Exciting new airline routes from January 2024 and beyond

Though the airline network planners seemed to have taken a prolonged New Year's vacation, they were back in full force in the second half of January with a slew of new route announcements.

January turned out to be a busy month of network updates, from new long-haul routes to short domestic hops between nearby cities.

No announcement was seemingly as far-reaching as Frontier's nationwide expansion and strategy shift, but nevertheless, there's a lot to catch up on below.

Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines is adding an all-new Canadian destination to its route map: Toronto. The carrier will connect its hometown hub of Seattle with Toronto beginning May 16.

This new service will complement Alaska's existing flights to Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, as well as Kelowna, Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia in Canada.

Though the airline announced new Toronto service, it also filed plans to cut yet another route to Austin. This time, the carrier is dropping service to Austin from San Jose, California.

Last year, Alaska filed plans to also stop serving Austin from its Boise focus city.

• Alaska Airlines expands to Toronto but drops key Austin route

American Airlines

American Airlines didn't actually announce any new routes this month, but it did share some exciting news: It received permission from the U.S. Department of Transportation to fly between New York City and Tokyo.

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This new route will launch "in the coming months," and it comes following a heated debate with United Airlines over which carrier should receive the slot (essentially a takeoff and landing permission) for new service to Tokyo.

• American Airlines announces flights from JFK to Tokyo's Haneda, citing DOT approval

Breeze Airways

Breeze Airways is still very much in startup mode as the carrier continues to adjust its network to find profitable routes.

This month, the airline added 11 new routes and three new airports to its route map. This includes major hubs such as Denver and smaller cities like Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Mobile, Alabama.

The Airbus A220-300, a passenger-pleasing narrow-body jet, will operate all of Breeze's new routes.

• Breeze launches nearly a dozen new routes in latest expansion

Frontier Airlines

Frontier Airlines had perhaps the most interesting network update this month.

The Denver-based airline announced an expansion that includes 54 new routes and touches a whopping 38 airports — a staggering number for a single network-focused press release.

Much of this expansion will go up against competitors with entrenched positions at key hubs.

For Frontier, it represents a strategy shift as the airline tries to work its way to profitability. (The airline is also cutting several routes to fuel this growth.) But for customers, the announcement should be great news.

Even if you don't plan to fly with Frontier, there'll be more competition than ever on several key domestic routes, which should bring lower fares to additional markets.

• Strategy shift? Frontier unveils 54 new routes, goes head-to-head with competitors at their big hubs

Hawaiian Airlines

This roundup usually focuses on new U.S. routes, but Hawaiian Airlines didn't have any to share this month.

Instead, the Aloha State's carrier announced its summer schedule, which includes several new frequencies on existing routes to cities such as Austin, Boston and Las Vegas.

Perhaps most interesting, Hawaiian will add a fourth daily flight between Los Angeles and Honolulu — marking the first year the airline has ever offered this many frequencies on the 2,556-mile route.

JetBlue Airways

JetBlue Airways had quite the month. The carrier's proposed merger with Spirit Airlines was deemed anti-competitive by a federal judge, who blocked the takeover on these grounds.

The carrier originally said it'll appeal the ruling (though it may still terminate the deal), but it seems like the airline's network planners are wasting no time planning for a future without Spirit.

The airline dropped Baltimore from its route map and cut several New York routes.

• JetBlue drops Baltimore from route map, cuts several New York routes

Sun Country

Historically, Sun Country has rarely, if ever, announced a single new route on a one-off basis.

But in January, the budget carrier announced just one new 622-mile route: Minneapolis to Cleveland.

If you're wondering why, it turns out that this route was one of the 54 new flights that Frontier announced just hours earlier.

Sun Country wasn't seemingly going to let another budget carrier encroach on its home base without a fight, and now there's a turf war brewing in Minneapolis.

• Turf war: Sun Country adds rare single new route against Frontier Airlines

United Airlines

United Airlines had a busy January.

The airline added both new short-haul and long-haul service. Closer to home, the carrier added seven new (and resuming) routes to Alaska and Canada. This includes first-ever flights from Washington, D.C., to Anchorage onboard a Boeing 737 MAX 8.

At nearly eight hours, these will be long flights for a narrow-body jet in a domestic configuration.

United also added a new long-haul route this month: Chicago to Athens, Greece, which will take off just in time for the busy summer season.

Elsewhere, United filed plans to drop service between Houston and Lincoln, Nebraska, as first seen in Cirium schedules.

• United adds 7 interesting new routes to Alaska, Canada
• United Airlines adds another new long-haul route for next summer

Air France

Air France announced its 17th U.S. city this month with the addition of service to Phoenix beginning on May 23, on a three-times-weekly basis.

The airline will deploy the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on the route, featuring 30 lie-flat seats in business class, 21 premium economy seats and 228 seats in economy.

The news is a big win for Phoenix, which has tried in recent years to expand the list of long-haul destinations offered from the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX).

With the addition of Paris, Phoenix will now offer service to three European cities, including Frankfurt and London.

• Air France gives Phoenix a coveted nonstop route to Paris

Air Premia

Here's another airline that you might not (yet) be on your radar: Air Premia.

This so-called "hybrid-service" carrier — an airline with a low-cost operation offering a full-service experience — announced this month that it'll connect San Francisco with Seoul, South Korea, beginning May 17.

Air Premia will operate four weekly flights using the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, which is outfitted with 309 seats in a two-class configuration: 56 premium economy recliners and 253 economy seats.

Austrian Airlines

And then there were three. This month, Austrian Airlines announced that it would add service between Boston and Vienna July 1.

This new flight will join the existing Lufthansa Group service from Boston to Germany (on Lufthansa) and Switzerland (on Swiss).

• Austrian Airlines to launch nonstop Vienna service from Boston

BermudAir

You may have never heard of BermudAir before, but this startup carrier is putting itself on the map in two new cities.

BermudAir announced this month that it'll add service to Baltimore and Orlando, joining existing and previously announced flights to Boston, Fort Lauderdale and Westchester County, New York.

The airline will offer three weekly flights between Baltimore and Orlando and its namesake island, Bermuda, beginning in March.

• Startup BermudAir unveils 2 new routes, adding Baltimore and Orlando

SAS

SAS might be embroiled in bankruptcy proceedings, but the Scandinavian airline is ready to turn a new chapter.

This month, the airline announced new daily nonstop service between Atlanta and Copenhagen, taking off June 17.

This new route will connect to Delta's megahub in Atlanta, which represents a strategy shift for the airline that used to primarily fly to United's U.S. hubs.

The move comes after Air France and KLM acquired a stake in SAS and are planning to sponsor the airline's move from the Star Alliance (United) to the SkyTeam alliance (Delta).

• SAS to launch Atlanta-to-Copenhagen service this summer