Alaska Airlines has announced a major expansion of its route network in Europe, with the launch of two new connections from Seattle. The airline will operate flights to London Heathrow and Reykjavik starting in Spring 2026 on Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, respectively.

The capitals of the United Kingdom and Iceland will join Rome, the first destination in Europe to be confirmed by Alaska Airlines. As with London, the airline will operate Boeing 787-9 aircraft, which are configured for 300 passengers.

Routes

• Rome (FCO): 4 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner · May 2026
• London (LHR): 7 weekly · Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
• Reykjavik (KEF): 7 weekly · Boeing 737 MAX 8

Rome will also operate from/to Seattle.

Furthermore, Alaska Airlines unveiled its new livery, set to be featured on its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. The 787 is scheduled to debut the new scheme in January 2026, and by Spring 2026, all Dreamliners will feature this new paint livery.

Porter launches flights to the US from Hamilton

Porter will fly between Hamilton and the United States effective December.

The Canadian airline will offer service to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando from John C. Munro International Airport with 136-seat Embraer E195-E2 aircraft, marking Porter’s first connections in the Hamilton-USA market.

Routes

• Orlando (MCO): 3 weekly · December 12th
• Fort Lauderdale (FLL): 3 weekly · December 13th

Regarding US cities, Porter operates to Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Newark, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Washington D.C., mainly from Toronto.

China Southern to fly to Vancouver

As of September 16th, China Southern Airlines will resume its services between Guangzhou and Vancouver, which will operate with 361-seat Boeing 777-300(ER) aircraft.

Guangzhou, its first destination from the Canadian city, will be conducted twice a week under the following schedule:  

Tuesday and Saturday

• CZ 329  Guangzhou CAN 00:25 · 21:45-1 YVR Vancouver
• CZ 330  Vancouver YVR 01:05 · 06:00+1 CAN Guangzhou

According to our database, the Chinese carrier operates four times weekly to Toronto from Guangzhou by the same aircraft, being its only regular route in the China-Canada market.

GOL strengthens its operations within South America

GOL Linhas Aéreas will once again operate between São Paulo and Punta del Este after seven years, and will also fly a route it has never performed before from the Uruguayan city: Punta del Este – Buenos Aires.

Beginning December 21st, the Brazilian airline will serve the São Paulo – Punta del Este – Buenos Aires (Aeroparque) route and vice versa, two times per week with Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft configured for 176 passengers. These operations will take place during the South American summer, with the last flight scheduled for February 23rd, 2026.

Thursday and Sunday

• G3 7223  Sao Paulo GRU 12:45 · 15:25 PDP Punta del Este
• G3 7223  Punta del Este PDP 16:15 · 17:20 AEP Buenos Aires

• G3 7224  Buenos Aires AEP 13:40 · 14:35 PDP Punta del Este
• G3 7224  Punta del Este PDP 15:15 · 17:45 GRU Sao Paulo

GOL’s last flights to Punta del Este were in February 2020, while in the Argentine capital it has a significant route network, all of them to/from Brazil.

American to initiate several international routes

For Northern Summer 2026, American Airlines has announced the launch of six routes from different cities in the United States, being five to Europe and one to South America.

Athens, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Milan Malpensa, Prague, and Zurich will have the following additions, as published by American Airlines through a press release:

Miami – Milan · March 29th, 2026

Daily

• AA 206  Miami MIA 20:00 · 11:30+1 MXP Milan
• AA 207  Milan MXP 14:05 · 18:40 MIA Miami

Dallas · Athens · May 21st, 2026

Daily

• AA 216  Dallas DFW 16:00 · 11:40+1 ATH Athens
• AA 217  Athens ATH 11:05 · 16:30 DFW Dallas

Dallas – Zurich · May 21st, 2026

Daily

• AA 200  Dallas DFW 15:40 · 08:40+1 ZRH Zurich
• AA 201  Zurich ZRH 10:35 · 14:50 DFW Dallas

Philadelphia – Budapest · May 21st, 2026

Daily

• AA 96  Philadelphia PHL 18:50 · 09:25+1 BUD Budapest
• AA 97  Budapest BUD 11:25 · 15:00 PHL Philadelphia

Philadelphia – Prague · May 21st, 2026

Daily

• AA 284  Philadelphia PHL 18:40 · 08:45+1 PRG Prague
• AA 285  Prague PRG 11:00 · 14:00 PHL Philadelphia

For the 2026 World Cup, American Airlines will operate between Dallas and Buenos Aires from May 21st, 2026, to August 3rd, 2026. The airline usually serves this route between late October and late March, as it is seasonal.

