The European market had many important developments during March, considering the incorporation of new aircraft, the launch of additional routes and fleet changes, with the retirement of airplanes following a 32-year operation.

British Airways will add two new markets in Asia by the end of this year. The company will operate one route from Gatwick and the other from Heathrow, with Boeing 777-200(ER) and Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft respectively.

Thailand and Malaysia will be the next acquisitions, bringing British Airways’ total number of markets offered in Asia to 14.

After a 32-year service, Condor bid farewell to the last Boeing 767-300(ER) of its fleet. The plane, registered D-ABUK, made its last regular flight on March 12th, covering the Frankfurt – Havana route (DE 2185).

Following the retirement of the Boeing 767, Condor’s fleet now consists of Airbus A320, Airbus A321, Airbus A330neo and Boeing 757 aircraft.

As well as British Airways and Condor, these are other important developments in the European market:

• Aegean to add services to London Heathrow.

• airBaltic will begin two routes in Europe.

• Air Greenland to start flights between Nuuk and Copenhagen, and the runway expansion at Nuuk airport.

• Aurigny will inaugurate operations to France.

• Blue Islands and its destination network changes.

• Croatia Airlines adds flights to Germany, Sweden and Albania.

• easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair and SAS announce new routes for the summer.

• Finnair schedules Airbus A350s to Gran Canaria.

• FlyOne Armenia will fly to Barcelona and Burgas.

• Lufthansa Cargo and its first operations between Belgium and the United States.

• Qatar Airways boosts flights to Berlin.

• Red Wings launches a second connection to Georgia from St. Petersburg.

• TUI announced six new routes for winter 2024/25.

• Turkmenistan Airlines modifies its London operations.

Aegean Airlines

The Greek airline announced the increase of its services between Athens and London Heathrow. Aegean currently operates 21 weekly flights on this route, which will boost to 27 as of March 31st.

Daily

• A3 600  Athens ATH 09:05 · 11:10 LHR London
• A3 601  London LHR 12:15 · 17:50 ATH Athens

• A3 602  Athens ATH 13:25 · 15:30 LHR London
• A3 603  London LHR 16:35 · 22:20 ATH Athens

• A3 608  Athens ATH 19:10 · 21:15 LHR London
• A3 609  London LHR 22:15 · 03:50+1 ATH Athens

Daily except Saturday · new

• A3 604  Athens ATH 16:00 · 17:55 LHR London
• A3 605  London LHR 19:00 · 00:35+1 ATH Athens

In addition to Heathrow, Aegean Airlines serves Athens – London Gatwick four times a week.

airBaltic

Starting in May, airBaltic will expand its operations in Europe, with two new routes to/from Vilnius. The services, as listed on its website, will be operated on Airbus A220-300s seating 145/149 passengers in single class.

Hamburg · May 2nd

Thursday

• BT 929  Vilnius VNO 14:20 · 15:25 HAM Hamburg
• BT 930  Hamburg HAM 16:05 · 18:55 VNO Vilnius

Sunday

• BT 929  Vilnius VNO 07:00 · 08:05 HAM Hamburg
• BT 930  Hamburg HAM 08:45 · 11:35 VNO Vilnius

Lisbon · May 4th

Tuesday

• BT 989  Vilnius VNO 12:45 · 15:30 LIS Lisbon
• BT 990  Lisbon LIS 16:15 · 22:45 VNO Vilnius

Saturday

• BT 989  Vilnius VNO 19:45 · 22:30 LIS Lisbon
• BT 990  Lisbon LIS 23:15 · 05:45+1 VNO Vilnius

Air Europa

The carrier confirmed the flights it will perform with the Airbus A330-900neo leased from Iberojet. On April 15th, the first service is scheduled, ending in early June, for now.

Daily eff April 15th

• UX 051  Madrid MAD 15:35 · 20:45 HAV Havana
• UX 052  Havana HAV 23:00 · 12:40+1 MAD Madrid

Air Europa routes from/to the Caribbean

• Cancún (CUN): 4 weekly
• Havana (HAV): 7 weekly
• Punta Cana (PUJ): 3 weekly
• Santo Domingo (SDQ): 7 weekly

Air Greenland

Effective November 28th, Air Greenland plans to inaugurate flights to Copenhagen from Nuuk, Greenland. Services will be carried out with Airbus A330-800neo jets configured for 305 passengers.

Currently, Nuuk airport’s runway is 930 meters length, and Airbus A330s cannot operate at Nuuk.

In fact, on November 28th, the airport will inaugurate its new runway, with a length of 2,200 meters, which will allow the operation of the Airbus A330neo.

