Exciting New Airline Routes for August 2017 and Beyond

Airlines around the world launch and announce dozens of new flight routes and service changes every month. Today, I’ll share just a few of the latest flights that will take to the skies this month or in the near future. Keep in mind that exact flight details (like schedules and aircraft, among other things) may change.

NEW ROUTES LAUNCHED IN AUGUST 2017

Norwegian Air Starts Flights From Florida to Barcelona and Paris (Launched August 10 and 23)

Details — Low-cost carrier Norwegian continued its rapid expansion with the addition of two new routes connecting Florida and Europe. The carrier started flying its 787 Dreamliner from Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to Barcelona (BCN) and Orlando (MCO) to Paris (CDG). The year-round service makes the airline the only one to operate these routes.

Schedule (3x weekly):

• *DY7050 Fort Lauderdale (FLL) 11:50pm Departure → Barcelona (BCN) 2:25pm (+1) Arrival
• *DY7049 Barcelona (BCN) 5:20pm Departure → Fort Lauderdale (FLL) 9:50pm Arrival

Schedule (1x weekly):

• DY7060 Orlando (MCO) 10:45pm Departure → Paris (CDG) 1:05pm (+1) Arrival
• DY7059 Paris (CDG) 4:30pm Departure → Orlando (MCO) 8:45pm Arrival

*Flight times shown are for Thursday departures and returns — other days' schedules vary.

Southwest Begins Service From Sacramento to Long Beach and Spokane (Launched August 1)

Details — Southwest Airlines beefed up its West Coast presence with the addition of two new routes this month. The carrier will now fly its classic 737 from Sacramento (SMF) to Spokane (GEG) and Long Beach (LGB). Southwest won’t face any competition on the Sacramento – Spokane route, though JetBlue operates a twice-daily flight between Long Beach and the California capital.

Schedule (Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays):

• WN1676 Sacramento (SMF) 1:55pm Departure → Long Beach (LGB) 3:15pm Arrival
• WN1807 Sacramento (SMF) 7:00pm Departure → Long Beach (LGB) 8:20pm Arrival
• WN1752 Long Beach (LGB) 4:00pm Departure → Sacramento (SMF) 5:20pm Arrival
• WN1527 Spokane (GEG) 11:25am Departure → Sacramento (SMF) 1:20pm Arrival
• WN5877 Spokane (GEG) 10:05am Departure → Sacramento (SMF) 3:30pm Arrival

Schedule (Saturdays and Sundays):

• WN1720 Sacramento (SMF) 1:50pm Departure → Long Beach (LGB) 3:10pm Arrival
• WN1160 Long Beach (LGB) 3:45pm Departure → Sacramento (SMF) 5:05pm Arrival
• WN1720 Spokane (GEG) 11:25am Departure → Sacramento (SMF) 1:20pm Arrival

Schedule (Saturdays):

• WN6120 Sacramento (SMF) 7:05pm Departure → Long Beach (LGB) 8:25pm Arrival

Schedule (Sundays):

• WN1827 Sacramento (SMF) 7:00pm Departure → Long Beach (LGB) 8:20pm Arrival

Schedule (daily):

• WN6555 Long Beach (LGB) 7:10am Departure → Sacramento (SMF) 8:30am Arrival
• WN6555 Sacramento (SMF) 9:05am Departure → Spokane (GEG) 10:50am Arrival

Alaska Grows Domestic Presence With Flurry of New Flights

Details — With Alaska's acquisition of Virgin complete, the airline has been steadily increasing its service. This month it launched four new domestic routes, with two longer-distance flights and two shorter ones. There's now daily service between Portland (PDX) and Detroit (DTW), San Francisco (SFO) and Philadelphia (PHL), San Jose (SJC) and Austin (AUS) and between San Jose and Tucson (TUS). The San Francisco - Philadelphia flight will be operated by Virgin America until Virgin falls under the Alaska brand.

