Welcome to Simple Flying's 105th weekly routes newsletter. As we press on into the winter season, we're still seeing plenty of fun new touchdowns around the world. We've covered a few subjectively exciting examples that launched in the past week. Why not sign up and receive our newsletter in your email inbox every week?
ITA Airways goes from Rome to Rio
Italy's flag carrier, ITA Airways, celebrated the launch of its first flight to Rio from Rome, using its Airbus A330neo aircraft.
Launching the new flights represents an expansion of ITA's long-haul route network, which is reportedly a main component of the carrier's strategy. The Rio de Janeiro route brings the total number of weekly flights between Brazil and Italy to more than 40.
Porter's new Tampa flights see the USA's very first Embraer E2 service
The US has welcomed its first scheduled Embraer E2 flights of any variant. It is because of Porter, which inaugurated Toronto Pearson to Tampa on November 1st, shortly after airlines in the Northern Hemisphere switched to winter schedules. It is the first of 10 Porter E2 routes to the US, marking another chapter in the revitalized and expanding carrier's development. Porter now has 22 E195-E2s, each with 132 seats. Read more about what to expect from them.
A brand-new destination in Porter's network, Tampa is served daily by Porter from Toronto. It is scheduled as follows, with all times local. Notice that the operating aircraft and crew remain overnight in Florida rather than simply returning to Canada.
- Toronto-Tampa: PD527, 16:30-19:32 (3h 2m block time)
- Tampa-Toronto: PD522, 09:05-12:00 (2h 55m)
You can find flights for this new service right here.
Double winter sun routes for British Airways EuroFlyer
BA's EuroFlyer has inaugurated not one but two new winter sun routes for 2023. The airline launched services from Gatwick to Fuerteventura on November 2nd, which will operate around 2 - 3 times per week for the winter. Also launched was Gatwick to Egypt's Sharm el Sheikh, which began on November 3rd - Simple Flying's Route Analyst Dr James Pearson was onboard to experience it himself.
The route was last served by British Airways (as BA, not EuroFlyer) in 2015, but ceased following the bombing of a Russian airliner when flights to the resort from the UK were banned. EuroFlyer is one of four airlines currently flying the route, joining Wizz Air's four-weekly services, easyJet's almost daily rotations, and TUI's two- to four-times weekly flights. Unsurprisingly, this is the highest number of seats for sale on this route since winter 2014.
It's also BA's first Avios-only route, which sees seats offered only to those passengers with enough loyalty points to make the booking.
South African goes intercontinental from CPT for the first time in a decade
South African Airways has officially commenced operations on its direct, non-stop flight between Cape Town and São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) in Brazil. The first flight, SA226, will depart CPT at 12:55 and arrive at GRU at 16:35 local time. The return flight, SA227, will depart GRU at 18:05 and arrive at CPT at 06:40 (+1). The service will operate year-round with two frequencies per week, departing from Cape Town on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Wesgro, the official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape, told us,
"São Paulo was identified as the biggest unserved market with the fastest growth for Cape Town and the Western Cape in 2019. In the same year, 43,000 two-way passengers were recorded to have travelled between the two regions, equating to an impressive 26% average passenger growth per year between 2015 and 2019."
And this wasn't SAA's only achievement this week, because on November 6th, it also launched Johannesburg to São Paulo. Flight SA222 will leave JNB at 11:20, arriving at GRU at 16:35 local time. On return, SA223 will depart GRU at 18:05 and arrive at JNB at 06:40. This service will be operated on Mondays and Thursdays.
You can find flights from CPT to GRU here, and from JNB to GRU here.
Lufthansa takes the A350 for a spin to Bengaluru
Germany’s flag carrier, Lufthansa, has expanded its service to India, inaugurating flights from Munich to Bengaluru on Friday. The airline’s Airbus A350-900 will serve the route, an aircraft that the carrier says is “modern” and “economical.” The service will see multiple weekly frequencies, highlighting Lufthansa’s commitment to the Indian market. The addition of Bengaluru reportedly increases the carrier’s footprint in India to five destinations from its two hubs in Frankfurt and Munich.
To celebrate the launch of the new service, Lufthansa officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring a Bavarian send-off with music from a brass band. You can find flights from Munich to Bengaluru here.
easyJet arrives in north Iceland
The northern Icelandic airport of Akureyri welcomed a historic flight this week when easyJet landed for the first time. The inaugural flight from London Gatwick was welcomed with special Icelandic donuts called 'kleina,' and representatives of local government, tourism companies, and airport managers Isavia turned out to celebrate its arrival.
easyJet is the first overseas airline to serve Akureyri with regularly scheduled flights. You might remember Nice Air, an Icelandic startup operating out of Akureyri last year, which was forced to suspend flights in April 2023 after losing access to its one and only aircraft. Now, UK travelers have an easier way to reach the beautiful north of the island nation, with flights twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays until the end of March 2024.
You can find flights for this service here.
That's it for the 105th edition of Simple Flying's routes newsletter. Sign up to get something like this in your inbox each week.