At 12:19 p.m. local time on Thursday, May 23rd, Air France’s inaugural flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle arrived at Phoenix Airport. The airline will offer three services a week with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft equipped with 30 seats in Business class, 21 in Premium Economy and 225 in Economy.

Phoenix becomes Air France’s 17th destination in the United States and the 22nd in North America, including the five in Canada (Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Toronto and Vancouver).

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

• AF 68  Paris CDG 10:10 · 12:10 PHX Phoenix
• AF 69  Phoenix PHX 14:10 · 09:15+1 CDG Paris

Porter Airlines continues its network expansion between Canada and the US, with the opening of a new route to Phoenix beginning in October.

Services will be operated with Embraer E-2 planes configured for 136 passengers in two classes from/to Toronto Pearson once daily, offering 952 weekly seats per leg. 

Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando and San Francisco are Porter’s current U.S. routes from YYZ.

We review other highlights of the U.S./Canada market in May and June.

• Air Transat incorporates a new Airbus A330.

• American Airlines adds two routes between Charlotte and Canada.

• Atlas Air acquires more Boeing 747-400(F).

• Avelo Airlines will fly to Washington DC from New Haven.

• BermudAir started operations to Canada.

• Delta confirms first CRJ-550 destinations.

• Flair modifies its Orlando service.

• Frontier returns to San Jose (SJC) following a three-year suspension.

• JetBlue adds two connections to the Caribbean from New York.

• New routes for Southwest, Spirit, Sun Country and United.

• Phoenix reaches its third connection to Europe after the start of Paris with Air France, following Frankfurt and London.

• Virgin Atlantic begins seasonal flights between Manchester and Las Vegas.

• WestJet schedules more frequencies between Calgary and Paris Charles de Gaulle.

Air Canada

The company announced it will maintain year-round operations to Calgary and Winnipeg from Ottawa. Both routes have a daily frequency, which will be performed during winter 2024/25.

Calgary · 737 MAX

Daily

• AC 356  Calgary YYC 14:15 · 20:06 YOW Ottawa
• AC 357  Ottawa YOW 21:00 · 23:27 YYC Calgary

Winnipeg · CRJ-900

Daily

• AC 8110  Winnipeg YWG 11:05 · 14:31 YOW Ottawa
• AC 8111  Ottawa YOW 18:30 · 20:19 YWG Winnipeg

In addition to Calgary and Winnipeg, Air Canada has flights to Ottawa from Halifax, Montreal, Quebec, Toronto and Vancouver.

Air France

This is the company’s current connectivity between Paris and the USA. 

All flights are conducted from Paris Charles de Gaulle.

• Atlanta (ATL): 21 weekly · A359/772/789
• Boston (BOS): 15 weekly · A359/772/77W
• Chicago (ORD): 7 weekly · Airbus A350-900
• Dallas (DFW): 7 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
• Denver (DEN): 4 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
• Detroit (DTW): 7 weekly · Boeing 777-200(ER)
• Houston (IAH): 7 weekly · Airbus A350-900
• Los Angeles (LAX): 22 weekly · A359/772/77W
• Miami (MIA): 12 weekly · A359/772/77W
• Minneapolis (MSP): 7 weekly · Boeing 777-200(ER)
• New York (JFK): 40 weekly · A359/772/77W
• Newark (EWR): 7 weekly · Airbus A350-900
• Phoenix (PHX): 3 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
• Raleigh-Durham (RDU): 6 weekly · Airbus A350-900
• San Francisco (SFO): 10 weekly · A359/77W
• Seattle (SEA): 7 weekly · Airbus A350-900
• Washington (IAD): 12 weekly · A359/77W

It also serves the Los Angeles – Papeete route five times per week with Airbus A350-900 jets.

Air Transat

Another Airbus A330-200 has been added to the Canadian airline’s fleet.

The nearly 15-year-old A330, registered C-GUFZ, landed in Toronto on May 28th. This is Air Transat’s 13th A330-200 and the 15th A330 in total, considering the two Airbus A330-300s.