Air Greenland will offer five flights per week between Nuuk and Copenhagen as follows:

Monday and Friday

• GL 779  Copenhagen CPH 08:20 · 10:10 GOH Nuuk
• GL 780  Nuuk GOH 12:10 · 19:30 CPH Copenhagen

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

• GL 781  Copenhagen CPH 10:45 · 12:35 GOH Nuuk
• GL 782  Nuuk GOH 14:30 · 22:00 CPH Copenhagen

Routes to/from Nuuk

• Ilulissat (JAV): 1 weekly · Air Greenland
• Kangerlussuaq (SFJ): 38 weekly · Air Greenland
• Kulusuk (KUS): 2 weekly · Air Greenland
• Maniitsoq (JSU): 4 weekly · Air Greenland
• Narsarsuaq (UAK): 5 weekly · Air Greenland
• Paamiut (JFR): 1 weekly · Air Greenland
• Reykjavik (KEF): 1 weekly · Air Greenland
• Reykjavik (KEF): 4 weekly · Icelandair
• Sisimiut (JHS): 5 weekly · Air Greenland

Aurigny

The company confirmed it will commence services between Guernsey and Paris Charles de Gaulle from April 1st. In line with its website, Aurigny will operate twice weekly with Embraer 190 aircraft.

Monday and Friday

• GR 680  Guernsey GCI 10:50 · 13:05 CDG Paris
• GR 681  Paris CDG 13:40 · 14:10 GCI Guernsey

Current Aurigny routes from/to Guernsey

Guernsey

• Alderney (ACI): 30 weekly · Dornier 228

United Kingdom

• Birmingham (BHX): 11 weekly · ATR 72
• Bristol (BRS): 4 weekly · ATR 72
• Exeter (EXT): 8 weekly · ATR 72
• London Gatwick (LGW): 41 weekly · ATR 72/E190
• Manchester (MAN): 12 weekly · ATR 72
• Nottingham (EMA): 2 weekly · ATR 72
• Southampton (SOU): 7 weekly · ATR 72

Blue Islands

The airline announced two major changes to its schedule for summer 2024.

First, the Jersey – Isle of Man route, which was originally planned from April 23rd, was removed from the system, cancelling operations.

Blue Islands scheduled two services a week with ATR 72s.

On the other hand, the company will launch the Jersey – Luxembourg route, to be offered during the summer. At the moment, flights are not for sale.

British Airways

In Q4 2024, British will commence two new routes between London and Asia.

Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, in Thailand and Malaysia respectively, will join British Airways’ regular schedule. These operations are already on sale. 

London Gatwick – Bangkok · eff October 28th

Monday, Thursday and Saturday

• BA 2231  London LGW 21:00 · 15:55+1 BKK Bangkok

Tuesday, Friday and Sunday

• BA 2230  Bangkok BKK 22:55 · 05:30+1 LGW London

London Heathrow – Kuala Lumpur · eff November 10th

Daily

• BA 33  London LHR 20:45 · 17:30+1 KUL Kuala Lumpur
• BA 34  Kuala Lumpur KUL 23:20 · 05:35+1 LHR London

Condor

Last March 12th, Condor performed the last regular service of its Boeing 767-300(ER).

The aircraft, with registration D-ABUK, departed Havana on March 11th for Frankfurt, covering flight DE 2185 between these cities.

Condor bids farewell to the Boeing 767-300(ER) after 32 years of uninterrupted operations. The first of them, registered as D-ABUX, was incorporated by the German airline in July 1991, reaching a total of 21 767s.

Recently, the company began the process of fleet renewal, replacing the Boeing 767 with modern Airbus A330neo.

Condor’s fleet

• Airbus A320-200: 12
• Airbus A321-200: 13
• Airbus A330-900neo: 14
• Boeing 757-300: 9

This aircraft departed Frankfurt on March 15th at 09:54 local time for Düsseldorf on a ferry flight.

It will shortly be returned to the lessor.

Croatia Airlines

Between May and June, Croatia Airlines will start operating three new routes from Zagreb. The carrier will fly to Berlin, Stockholm and Tirana with 144-seat Airbus A319-100 aircraft, as reported on its website.

Berlin · effective May 21st

Tuesday and Friday

• OU 4408  Zagreb ZAG 18:05 · 19:35 BER Berlin
• OU 4409  Berlin BER 20:20 · 21:45 ZAG Zagreb

Sunday

• OU 4408  Zagreb ZAG 08:30 · 10:00 BER Berlin
• OU 4409  Berlin BER 10:50 · 12:15 ZAG Zagreb

Stockholm · effective June 10th

Monday, Wednesday and Friday

• OU 486  Zagreb ZAG 07:50 · 10:10 ARN Stockholm
• OU 487  Stockholm ARN 11:00 · 13:25 ZAG Zagreb

Tirana · effective June 14th

Friday and Sunday

• OU 308  Zagreb ZAG 14:10 · 15:15 TIA Tirana
• OU 309  Tirana TIA 16:00 · 17:10 ZAG Zagreb

easyJet

The low cost carrier will open four routes to/from Nice for the 2024 season. Services will be operated with Airbus A319 and Airbus A320 planes.

