USA TODAY International Edition
Where airlines are adding more routes
Airlines are constantly tweaking their schedules, trying to find profitable new routes or pulling the plug on ones that have underperformed. Airports and communities also court these new services.
There are dozens of changes to airline routes each month. Here’s a look at some of the most interesting from February. EUROPE OPTIONS MULTIPLY Fliers in the Northeast will soon have a bevy of new options to get to Europe on Norwegian Air.
The fast- growing European discount carrier announced 10 new trans- Atlantic routes, all of which will come from smaller airports in the region that Norwe- gian does not currently fly to.
Providence was the big winner. Norwegian’s new flights will connect the city to five destinations in Europe: Belfast, Northern Ireland; Edinburgh, Scotland; and the Irish cities of Cork, Dublin and Shannon.
Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, N. Y., also fared well, landing four routes to Europe. That airport — located about 70 miles north of Midtown Manhattan — will get the same routes as Providence, minus Cork.
Connecticut’s Bradley International Airport near Hartford will get non- stop service to Edinburgh.
The first of the new routes will launch June 15, and all 10 will be flying by July 3. PITTSBURGH’S GOT SPIRIT … Spirit Airlines announced a major expansion into Pittsburgh, which will become the 61st city in the carrier’s network.
The discount airline will enter the market with seven non- stop routes. Spirit’s first Pittsburgh flights launch May 25, when it begins daily service to both Dallas/ Fort Worth and Myrtle Beach, S. C. The carrier will add five more routes — to Fort Lauderdale, Houston Bush Intercontinental, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Orlando — by July 13. … AND HARTFORD DOES TOO Spirit will begin flying from Hartford this year with two routes to Florida and one to the South Carolina beach and golf resort of Myrtle Beach.
Spirit will be first so- called “ultra- low- cost carrier” to fly from Hartford.
Spirit’s first flights from Hartford will begin April 27 when it launches daily flights to Orlando and four- times- a- week service to Myrtle Beach. Daily service to Fort Lauderdale will start June 15. ASIAN DISCOUNT GIANT Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia X announced its first- ever route to the United States. The airline will begin flying from Honolulu on June 28. AirAsia X will fly non- stop from Honolulu to Osaka/ Kansai, Japan, with continuing service to its main hub in Kuala Lumpur.