Fleet (currently)

• Airbus A321-200: 8
• Airbus A321neo: 16
• Airbus A330-200: 13
• Airbus A330-300: 2

Three more A321neo aircraft will be incorporated in the short term.

Alaska

The carrier intends to commence operations between San Diego and Ronald Reagan Washington Airport (DCA).

Alaska announced it plans to apply for one of the new DCA slots from the FAA reauthorization bill. At this time, the route is pending approval.

If services are finally launched, San Diego would be Alaska’s fifth destination in DCA, and the airline would have more than 30 scheduled routes (domestic + international) from/to San Diego.

American Airlines

During June, the company will add two new connections to Canada from Charlotte, to be operated with Airbus A321s and Boeing 737-800s.

Calgary and Vancouver will join American’s schedule in the Charlotte-Canada market. Montreal and Toronto are its current destinations.

Vancouver · June 5th

Daily

• AA 1817  Charlotte CLT 18:30 · 21:09 YVR Vancouver
• AA 1817  Vancouver YVR 22:04 · 06:22+1 CLT Charlotte

Calgary · June 8th

Saturday

• AA 2626  Charlotte CLT 09:03 · 11:59 YYC Calgary
• AA 2626  Calgary YYC 12:59 · 19:31 CLT Charlotte

American Airlines will begin flights between Charlotte and Quebec City on CRJ-900 aircraft starting in August, once a week.

Atlas Air

The airline incorporated four Boeing 747-400(F) jets in May. According to our database, the N430GT, N431GT, N438GT and N274AB registrations are the new additions, which are between 18 to 22 years old.

Currently, the 747s are on ground, about to enter service.

Fleet

• Boeing 737-800: 8 (Amazon Prime Air)
• Boeing 747-400: 48
• Boeing 747-8: 10
• Boeing 767-300: 27
• Boeing 777(F): 7

Avelo

Beginning July 12th, the airline will inaugurate services between New Haven and Washington DC. Flights will be conducted on Boeing 737-700s with a capacity of 147 passengers.

The U.S. capital will be Avelo Airlines’ 21st destination in New Haven.

Monday and Friday

• XP 494  New Haven HVN 17:00 · 18:15 IAD Washington
• XP 493  Washington IAD 18:55 · 20:10 HVN New Haven

Current Avelo routes and frequencies to/from HVN

Puerto Rico

• San Juan (SJU): 2 weekly · Boeing 737-700

United States

• Atlanta (ATL): 4 weekly · 737/738
• Baltimore (BWI): 2 weekly · Boeing 737-700
• Charleston (CHS): 4 weekly · 737/738
• Chicago (MDW): 2 weekly · Boeing 737-700
• Concord (USA): 2 weekly · Boeing 737-800
• Daytona Beach (DAB): 2 weekly · Boeing 737-700
• Destin Fort (VPS): 2 weekly · Boeing 737-700
• Fort Lauderdale (FLL): 6 weekly · 737/738
• Greenville (GSP): 4 weekly · Boeing 737-700
• Knoxville (TYS): 2 weekly · Boeing 737-800
• Myrtle Beach (MYR): 4 weekly · Boeing 737-800
• Nashville (BNA): 4 weekly · 737/738
• Orlando (MCO): 9 weekly · 737/738
• Raleigh-Durham (RDU): 6 weekly · Boeing 737-800
• Sarasota (SRQ): 2 weekly · Boeing 737-700
• Savannah (SAV): 2 weekly · Boeing 737-800
• Tampa (TPA): 4 weekly · 737/738
• West Palm Beach (PBI): 4 weekly · Boeing 737-700
• Wilmington (ILM): 4 weekly · Boeing 737-800

BermudAir

The carrier launched operations to Canada in May.