• Athens (ATH): 2 weekly · May 28th
• Malta (MLA): 2 weekly · June 27th
• Agadir (AGA): 2 weekly · September 3rd
• Prague (PRG): 2 weekly · October 10th

Brussels, Copenhagen, Basel, Bordeaux, Lille, Nantes, Paris, Rennes, Toulouse, Berlin, Naples, Rome, Venice, Marrakech, Rabat, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Porto, Barcelona, Tenerife, Geneva, Bristol, London and Manchester are the current easyJet destinations in Nice.

Eurowings

As of October 27th, the airline will boost its services to Dubai from two German cities. In accordance with our database, Eurowings operates to the United Arab Emirates using 174-seater Airbus A320neo jets.

Berlin · increase from 4 to 7

Daily

• EW 1150  Berlin BER 07:10 · 16:30 DXB Dubai
• EW 1151  Dubai DXB 18:00 · 22:00 BER Berlin

Stuttgart · increase from 2 to 3

Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

• EW 1152  Stuttgart STR 07:00 · 16:30 DXB Dubai
• EW 1153  Dubai DXB 18:00 · 22:05 STR Stuttgart

New flight on Tuesdays.

Finnair

The Finnish company schedules operations to Gran Canaria with Airbus A350-900 aircraft starting September 28th. These flights are planned for the 2024/2025 winter season, under the following schedule:

Daily

• AY 1721  Helsinki HEL 08:05 · 12:35 LPA Gran Canaria
• AY 1722  Gran Canaria LPA 13:45 · 22:00 HEL Helsinki

Finnair will begin with two weekly services, increasing to five on October 6th, being daily from October 15th.

Current Finnair’s routes from/to Spain

• Barcelona (BCN): 7 weekly · Airbus A321
• Fuerteventura (FUE): 1 weekly · Airbus A321
• Gran Canaria (LPA): 7 weekly · Airbus A321 (currently)
• Lanzarote (ACE): 1 weekly · Airbus A321
• Madrid (MAD): 7 weekly · Airbus A321
• Málaga (AGP): 9 weekly · Airbus A321
• Tenerife (TFS): 6 weekly · Airbus A321

FlyOne Armenia

Barcelona and Burgas, FlyOne’s new connections during the upcoming summer season.

Both routes, which will be operated from Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, will remain available until mid-September, as they are seasonal flights.

Burgas · effective June 2nd

Wednesday

• 3F 173  Yerevan EVN 08:00 · 09:20 BOJ Burgas
• 3F 174  Burgas BOJ 10:20 · 13:40 EVN Yerevan

Sunday

• 3F 173  Yerevan EVN 08:00 · 09:30 BOJ Burgas
• 3F 174  Burgas BOJ 11:00 · 14:20 EVN Yerevan

Barcelona · effective June 14th

Monday and Friday

• 3F 231  Yerevan EVN 08:50 · 12:10 BCN Barcelona
• 3F 232  Barcelona BCN 12:50 · 19:50 EVN Yerevan

Jet2

The company adds another destination in Poland: Gdansk.

Flights will be carried out as of November 29th from Manchester and Birmingham and, in accordance with its website, services will be available until December 23rd, at the time of publication.

Birmingham

Monday and Friday

• Birmingham BHX 12:45 · 16:00 GDN Gdansk
• Gdansk GDN 16:50 · 18:15 BHX Birmingham

Manchester

Monday and Friday

• Manchester MAN 14:00 · 17:20 GDN Gdansk
• Gdansk GDN 18:10 · 19:50 MAN Manchester

Lufthansa Cargo

The airline will launch regular cargo services between Brussels and Chicago effective April 3rd. This will be Lufthansa Cargo’s first operation to the United States from Belgium, serving twice-weekly on Boeing 777 freighters.

“We are looking forward to our customers being able to book on this new route with immediate effect. Brussels Airport is an important hub for the pharmaceutical sector in particular. With our new connection, we can now offer an even more attractive network, and in particular a direct connection for particularly time-critical cargo, which now includes up to 34 cargo connections from Europe to North America,” explains Ashwin Bhat, CEO of Lufthansa Cargo.

