Airlines are adding and cutting service

American tweaks global routes; Swoop swoops in

Airlines constantly tweak their schedules, trying to find profitable new routes or pulling the plug on ones that have underperformed. Airports and communities court these new services.

There are dozens of changes to airline routes each month. Here’s a look at some of the most interesting:

❚ American tweaks its international route network: The world’s largest carrier will drop two destinations from its international route map – Glasgow, Scotland, and Puebla, Mexico – while adding three new ones, all in Europe: Berlin; Bologna, Italy; and Dubrovnik, Croatia.

American will be the only airline flying nonstop between North America and both Bologna and Dubrovnik, based on current schedules. American plans to serve each of those cities with seasonal service from its hub in Philadelphia.

In total, American announced plans to add nine new international routes while axing 11 others. Highlights include a seasonal nonstop flight to London Heathrow from American’s hub in Phoenix and the loss of three nonstop destinations from New York JFK (Dublin, Ireland; Edinburgh, Scotland; and Port-au-Prince, Haiti). The carrier will still serve all three of those cities from other hubs.

In Asia, American said it will halt its high-profile route between Chicago O’Hare and Shanghai in late October while also reducing – but not eliminating – its Chicago-Tokyo schedule. Once the Shanghai flights end, American will no longer serve China from its O’Hare hub. The airline announced in May that it will end its Chicago-Beijing flights, also in late October.

American cited a “high fuel cost environment” for dropping the Chicago-China routes. The carrier will still serve both Beijing and Shanghai from its hubs at Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles.

❚ Canada’s Swoop targets U.S.: Upstart Canadian “ultra-low-cost carrier” Swoop will make its first push into the United States this fall when it launches seven routes from five U.S. airports.

Swoop’s first U.S. flights start Oct. 11 with nonstop service between Las Vegas and the cities of Edmonton in Alberta and Abbotsford, British Columbia (located about 40 miles from Vancouver). Flights between Las Vegas and Hamilton, Ontario, start Oct. 26.

The carrier will add four more U.S. Canada routes by the end of October. Swoop will fly to Hamilton from the Florida cities of Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa and to Edmonton from Phoenix/Mesa, Arizona.

❚ More Israel on United: Nonstop service to Tel Aviv from United’s hub at Washington Dulles starts May 22. United will use Boeing 777-200ER aircraft for its schedule of three weekly flights.

The route will give United a third nonstop link to Tel Aviv. The airline already flies to the Israeli city from its hubs at Newark (New Jersey) Liberty (two daily flights) and San Francisco (one daily flight).

❚ Allegiant adds three new cities: Budget airline Allegiant is adding three new cities to its network, part of a nine route expansion announced by the company Tuesday.

The new cities joining Allegiant’s route map are Albany, New York; St. George, Utah; and Tucson, Arizona.

Albany will get nonstop flights to three Florida cities (Orlando-Sanford, St. Petersburg and Punta Gorda), and Tucson will see service to Bellingham, Washington, and Provo, Utah. From St.

George, Allegiant will fly seasonal to the Phoenix/Mesa Gateway Airport.

Allegiant’s base in Punta Gorda also was targeted for expansion, landing new routes to Albany; Appleton, Wisconsin; Omaha, Nebraska; and Syracuse, New York.

❚ Sun Country expands to Nashville: Budget airline Sun Country is expanding to Nashville, Tennessee, adding six seasonal nonstop routes that will start in November.

Four of Sun Country’s six Nashville routes will go to destinations in Florida: Fort Myers, Miami, Orlando and Tampa. The carrier’s other two routes will be to Minneapolis/St. Paul – its main hub – and New Orleans. The airline will offer twice-weekly flights on all six routes.

❚ Boston scores with international

service: Fliers at Boston’s Logan International Airport soon will have two new international carriers to choose from.

Dutch carrier KLM is adding Boston to its network on March 31 when it begins a thrice-weekly schedule to its hub in Amsterdam. KLM’s flights will be 292-seat Airbus A330-300 widebody jets, with a fourth weekly flight joining the schedule in July.

Two weeks after the KLM fights begin, Korean Air starts nonstop service to Seoul Incheon. The first of five weekly flights start April 12 and will be on the airline’s new Boeing 787-9 “Dreamliner” aircraft. Both KLM and Korean are jointventure and frequent-flier partners of Delta, which is one of the bigger carriers at Boston.

❚ Frontier adds two Florida airports: Frontier Airlines is adding the Sarasota to its route map as part of a broader 11-route expansion that also will return the carrier to Fort Lauderdale.

Frontier’s flights from Sarasota begin Dec. 10, when the “ultra-low-cost carrier” begins twice-weekly seasonal service to Cleveland.

From Fort Lauderdale, Frontier’s routes to Trenton, New Jersey, and Islip/ Long Island, New York, begin Nov. 16.

SWOOP Swoop says it is the first ultra-low-cost carrier to start service to the USA.