Halifax and Toronto were added to BermudAir’s regular schedule, which will run as follows:

Toronto · May 17th

Tuesday, Friday and Sunday

• 2T 601  Bermuda BDA 08:15 · 10:30 YYZ Toronto
• 2T 602  Toronto YYZ 11:15 · 14:45 BDA Bermuda

Halifax · May 25th

Saturday

• 2T 801  Bermuda BDA 08:15 · 10:40 YHZ Halifax
• 2T 802  Halifax YHZ 11:25 · 13:40 BDA Bermuda

BermudAir routes

• Baltimore (BWI): 3 weekly · Embraer 170
• Boston (BOS): 7 weekly · Embraer 170
• Fort Lauderdale (FLL): 3 weekly · Embraer 170
• Halifax (YHZ): 1 weekly · Embraer 170
• Orlando (MCO): 3 weekly · Embraer 170
• Toronto (YYZ): 3 weekly · Embraer 170
• White Plains (HPN): 6 weekly · Embraer 170

BermudAir has two Embraer 170s in its fleet (VQ-BLU and VQ-BLW).

Breeze

Orlando – Orange County (Santa Ana airport), new Breeze Airways route.

Operations began on May 29th and will be performed three weekly until August 17th.

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

• MX 522  Orlando MCO 09:45 · 11:59 SNA Santa Ana
• MX 523  Santa Ana SNA 12:45 · 20:29 MCO Orlando

Breeze will be the only operator on this route.

Delta Air Lines

Effective July 1st, Delta will commence flights with the smaller version of the CRJ-700s, the CRJ-550.

These aircraft are configured for 50 passengers in single class, and at the time of publication, will have four routes from/to Salt Lake City:

• Butte (BTE) // Cedar City (CDC) // Elko (EKO) // West Yellowstone (WYS)

In addition, the carrier will open four new connections to the Caribbean from the U.S. during winter season. Services will be operated once per week under the following schedule, in accordance to its website:

Providenciales · December 21st

Saturday

• DL 617  Detroit DTW 08:45 · 12:50 PLS Providenciales
• DL 1857  Providenciales PLS 14:15 · 18:25 DTW Detroit

St Johns (Antigua) · January 11th, 2025

Saturday

• DL 1954  New York JFK 08:00 · 13:10 ANU St Johns
• DL 1953  St Johns ANU 14:30 · 18:14 JFK New York

Basseterre · January 11th, 2025

Saturday

• DL 1880  New York JFK 07:30 · 12:40 SKB Basseterre
• DL 1897  Basseterre SKB 14:00 · 17:50 JFK New York

Liberia · January 11th, 2025

Saturday

• DL 1768  Boston BOS 08:00 · 12:05 LIR Liberia
• DL 1856  Liberia LIR 13:35 · 18:28 BOS Boston

FedEx

Federal Express retired during May two of its Boeing 757-200s, which had been in operation with the cargo airline for more than 15 years. Both planes were sent to Victorville (VCV) for scrapping.

• N936FD (39 years): Indianapolis IND – Victorville VCV · May 23rd
• N915FD (36 years): Memphis MEM – Victorville VCV · May 28th

On the other hand, the company added a new Boeing 767-300(F) from the factory in late May. Its registration is N258FE, but we will talk about it later in the report.

Current FedEx fleet

• ATR 42(F): 17
• ATR 72 (F): 39
• Airbus A300-600 (F): 65
• Boeing 737-400 (F): 3
• Boeing 737-800 (F): 8
• Boeing 757-200 (F): 116
• Boeing 767-300 (F): 138
• Boeing 777F: 57
• Cessna 408 SkyCourier: 19
• McDonnell Douglas MD-11: 34

Fedex has nearly 500 airplanes in its fleet, of which approximately 440 are in service.

Flair

The Canadian low-cost carrier reported it will modify its operations in Orlando, discontinuing service to Sanford Airport (SFB) and starting flights to MCO.

• Waterloo (YKF): 3 weekly · October 29th
• Toronto (YYZ): 12 weekly · December 16th
• London (YXU): 2 weekly · December 20th
• Saint John (YSJ): 1 weekly · December 22nd

Orlando Sanford (SFB) will no longer have regular international operations.

