American plans to phase in Airbus A321s on its Hawaii routes. (Image: American)
In route news, United expands its China presence, Alaska adds several new markets, Delta tacks on a new Boston route, American changes its Hawaii fleet, and Hainan and Aeromexico begin new U.S. services.
- United has added 10 new connecting routes to cities in China through its code-sharing partnership with Air China. United’s code is now on Air China flights from Beijing to Mianyang, Taiyuan, Sanya, Shanghai Hongqiao, Yinchuan, Xining, Liuzhou, Haikou and Lanzhou, and from Shanghai Pudong to Yinchuan. Air China’s code went onto a dozen more United domestic routes from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington Dulles and Houston. In other news, United has started daily seasonal service to Dublin, Ireland from Chicago O’Hare, continuing through August 18; and added a second daily seasonal Newark-Dublin flight, continuing through September 24; both use 757-200s.
- Alaska Airlines said it will add a pair of new non-hub routes this fall. November 5 is the start date for Alaska/Skywest service linking Portland and Austin, with a 76-seat Embraer 175; and for new Horizon Air San Jose-Eugene, Ore. flights, using a 76-seat Q400.
- Delta has kicked off new daily service between Boston and Milwaukee.
Aeromexico jets load up a Mexico City’s Benito Juarez International Airport (Chris McGinnis)
- Boston also got new service this month from Aeromexico, which has started flying six days a week (not Tuesdays) between Boston and Mexico City, using a two-class 737-700. It’s Aeromexico’s 16th U.S. gateway.
- American Airlines reportedly plans to make some changes to its Hawaii service, phasing out 757-200s from some routes to the islands and replacing them with two-class Airbus A321s. The changeover will include all flights from Los Angeles to Hawaii by the end of this year. American has also added two new routes from its Miami International hub — daily service to Barranquilla, Colombia, and six flights a week to Monterrey, Mexico. Both routes use Airbus A319s.
- We’ve mentioned it before, but just as a reminder: China’s Hainan Airlines will begin its new transpacific route between San Jose and Beijing on June 15, using a 787 Dreamliner. This is San Jose’s second transpac flight in addition to its Tokyo nonstop.
- South African Airways will change its Washington Dulles-Johannesburg flight on August 3, adding a stopover in Accra, Ghana four days a week (the only non-stops between the U.S. and Ghana), and reducing its IAD-Dakar-Johannesburg routing to three days a week.
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Alaska service from Portland to Austin is not nonhub. Portland isn’t a huge hub, but it’s definitely a hub.
good point. the A319 to Mexico seems a bit cramped. These planes are often used on shortish domestic routes.
Most of these routes make sense, and I’m really glad that Ryanair is not starting service to San Francisco (with their long list of crackpot fees, like €15/£15 to print a boarding pass at the airport, which used to be something like £60 until people complained, from what I read).
The Wall Street Journal had an article a while back about strange airline routes. Did you know that you can fly Delta nonstop from Cincinnati to Paris? The fares are sky-high, but the route exists because both airports are near factories that ship engine parts back and forth. Also for a while it was possible to fly direct from Baltimore to Kangerlussuaq. That route didn’t last long. I’ve also heard about direct flights from Whitehorse (Yukon) to Frankfurt.
Doh! Busy day around here… thanks… we’ll fix — chris
While we’re at it, would you like a pony?
Airlines don’t make decisions on what aircraft to fly to a location based on making it easy for people to redeem premium class awards; the decisions are based on what it’s profitable to operate. Narrowbodies work better, and AA has better things with their 772 to do than fly them on routes like LAX-HNL/OGG (like fly them to Europe where premium fares are much better than to Hawaii).
Please do some basic spell-checking: “Air China’s code went onto a dozen mroe Unuted dopm,estic routes …” Nobody’s going to hold you to the same editorial standards as the New York Times but that’s just really sloppy.
Jim/Chris: the last bullet is not quite correct. Delta has a daily nonstop JFK-ACC on a 763 (and has for years now; I remember seeing the banners in JFK when they set it up).
Yeah A321’s on a 6 hour flight to Hawaii on my next vacation, oh boy. How about 777-200’s or something nicer with more business seat capacity for award tickets.