Daily

• AA 997  Dallas DFW 18:45 · 07:15+1 EZE Buenos Aires
• AA 996  Buenos Aires EZE 22:15 · 06:45+1 DFW Dallas

All routes will be operated with 234-seat Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, except for Miami-Milan, which will be provided by 273-seat Boeing 777-200(ER) aircraft.

Wizz Air adds routes from Bulgaria

Wizz Air is expanding its presence in the Bulgarian capital with six new regular routes, five of which are within Europe and one to Africa, the latter being its first route between Sofia and the African continent. Operations will be carried out with Airbus A320 and Airbus A321 aircraft with 180 and 230 seats, respectively, under the following schedule:

Routes

• Chisinau (RMO): 3 weekly · October 26th
• Prague (PRG): 4 weekly · October 27th
• Marrakech (RAK): 2 weekly · October 28th
• Turin (TRN): 3 weekly · October 28th
• Lamezia (SUF): 2 weekly · March 31st, 2026
• Palma de Mallorca (PMI): 3 weekly · March 31st, 2026

Currently, Wizz Air serves from Sofia to Alghero, Barcelona, Bari, Basel, Brussels, Dortmund, Eindhoven, Frankfurt Hahn, Hamburg, Krakow, Larnaca, London Luton, Lyon, Madrid, Málaga, Memmingen, Milan Bergamo, Naples, Nice, Paris Beauvais, Rome, Stuttgart, Tel Aviv, Valencia, and Yerevan.

IndiGo continues to expand in Europe

The Indian airline has confirmed the launch of flights between Mumbai and Copenhagen effective early October, while the Delhi-London Heathrow route will commence in late October. Both will be offered daily on Norse’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.

Copenhagen and London will join Amsterdam, Istanbul, and Manchester as its current destinations in Europe. You can find out more data about these flights, as well as its wide-body aircraft operations, in this post.

At publication time, flights are not for sale.

Qantas resumes daily flight to JFK

From June 23rd, 2026, Qantas will return to daily service on the Sydney-Auckland-New York route and vice versa, which it currently provides five times weekly with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. The airline will operate daily to John F. Kennedy International Airport again after a six-year hiatus.

Daily

• QF 3  Sydney SYD 09:10 · 14:10 AKL Auckland
• QF 3  Auckland AKL 16:25 · 16:20 JFK New York

• QF 4  New York JFK 19:20 · 04:55+2 AKL Auckland
• QF 4  Auckland AKL 06:45+2 · 08:25+2 SYD Sydney

Dallas, Honolulu, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Santiago de Chile are Qantas’ current destinations on the American continent.

Jetstar adds new route to the Cook Islands      

The Australian airline will fly between Brisbane and Rarotonga starting May 18th, 2026. These services, to be conducted with 232-seat Airbus A321neo aircraft, will operate three times a week, offering 696 seats per week on each leg.

Monday, Wednesday and Saturday

• JQ 105  Brisbane BNE 22:20 · 08:30+1 RAR Rarotonga
• JQ 106  Rarotonga RAR 10:00 · 12:10 BNE Brisbane (Tue/Thu/Sat)

Effective May 2026, Jetstar will have a daily frequency between Australia and the Cook Islands, with four flights from/to Sydney and the remaining three to/from Brisbane.

Air China launches new service to Vietnam

The Chinese airline will operate four times weekly between Hangzhou and Hanoi as of October 26th, using Airbus A320-200 aircraft with a capacity for 158 passengers. Hangzhou will be Air China’s first destination from the Vietnamese capital, with the following schedule:

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday

• CA 707  Hangzhou HGH 23:00 · 01:30+1 HAN Hanoi
• CA 708  Hanoi HAN 02:50 · 06:50 HGH Hangzhou (Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat)

Tabriz, Azerbaijan Airlines’ new destination

AZAL has announced that it will begin services to the Iranian city from the Azerbaijani capital on September 3rd. Flights will be performed twice-weekly by Embraer 190 aircraft as follows:

Wednesday and Sunday

• J2 539  Baku GYD 21:15 · 22:00 TBZ Tabriz
• J2 540  Tabriz TBZ 23:00 · 00:35+1 GYD Baku

Tehran is Azerbaijan Airlines’ other destination in Iran, offering four flights a week from/to Baku with the same aircraft.

Riyadh to gain four new international services

Lufthansa, flynas, and Saudia plan to add routes from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital.  