Frontier

Beginning in July, for summer, the airline will launch five new routes in San Jose (SJC), which will be performed with Airbus A320 and Airbus A321 aircraft.

• Denver (DEN): 7 weekly · July 22nd
• San Diego (SAN): 7 weekly · July 22nd
• Las Vegas (LAS): 7 weekly · August 13th
• Los Angeles (LAX): 7 weekly · August 13th
• Phoenix (PHX): 7 weekly · August 13th

Frontier will resume services at San Jose airport after almost three years.

jetBlue

Between October and November, jetBlue will increase its Caribbean connectivity with the addition of two new routes. At the time of publication, both routes will be conducted to/from New York JFK, using Airbus A320-200 planes.

Kingstown (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) · October 9th

Wednesday and Sunday

• B6 1639  New York JFK 09:29 · 14:19 SVD Kingstown
• B6 1640  Kingstown SVD 15:54 · 21:00 JFK New York

Bonaire · November 5th

Tuesday and Saturday

• B6 1643  New York JFK 07:00 · 12:46 BON Bonaire
• B6 1644  Bonaire BON 14:10 · 18:30 JFK New York

Antigua, Aguadilla, Basseterre, Bridgetown, Cancún, George Town, Grenada, Kingston, Montego Bay, Nassau, Oranjestad, Ponce, Port-au-Prince, Port of Spain, Providenciales, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, San Juan, Santiago de los Caballeros, Santo Domingo, Sint Maarten, St. Thomas, Vieux Fort and Willemstad are jetBlue’s destinations in the Caribbean.

NASA

Last May 15th, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration retired its modified Douglas DC-8, registration N817NA. The aircraft ended service following a 37-year activity.

As can be seen in our database, the DC-8 departed at 10:03 local time from Edwards (EDS) on its farewell flight. After 3 hours and 20 minutes, it arrived at Pocatello (PIH).

Its replacement will be the Boeing 777-246, registered N577NA, which is currently at Lake Charles, and will begin operations in 2025. 

Nexus Aviation Services

An Airbus A321(PCF) has recently been acquired by Nexus Aviation Ventures and will soon enter service for another airline via lease. The registration is N919NX and it landed on May 25th at Phoenix Goodyear (GYR) from Guam via Majuro and Honolulu.

In addition, BBN Airlines and Nexus Aviation have signed an agreement for the addition of the Airbus A321 with MSN 2916. The nearly 18-year-old plane will operate with the Turkish company under the TC-GPE registry.

Nexus Aviation Ventures is a joint venture between AMTRA Aero and Nehalem Aviation Holdings. Nexus is focused on building its portfolio of A321-200 aircraft in both passenger and freighter configurations.

Porter

This will be the Canadian carrier’s schedule on the Toronto – Phoenix route.

Daily

• PD 641  Toronto YYZ 10:30 · 12:01 PHX Phoenix
• PD 642  Phoenix PHX 13:05 · 20:21 YYZ Toronto

Porter Airlines also added a new Embraer E-2 from the factory in May. The aircraft departed São José dos Campos in Brazil for Canada.

Prior to its arrival in Ottawa, a stopover was made in Bridgetown. According to our database, the Embraer is already in service.

Southwest

Four new domestic routes will be added to Southwest’s regular schedule between August and October. In line with its website, the company will operate on Boeing 737-700s and Boeing 737-800s.

• Albany (ALB) – Las Vegas (LAS): 4 weekly · August 5th
• Grand Rapids (GRR) – Las Vegas (LAS): 4 weekly · October 3rd
• Kansas City (MCI) – Sacramento (SMF): 4 weekly · October 3rd
• Rochester (ROC) – Las Vegas (LAS): 4 weekly · October 3rd

Spirit

As of August 14th, the low cost will launch three new domestic routes.

