS Nosy Be

Thursday

• NO 361  Nosy Be NOS 01:30 · 10:10 KTW Katowice

Neos schedules the last charter operation on this route on August 28th, returning flights to/from Wroclaw during September.

Qantas

Between August 8th and 22nd, the Australian airline will operate the Perth-London route with a stopover in Singapore. At publication time, this schedule is through the 22nd, but there may be changes later.

Daily

• QF 209  Perth PER 14:10 · 20:00 SIN Singapore
• QF 209  Singapore SIN 21:45 · 05:05+1 LHR London
• QF 010  London LHR 11:55 · 11:40+1 PER Perth

Through a press release, the company announced this modification is due to the situation in parts of the Middle East as a precaution.

Ryanair

The ultra low cost carrier will fly between Naples and Tirana from January 2nd, 2025. Ryanair will perform three weekly services on Boeing 737-800s, which have 189 seats in single class.

Tuesday/Thursday and Saturday

• FR 5626  Naples NAP 06:20/08:20 · 07:40/09:40 TIA Tirana
• FR 5627  Tirana TIA 08:05/10:05 · 09:25/11:25 NAP Naples

Wizz Air Malta operates three times per week with Airbus A321 aircraft.

Smartwings

Smartwings Slovakia plans to start regular charter flights between Bratislava and Doha as of September 30th. Operations will be carried out weekly on Boeing 737 MAX 8s.

Monday

• 6D 6626  Bratislava BTS 10:00 · 17:40 DOH Doha
• 6D 6627  Doha DOH 18:40 · 22:40 BTS Bratislava

Currently, with respect to other cities in the Middle East, the airline has services between Bratislava and Bahrain (6D 6622/6D 6623).

SunExpress

The Turkish carrier will add routes to Europe for 2024/25 winter season.

Based on its website, SunExpress will fly with Boeing 737-800 aircraft under the following schedule:

• Izmir (ADB) – Sofia (SOF): 2 weekly · December 27th
• Kayseri (ASR) – Prague (PRG): 1 weekly · January 11th, 2025
• Izmir (ADB) – Rovaniemi (RVN): 2 weekly · January 15th, 2025

Swiss

Swiss International Air Lines will operate a weekly flight between Zurich and Málaga using Airbus A330-300s during August. These airplanes are configured for 236 passengers with three seating classes.

August 11th, 17th, 24th and 31st

• LX 2110  Zurich ZRH 09:10 · 12:00 AGP Málaga
• LX 2111  Málaga AGP 13:10 · 15:45 ZRH Zurich

The airline operates 22 services per week on this route by Airbus A220-300, Airbus A320 and Airbus A321 jets. In addition, Swiss has two weekly flights between Geneva and Málaga on Airbus A220s.

Turkish Airlines

As of August 10th, Turkish introduced the Boeing 777-300(ER) on a domestic route connecting cities located on different continents. The airline’s 777-300s have 349, 400, 492 and 531 seats.

Operations between Istanbul (IST) and Gaziantep with the 77W will run, at the time of publication, until mid-September.

Monday and Saturday

• TK 2224  Istanbul IST 08:20 · 10:10 GZT Gaziantep
• TK 2225  Gaziantep GZT 11:40 · 13:40 IST Istanbul

Turkish Airlines also performs this route on Airbus A320-200s and Boeing 737-800s.

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin is set to launch flights to the United States from Manchester using the 262-seat Airbus A330-900neo aircraft beginning in November.

Atlanta and Orlando will be its destinations, which are currently operated by Airbus A330-300s.

Schedule with A330neo

• Atlanta (ATL): 2 weekly · November 1st
• Orlando (MCO): 1 weekly · November 1st

Wizz Air

In late October, the low cost carrier will add several routes within Europe, to be carried out on Airbus A320 and Airbus A321 jets, as follows:

• Tirana (TIA) – Salerno (QSR): 2 weekly · October 27th
• Wroclaw (WRO) – Kutaisi (KUT): 2 weekly · October 27th
• Budapest (BUD) – Salerno (QSR): 2 weekly · October 28th
• Bucharest (OTP) – Malmö (MMX): 2 weekly · October 29th
• Bucharest (OTP) – Salerno (QSR): 3 weekly · October 29th
• Iași (IAS) – Malmö (MMX): 2 weekly · October 29th

We review new aircraft added by European airlines during July and August

• airBaltic

• Air Europa

• Air France (x3)

• British Airways (x3)

• Condor

• Croatia Airlines

• ITA Airways

• KM Malta Airlines

• LOT Polish Airlines

• Lufthansa (x2)

• Olympic Air

• Ryanair (x5)

• Transavia France

• Turkish Airlines (x2)

• Wizz Air Malta

*It’s not new from the factory.

Other reports we have published:

• Asia and Oceania
• Africa and Middle East
• United States and Canada
• Latin America
• ANA spreads its wings in Europe
• ITA expands its Asia presence with two new routes
• Family and tourism: Royal Air Maroc launches two new routes

Cover photo: NicolaZappa – JetPhotos (Milan Malpensa, Italy).