The German airline will resume flights between Munich and Riyadh starting October 26th, operating three times a week with 308-seat Airbus A350-900 aircraft. As for Saudi airlines, flynas will begin services to Nairobi on October 2nd, while Saudia will launch operations to Moscow and Kozhikode on October 7th and 27th, respectively.

Riyadh – Nairobi · flynas

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

• XY 361  Riyadh RUH 22:00 · 03:20+1 NBO Nairobi
• XY 362  Nairobi NBO 04:10 · 09:15 RUH Riyadh

Munich – Riyadh · Lufthansa

Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

• LH 640  Munich MUC 21:45 · 04:50+1 RUH Riyadh
• LH 641  Riyadh RUH 06:25 · 10:25 MUC Munich (Mon/Wed/Fri)

Riyadh – Moscow · Saudia

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

• SV 283  Riyadh RUH 08:15 · 14:50 SVO Moscow
• SV 284  Moscow SVO 15:45 · 22:30 RUH Riyadh

Riyadh – Kozhikode · Saudia

Daily except Wednesday

• SV 712  Riyadh RUH 01:20 · 08:35 CCJ Kozhikode
• SV 713  Kozhikode CCJ 09:45 · 12:50 RUH Riyadh

Air Tanzania to fly to Nigeria

The Tanzanian airline, based in Dar-es-Salaam, will commence flights between Julius Nyerere International Airport and Lagos on September 19th. This will be Air Tanzania’s first route to Nigeria, which will be performed with Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, three times weekly.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday

• TC 226  Dar-es-Salaam DAR 20:30 · 23:59 LOS Lagos
• TC 227  Lagos LOS 01:30 · 09:00 DAR Dar-es-Salaam (Tue/Thu/Sat)

Royal Air Maroc expands within Morocco

RAM will add new domestic routes in Morocco starting in October, with two connections to/from Menara International Airport in Marrakech, to be operated by Embraer 190 aircraft configured for 96 passengers in two classes.

Marrakech – Laayoune · October 10th

Wednesday and Friday

• AT 1475  Laayoune EUN 16:00 · 17:20 RAK Marrakech
• AT 1476  Marrakech RAK 18:10 · 19:40 EUN Laayoune

Marrakech – Dakhla · October 13th

Monday and Thursday

• AT 1497  Dakhla VIL 15:10 · 17:00 RAK Marrakech
• AT 1496  Marrakech RAK 17:50 · 20:00 VIL Dakhla

TAAG commences operations to Kenya

Angola’s state-owned airline will begin services between Angola and Kenya on September 1st, with the Luanda Quatro de Fevereiro – Nairobi route. These flights will operate from/to LAD until October 1st, when they will move to Luanda’s new airport (NBJ/FNBJ), Dr. Antonio Agostinho Neto.

Luanda – Nairobi

• DT 590  Luanda LAD 09:00 · 14:50 NBO Nairobi (Monday)
• DT 592  Luanda LAD 23:20 · 05:20+1 NBO Nairobi (Wed/Fri)

Nairobi – Luanda

• DT 591  Nairobi NBO 15:50 · 17:40 LAD Luanda (Monday)
• DT 593  Nairobi NBO 06:10 · 08:00 LAD Luanda (Thu/Sat)

Hainan Airlines restarts services to Abu Dhabi

Effective October 19th, Hainan Airlines will resume its flights between Haikou and Abu Dhabi, to be offered once per week with Airbus A330-300 aircraft configured for 303 passengers in two classes (24 seats in Business and 279 seats in Economy).

Sunday

• HU 433  Haikou HAK 07:10 · 11:00 AUH Abu Dhabi
• HU 434  Abu Dhabi AUH 13:10 · 00:50+1 HAK Haikou

As you can see in our database, Hainan’s last flight on this route was on February 5th, 2025, which was operated by the Airbus A330-243 with registration B-5963.

RJ to resume operations between Jordan and Casablanca

Royal Jordanian plans to restart flights to Casablanca after 20 years.

The Jordanian airline expects to fly twice-weekly between Amman and the Moroccan city starting October 16th with Airbus A320neo and Airbus A321-200 aircraft, configured for 180 and 214 passengers, respectively.

Thursday and Sunday

• RJ 555  Amman AMM 02:35 · 06:50 CMN Casablanca
• RJ 556  Casablanca CMN 08:05 · 15:35 AMM Amman

New aircraft added by airlines during August

Cover photo: Alaska Airlines’ new livery – Alaska Airlines pressroom