Dallas, Houston, Reno, Los Angeles, Rochester and Fort Lauderdale will all have new Spirit additions:

• Dallas (DFW) – Houston (IAH): 14 weekly
• Reno (RNO) – Los Angeles (LAX): 7 weekly
• Rochester (ROC) – Fort Lauderdale (FLL): 7 weekly

Sun Country

The carrier schedules an international expansion during winter season.

Operations will be from/to Milwaukee with 189-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

• Montego Bay (MBJ): 2 weekly · January 25th, 2025
• Punta Cana (PUJ): 2 weekly · January 25th, 2025

Sun Country will be the only company to operate these two routes.

United Airlines

New routes have been confirmed for its Airbus A321neo starting in August.

As of press time, there will be eight new destinations to/from Chicago O’Hare, all in the US.

• Los Angeles (LAX): August 1st
• Portland (PDX): August 1st
• Boston (BOS): August 19th
• San Diego (SAN): August 19th
• Denver (DEN): October 27th
• Fort Myers (RSW): October 27th
• Miami (MIA): October 27th
• Tampa (TPA): October 27th

In addition, the airline will add three new domestic connections in Washington (IAD), which will be carried out on Embraer 145 and Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets.

• Greenville (GSP): 21 weekly · September 26th (E145)
• Greensboro (GSO): 21 weekly · October 27th (E145)
• Palm Springs (PSP): 7 weekly · December 19th (7M8)

Virgin

Virgin Atlantic’s first flight of the season from Manchester landed in Las Vegas at 12:11 local time on Sunday, June 2nd. These operations will be served using the 397-seater Airbus A350-1000 aircraft throughout summer.

Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

• VS 85  Manchester MAN 09:50 · 12:25 LAS Las Vegas
• VS 86  Las Vegas LAS 14:40 · 08:20+1 MAN Manchester

Virgin Atlantic routes in the United States

Atlanta

• London (LHR): 7 weekly · Airbus A350-1000
• Manchester (MAN): 7 weekly · Airbus A330-300

Boston

• London (LHR): 14 weekly · A333/A339

Las Vegas

• London (LHR): 7 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
• Manchester (MAN): 3 weekly · Airbus A350-1000

Los Angeles

• London (LHR): 21 weekly · A35K/789

Miami

• London (LHR): 14 weekly · A333/789

New York

• London (LHR): 46 weekly · A333/A339/A35K
• Manchester (MAN): 7 weekly · Airbus A330-300

Orlando

• Edinburgh (EDI): 2 weekly · Airbus A350-1000
• London (LHR): 14 weekly · A333/A35K
• Manchester (MAN): 12 weekly · A333/A35K

San Francisco

• London (LHR): 14 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

Seattle

• London (LHR): 7 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

Tampa

• London (LHR): 7 weekly · Airbus A330-300

Washington

• London (LHR): 7 weekly · Airbus A350-1000

WestJet

Effective October 27th, the company plans more flights between Calgary and Paris Charles de Gaulle. During winter 2024/25, WestJet will operate one daily frequency on this route, when it previously scheduled four services a week.

Barcelona, Dublin, Edinburgh, London, Paris, Reykjavik and Rome are the Canadian airline’s current destinations in Europe.

Daily, which will maintain year-round

• WS 10  Calgary YYC 19:35 · 12:30+1 CDG Paris
• WS 9  Paris CDG 14:30 · 15:45 YYC Calgary

WestJet operates flights between Canada and Europe with Boeing 737 MAX 8s and Boeing 787-9s

23 new aircraft were added during the last month in this market, between these U.S. and Canadian airlines:

• Air Transat

• American

• American Eagle

• Alaska (x4)

• Alaska Horizon

• Breeze (x2)

• Delta (x2)

• FedEx

• Frontier (x2)

• jetBlue (x2)

• Porter

• Southwest

• Spirit (x2)

• United (x2)

Other reports we have published:

• Latin America
• Europe
• Asia and Oceania
• Africa and Middle East
• Lufthansa sending the A380 to Washington
• Aurora Borealis and Saudi Arabia’s commercial center: BA announces two new routes

Cover photo: Helmut Schnichels – JetPhotos (Phoenix).