Schedule (daily):

• AS732 Portland (PDX) 10:12pm Departure ⇒ Detroit (DTW) 5:12am (+1) Arrival
• AS731 Detroit (DTW) 7:00am Departure ⇒ Portland (PDX) 8:45am Arrival

• AS1138 San Francisco (SFO) 10:35pm Departure ⇒ Philadelphia (PHL) 6:59am (+1) Arrival
• AS1141 Philadelphia (PHL) 8:15am Departure ⇒ San Francisco (SFO) 11:25am Arrival

• AS3300 San Jose (SJC) 8:45am Departure ⇒ Austin (AUS) 2:05pm Arrival
• AS3301 Austin (AUS) 3:00pm Departure ⇒ San Jose (SJC) 4:53pm Arrival

• AS3304 San Jose (SJC) 5:33pm Departure ⇒ Tucson (TUS) 7:45pm Arrival
• AS3303 Tucson (TUS) 7:00am Departure ⇒ San Jose (SJC) 9:27am Arrival

Frontier Connects Orlando With the Northeast (Launched August 14 and 16)

Details — For those trying to get between the Northeast and Florida, flights just became a little cheaper. Low-cost carrier Frontier launched service from Providence (PVD) and Long Island's Islip (ISP) to Orlando (MCO) on August 14 and 16, respectively. The daily flights are on the carrier's narrow-body A320s or A321s.

Schedule (daily):

• A91730 Orlando (MCO) 7:15am Departure ⇒ Providence (PVD) 10:15am Arrival
• A91731 Providence (PVD) 10:45am Departure ⇒ Orlando (MCO) 1:30pm Arrival

• A91778 Orlando (MCO) 7:15am Departure ⇒ Islip (ISP) 9:55am Arrival
• A91629 Islip (ISP) 7:55pm Departure ⇒ Orlando (MCO) 10:52pm Arrival

Alaska Airlines Initiates Flights From West Coast to Mexico City (Launched August 8)

Details — West Coast travelers will have more options to get down to Mexico City with the August 8th launch of two flights from San Francisco (SFO) and Los Angeles (LAX) to Mexico City (MEX). This means the airline now serves nine cities in Mexico from California, and it will add flights from San Diego (SAN) to Mexico City (MEX) in November. The flights are on a Boeing 737.

Schedule (daily):

• AS240 San Francisco (SFO) 9:55am Departure → Mexico City (MEX) 4:20pm Arrival
• AS241 Mexico City (MEX) 3:15pm Departure → San Francisco (SFO) 5:39pm Arrival
• AS236 Los Angeles (LAX) 8:24am Departure → Mexico City (MEX) 1:55pm Arrival
• AS237 Mexico City (MEX) 5:25pm Departure → Los Angeles (LAX) 7:25pm Arrival

NEW ROUTES ANNOUNCED IN AUGUST 2017

Hawaiian Expands Service With New Flights From Hawaii to West Coast

Details — Hawaiian Airlines is adding more routes from its hubs in Hawaii to three West Coast destinations. The airline will start flying daily from Portland (PDX) to Maui (OGG) on January 18, Los Angeles (LAX) to Kona (KOA) on March 11 and Oakland (OAK) to Kauai (LIH) on April 11.

Schedule (daily):

• HA39 Portland (PDX) 8:00am Departure → Maui (OGG) 12:00pm Arrival
• HA40 Maui (OGG) 1:15pm Departure → Portland (PDX) 8:25pm Arrival

• HA61 Los Angeles (LAX) 11:00am Departure → Kona (KOA) 2:05pm Arrival
• HA62 Kona (KOA) 3:35pm Departure → Los Angeles (LAX) 11:55pm Departure

• HA67 Oakland (OAK) 8:30am Departure → Kauai (LIH) 11:10am Arrival
• HA68 Kauai (LIH) 12:40pm Departure → Oakland (OAK) 8:55pm Arrival

Delta Adds Flights From Orlando to Amsterdam

Details — Delta will add a new connection between Florida and Europe with new nonstop service from Orlando (MCO) to Amsterdam (AMS) starting March 30, 2018. The carrier will fly a 767-300ER on the route and it will be the only airline to operate daily nonstop flights between the two cities.

