Airlines growing to meet heightened travel demand
Airlines keep expanding their route networks and building out their schedules as the pandemic recovery continues.
Last week, United Airlines and its partner Air Canada, Frontier Airlines and Avelo Airlines announced new routes.
For travelers, new flights can often mean good deals, and with airlines reporting record profits recently on the backs of high airfares, it’s smart to jump on offers when they’re available.
United and Air Canada announced more service between their home countries, while Frontier added a new route to the Caribbean and Avelo said it will soon begin its first flights to Texas.
United and Air Canada trans-border flights
United Airlines and Air Canada are in a joint business agreement with each other as well as partners through the Star Alliance. The airlines announced that by this summer they will have more than 260 combined transborder flights.
Air Canada will begin Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday service between WashingtonDulles and Vancouver on June 1, while United will start daily flights between Washington-Dulles and Calgary on June 2.
Between the two airlines, hourly air shuttle-style service will become available this summer on the ChicagoToronto, Newark-Toronto and San Francisco-Vancouver routes.
The airlines are also bolstering their schedules in the West, upping service between Vancouver and various cities in the U.S., as well as adding additional service on Calgary routes to Chicago and Houston, and between Edmonton and Denver.
United and Air Canada have not publicized special fares to accompany the schedule expansion.
Frontier expands in the Caribbean
Frontier Airlines began the first nonstop flights between Denver and Montego Bay, Jamaica. According to the airline, the service will operate three times weekly.
“As Denver’s hometown airline, we are proud to be celebrating a milestone as the only airline to connect the Mile High City with nonstop service to Jamaica,” Daniel Shurz, senior vice president of commercial at Frontier Airlines, said in a statement. “Stunning Jamaican beaches are easier to reach than ever before with our new exclusive nonstop service to the island.”
Avelo
Low-cost airline Avelo announced four new routes last week, two from the West Coast and two from the East.
Out of Burbank, California, the airline will begin flying to Colorado Springs on May 3 and Brownsville-South Padre Island, Texas, on May 17.
The Colorado Springs flights will be available on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays with introductory one-way fares as low as $49 while the Brownsville flights will run on Wednesdays and Saturdays with introductory one-way fares as low as $89.
From Orlando, Avelo will also begin serving Brownsville twice weekly on May 17 and add twice weekly service to Charlottesville, Virginia, beginning May 3.
These flights have one-way fares for as little as $69 and $49, respectively.
“The addition of these three new destinations and four new exclusive nonstop routes exemplifies our commitment to bringing affordable, convenient and reliable air service to unserved and underserved communities across the country,” Avelo CEO Andrew Levy said in a statement. “We are confident the low fares and smooth travel experience we are introducing to these three new communities will inspire their residents to travel even more.