Finnair has announced the launch of its first regular route to Australia, marking its first-ever entry into Oceania, a market currently served by only two European airlines.

Flights will begin on October 26th, 2026, and will operate daily with Airbus A350-900 aircraft configured for 278 passengers, flying the Helsinki-Bangkok-Melbourne route and vice versa.

In addition to offering tickets between Helsinki and Melbourne, the Finnish airline will have traffic rights on the Helsinki-Bangkok and Bangkok-Melbourne routes, the latter via fifth freedom rights.

Daily

• AY 145  Helsinki HEL 00:10 · 16:30 BKK Bangkok
• AY 145  Bangkok BKK 18:15 · 07:15+1 MEL Melbourne

• AY 146  Melbourne MEL 15:35 · 20:45 BKK Bangkok
• AY 146  Bangkok BKK 22:30 · 06:05+1 HEL Helsinki

British Airways currently provides a daily service between London Heathrow and Sydney via Singapore on Boeing 777-300(ER) aircraft, while Turkish Airlines offers seven weekly flights on the Istanbul-Singapore-Sydney route and three flights a week on the Istanbul-Singapore-Melbourne route, both with Airbus A350-900s.

Alaska Airlines

The airline will introduce the Seattle-London Heathrow route as of May 21st, 2026, which will be its first service to the United Kingdom.

Alaska Airlines plans to operate a daily frequency using 300-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, featuring the airline’s new livery. Currently, the four operational 787-9s (N780HA, N781HA, N782HA, and N783HA) are painted with the Hawaiian Airlines livery.

Daily

• AS 100  Seattle SEA 21:45 · 15:05+1 LHR London
• AS 101  London LHR 17:00 · 18:45 SEA Seattle

In accordance with our database, British Airways operates 10 flights per week between the two cities, Delta provides seven weekly flights, and Virgin Atlantic serves four flights a week.

Aer Lingus

Starting May 25th, 2026, the Irish carrier will add a new route to the United States, to be operated by 184-seat Airbus A321XLR aircraft in two classes.

Aer Lingus will serve the Dublin-Pittsburgh service for the first time, offering three weekly flights under the following schedule:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday

• EI 81  Dublin DUB 16:10 · 19:10 PIT Pittsburgh
• EI 82  Pittsburgh PIT 20:40 · 08.40+1 DUB Dublin

Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, New York JFK, Newark, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, and Windsor Locks are Aer Lingus’ current destinations in the United States.

Southwest

Between June and August 2026, Southwest Airlines will launch several new routes in the United States, focusing on the West Coast as well as Hawaii. The flights, which are already on sale, will be performed on Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.

• Ontario (ONT) – Honolulu (HNL): 7 weekly · June 4th
• Burbank (BUR) – Honolulu (HNL): 7 weekly · August 4th
• Long Beach (LGB) – Portland (PDX): 6 weekly · August 4th
• Long Beach (LGB) – Seattle (SEA): 6 weekly · August 4th
• San Diego (SAN) – Santa Barbara (SBA): 7 weekly · August 4th

Level

Lima, the third regular destination for Spanish low-cost airline Level in Latin America.

Beginning on June 3rd, 2026, Level will start operating between Barcelona and Lima, offering three flights a week with Airbus A330-200 aircraft. Tickets are already on sale, and flights will operate according to the following schedule:

Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday

• LL 2611  Barcelona BCN 13:55 · 19:50 LIM Lima
• LL 2610  Lima LIM 22:05 · 17:50+1 BCN Barcelona

Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile are its current destinations in Latin America, with 12 and 5 weekly flights to/from Barcelona, respectively.

BA CityFlyer

BA CityFlyer will add a second route from San Sebastián (Spain).

The airline will initiate seasonal flights between Glasgow and San Sebastián on July 18th, 2026, which will be conducted twice-weekly until September 5th, 2026, as follows:

Tuesday

• BA 2343  Glasgow GLA 15:15 · 18:40 EAS San Sebastián
• BA 2342  San Sebastián EAS 19:25 · 20:55 GLA Glasgow

Saturday

• BA 2343  Glasgow GLA 07:35 · 11:00 EAS San Sebastián
• BA 2342  San Sebastián EAS 11:45 · 13:15 GLA Glasgow

BA CityFlyer currently operates one flight per week between London City and San Sebastián with Embraer 190 aircraft, which it will also use on the Glasgow-San Sebastián route.

Brommaflyg

Effective April 2nd, 2026, the Swedish virtual company will commence flights between Visby and Gothenburg, a domestic route within the country. Operations will be carried out using NyxAir ATR 42-500 aircraft, configured for 48 passengers.

Thursday, Friday, and Sunday

• OJ 811  Visby VBY 12:00 · 12:35 GOT Gothenburg
• OJ 812  Gothenburg GOT 14:00 · 14:35 VBY Visby

On Sundays, the flight will depart from Visby at 14:00 and from Gothenburg at 16:00.

Brommafylg is a virtual airline based in Sweden that operates as a brand for local investors in Gotland, using leased aircraft, mainly ATR 42s from Nyxair, an Estonian carrier.

Condor

Abu Dhabi, Condor’s new destination.

The German airline will begin flights between Frankfurt and Abu Dhabi in May 2026, offering daily service on 310-seat Airbus A330-900neo aircraft. In addition, a month and a half later, it will commence the Berlin-Abu Dhabi route, which will be flown with Airbus A320neo aircraft.

• Frankfurt (FRA) – Abu Dhabi (AUH): 7 weekly · May 1st, 2026
• Berlin (BER) – Abu Dhabi (AUH): 7 weekly · June 15th, 2026

LOT

Bergen, Brussels, and Oslo: three new LOT routes from/to Gdańsk.