Schedule (daily):

• DL126 Orlando (MCO) 9:45pm Departure → Amsterdam (AMS) 12:45pm (+1) Arrival
• DL127 Amsterdam (AMS) 1:15pm Departure → Orlando (MCO) 5:41pm Arrival

American Airlines Finally Confirms Los Angeles to Beijing Service

Details — Nearly two years after announcing that it would fly from Los Angeles (LAX) to Beijing (PEK), American Airlines has announced it will be starting nonstop flights on November 5. The carrier will operate a 787-8 Dreamliner with 28 seats in business, 55 in Main Cabin Extra and 143 in economy.

Schedule (daily):

• AA181 Los Angeles (LAX) 10:55am Departure → Beijing (PEK) 4:20pm (+1) Arrival
• AA180 Beijing (PEK) 6:30pm Departure → Los Angeles (LAX) 3:15pm Arrival

Primera Air to Offer Low-Cost Transatlantic Flights Between US and Europe

Details — Little-known low-cost carrier Primera Air is planning a large expansion, declaring that it will start flying to the US with three new transatlantic routes. The flights will begin in April 2018 and Primera will operate new A321neos from Boston (BOS) and Newark (EWR) to London (STN), Birmingham (BHX) and Paris (CDG). The Nordic carrier will fly its long-range narrow-body planes that will be equipped with about 180 economy seats and 16 "premium" seats.

Schedule (daily)*:

• Newark (EWR) 10:30pm Departure → Birmingham (BHX) 10:30am (+1) Arrival
• Birmingham (BHX) 5:45pm Departure → Newark (EWR) 9:00pm Arrival
• Newark (EWR) 10:50pm Departure → London-Stansted (STN) 11:00am (+1) Arrival
• London-Stansted (STN) 5:55pm Departure → Newark (EWR) 9:20pm Arrival
• Newark (EWR) 11:10pm Departure → Paris (CDG) 12:35pm (+1) Arrival
• Paris (CDG) 6:50pm Departure → Newark (EWR) 9:40pm Arrival

Schedule (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays)*:

• Boston (BOS) 9:40pm Departure → London-Stansted (STN) 9:30am (+1) Arrival
• London-Stansted (STN) 5:00pm Departure → Boston (BOS) 8:10pm Arrival
• Boston (BOS) 9:45pm Departure → Birmingham (BHX) 9:30am (+1) Arrival
• Birmingham (BHX) 5:15pm Departure → Boston (BOS) 8:15pm Arrival

Schedule (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays)*:

• Boston (BOS) 9:35pm Departure → Paris (CDG) 10:45am (+1) Arrival
• Paris (CDG) 5:30pm Departure → Boston (BOS) 8:05pm Arrival

*Flight numbers have not been announced yet

Delta Announces Nonstop Service Between New York and Lagos

Details — Travelers wanting another connection to Africa are getting their wishes answered, with Delta announcing new nonstop service from New York (JFK) to Lagos (LOS) starting March 24, 2018. The carrier will fly an A330-200 on the route to the Nigerian city, adding to the two other African cities (Accra and Dakar) the airline serves from New York. Flyers will have the option of choosing from 34 lie-flat Delta One seats, 32 Delta Comfort+ seats and 168 economy seats. Delta already operates 5x weekly flights from Atlanta (ATL) to Lagos with the New York flight only operating 3x weekly.

Schedule (Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday):

• DL415 New York (JFK) 10:50pm Departure ⇒ Lagos (LOS) 2:05pm (+1) Arrival

Schedule (Monday, Wednesday, Friday):

• DL215 Lagos (LOS) 10:30pm Departure ⇒ New York (JFK) 5:30am (+1) Arrival

Which of these new routes are you most excited about?

Additional reporting by Daryl Chua. Featured image of Beijing courtesy of Pavliha/Getty Images.