According to the press release, Lufthansa will operate the Frankfurt – Brussels – Chicago – Frankfurt route on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Qatar Airways

Beginning October 27th, the carrier will expand its flights between Doha and Berlin. Qatar currently offers two daily frequencies on this route with Boeing 787-8 and Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner jets.

Daily

• QR 79  Doha DOH 02:35 · 06:50 BER Berlin
• QR 80  Berlin BER 09:00 · 16:45 DOH Doha

Daily

• QR 81  Doha DOH 09:10 · 13:25 BER Berlin
• QR 82  Berlin BER 15:15 · 22:50 DOH Doha

New flight

Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

• QR 83  Doha DOH 15:40 · 19:55 BER Berlin
• QR 84  Berlin BER 21:30 · 05:05+1 DOH Doha

Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich are Qatar Airways’ connections in Germany.

Red Wings

Kutaisi, the new destination of Russian airline Red Wings.

Starting April 1st, the company will begin operations from St. Petersburg, which will be carried out once per week using Sukhoi Superjet 100-95LR aircraft.

Monday

• WZ 561  St. Petersburg LED 04:35 · 10:00 KUT Kutaisi
• WZ 562  Kutaisi KUT 11:00 · 14:15 LED St. Petersburg

Red Wings routes to/from St. Petersburg

Georgia

• Tbilisi (TBS): 3 weekly · Sukhoi

Russia

• Sochi (AER): 2 weekly · Sukhoi

Thailand

• Phuket (HKT): operates every 10 days · Boeing 777-200(ER)

Ryanair

The ultra low cost confirmed the addition of seven new international routes from/to Poland during the summer season.

Katowice, Poznań and Warsaw Modlin will have the next Ryanair incorporations:

Katowice

• Alicante (ALC)
• Bari (BRI)
• Malta (MLA)
• Rome (FCO)
• Zadar (ZAD)

Poznań

• Málaga (AGP)

Warsaw

• Manchester (MAN)

SalamAir

Effective June 17th, SalamAir will begin seasonal flights between Muscat and Tirana. As can be seen on its website, the company will operate services on this route until late August with the following schedule:

Monday and Thursday

• OV 931  Muscat MCT 09:00 · 13:05 TIA Tirana
• OV 932  Tirana TIA 14:05 · 21:40 MCT Muscat

SAS

For the summer season, Scandinavian Airlines System will commence several seasonal routes to/from Copenhagen between June and July. The services, which will run until mid-August, will be performed with Airbus A320neo aircraft.

• Zakynthos (ZTH): 1 weekly · June 27th
• Tirana (TIA): 1 weekly · July 2nd
• Prishtina (PRN): 1 weekly · July 3rd
• Sarajevo (SJJ): 1 weekly · July 3rd

SKY express

The company will boost its flights between Athens and Rome Fiumicino as of July 6th. In accordance with its website, SKY express will increase from seven to eight operations a week.

Daily

• GQ 820  Athens ATH 10:55 · 12:00 FCO Rome
• GQ 821  Rome FCO 13:00 · 15:55 ATH Athens

Tuesdays and Thursdays take off Athens at 08:55 and 16:15 from Rome.

New flight · Saturday

• GQ 822  Athens ATH 17:45 · 18:50 FCO Rome
• GQ 823  Rome FCO 19:50 · 22:45 ATH Athens

TUI Airways

The carrier, for the upcoming winter season, announced it will begin the following routes in Europe and Africa. These flights will be conducted with Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes, once weekly.

• London (LGW) – Luxor (LXR): November 7th
• Manchester (MAN) – Luxor (LXR): November 7th
• Manchester (MAN) – Oslo (OSL): December 15th
• Belfast (BFS) – Salzburg (SZG): December 21st
• London (STN) – Verona (VRN): December 21st
• Belfast (BFS) – Turin (TRN): December 22nd

Turkmenistan Airlines

The company will again modify its operations in London, changing airports effective April 5th. According to its website, Turkmenistan Airlines will stop flying to Heathrow, starting services to Gatwick.

The weekly frequency will remain unchanged.

Wednesday

• T5 423  Ashgabat ASB 12:00 · 15:10 LGW London
• T5 424  London LGW 16:55 · 03:00+1 ASB Ashgabat

During the last few weeks, many European airlines have added new aircraft to their respective fleets. We take a look at these companies:

• Azores Airlines

• British Airways

• Bulgaria Air

• Condor

• Corsair

• easyJet

• Eurowings

• Iberia

• ITA Airways

• Neos

• Norwegian

• Ryanair x3

• Wizz Air

• Wizz Air Malta x2

We have already published two reports about routes and fleets in March. You can read them by clicking on the following links:

• United States and Canada
• Latin America

Cover photo: Ramón Jordi – JetPhotos (Madrid, Spain).