The Polish flag carrier will launch three new connections in April 2026, to be conducted by Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft with a capacity for 186/189 passengers in single class.

• Brussels (BRU): 4 weekly · April 29th, 2026
• Oslo (OSL): 5 weekly · April 29th, 2026
• Bergen (BGO): 3 weekly · April 30th, 2026

Air Cambodia

Starting in mid-January 2026, Air Cambodia will add three new routes between Cambodia and Vietnam, which it will operate with ATR 72-500s seating 68 passengers.

• Phnom Penh (KTI) – Da Nang (DAD): 3 weekly · January 15th, 2026
• Phnom Penh (KTI) – Phu Quoc (PQC): 4 weekly · January 16th, 2026
• Phnom Penh (KTI) – Nha Trang (CXR): 2 weekly · January 17th, 2026

China Southern

The Chinese airline will initiate a new route between China and Singapore, to be operated on Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft beginning on February 3rd, 2026. At the time of publication, China Southern, which will compete with Scoot on this route, will offer the following schedule:

Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday

• CZ 8493  Zhengzhou CGO 20:10 · 01:55+1 SIN Singapore
• CZ 8494  Singapore SIN 02:55 · 08:25 CGO Zhengzhou (Mon/Wed/Fri)

Philippine Airlines

On December 20th, a historic milestone took place in the Philippines: the arrival of the first Airbus A350-1000 owned by a Philippine airline.

At 16:46 local time that day, Philippine Airlines’ first Airbus A350-1041, with registration number RP-C3510, landed at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. The brand new aircraft arrived after a 14-hour and 18-minute flight from Toulouse.

Following nine days parked, the aircraft entered service on December 29th on the Manila-Bangkok route, the only one it currently offers:

Daily

• PR 730  Manila MNL 09:25 · 12:00 BKK Bangkok
• PR 731  Bangkok BKK 13:20 · 18:05 MNL Manila

Fiji Airways

Gold Coast, Fiji Airways’ new destination.

As of June 11th, 2026, the company will commence operations from Nadi, its main hub in Fiji. These services will be provided three times a week using Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.

Monday, Thursday, and Saturday

• FJ 981  Nadi NAN 09:15 · 11:30 OOL Gold Coast
• FJ 982  Gold Coast OOL 12:30 · 17:55 NAN Nadi

Coolangatta will be Fiji Airways’ seventh destination in Australia after Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Canberra, Melbourne, and Sydney.

Qantas

The Australian carrier is set to launch a new route between Australia and New Zealand effective June 16th, 2026, connecting Gold Coast and Auckland. Qantas will fly three times a week using 174-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday

• QF 210  Auckland AKL 10:20 · 12:00 OOL Gold Coast
• QF 209  Gold Coast OOL 13:05 · 18:10 AKL Auckland

Gold Coast will be Qantas’ seventh destination from Auckland, following Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, New York, Perth, and Sydney.

Air Europa

For the first time in its history, Air Europa will arrive in South Africa.

The Spanish airline will inaugurate the Madrid Barajas – Johannesburg route on June 24th, 2026, which will operate three times a week with Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft seating 298 passengers in two classes.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

• UX 157  Madrid MAD 15:05 · 01:10+1 JNB Johannesburg
• UX 158  Johannesburg JNB 03:10 · 13:20 MAD Madrid (Tue/Thu/Sat)

Johannesburg will be Air Europa’s fourth destination in Africa, joining Marrakech, Tangier, and Tunis.

Royal Air Maroc

Los Angeles will become part of Royal Air Maroc’s regular network in the United States from June 2026, just before the start of the 2026 World Cup, which will take place in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Flights will begin on June 7th, 2026, and will operate three times weekly using Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft configured for 274 passengers.

Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday

• AT 250  Casablanca CMN 04:00 · 08:20 LAX Los Angeles
• AT 251  Los Angeles LAX 10:20 · 05:25+1 CMN Casablanca

Miami, New York, and Washington D.C. are RAM’s current destinations in the United States.

Arkia

Effective July 7th, 2026, Arkia Israeli Airlines will initiate its second route between Israel and Spain, Tel Aviv – Málaga, which will perform once per week with 220-seater Airbus A321neo aircraft.

Tuesday

• IZ 261  Tel Aviv TLV 12:35 · 17:00 AGP Málaga
• IZ 262  Málaga AGP 18:25 · 00:10+1 TLV Tel Aviv

Qatar Airways is the only airline operating in the Middle East-Málaga market, offering three weekly flights to/from Doha with Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.

Oman Air

Oman Air will commence a new route to Saudi Arabia starting January 31st, 2026, to be flown three times weekly on Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.

For the first time, Taif will be added to Oman Air’s regular schedule, which is planned to operate from the Omani capital year-round.

Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday

• WY 699  Muscat MCT 13:30 · 15:50 TIF Taif
• WY 700  Taif TIF 16:40 · 20:35 MCT Muscat

SalamAir

SalamAir, Oman’s second largest airline, will expand its operations in Africa with the introduction of the Muscat-Port Sudan service. These flights will be provided three times a week with 180-seat Airbus A320-200 aircraft.

Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday

• OV 391  Muscat MCT 06:40 · 08:30 PZU Port Sudan
• OV 392  Port Sudan PZU 09:20 · 14:30 MCT Muscat

Oman Air will be the only operator on the Muscat-Taif route, while SalamAir will compete with Badr Airlines and Tarco Air on the Muscat-Port Sudan service.

New aircraft added by airlines during December

Cover photo: © Frolov Sergey – JetPhotos (Helsinki, Finland)