United Adds First New Transpacific Route in 3 Years

• United Airlines is leaning into its new partnership with Virgin Australia. The U.S. carrier will land in Virgin's Brisbane base with thrice-weekly flights on a Boeing 787-9 from San Francisco on October 28, a route that is also its first new one across the Pacific since 2019. Brisbane will be United's third Australian gateway after Melbourne and Sydney. United and Virgin launched their partnership, which includes a codeshare and reciprocal frequent-flyer benefits, in May. Virgin previously flew to Los Angeles from Brisbane but cancelled the route, as well as all long-haul services, as part of its restructuring during the pandemic.
  
• Long-haul, low-cost Norse Atlantic Airways is wasting no time in expanding its map. The airline named Berlin as its third European gateway for transatlantic flights to the U.S. following Oslo and London Gatwick. Norse will connect Berlin with New York JFK daily from August 17, and Los Angeles thrice weekly from August 19. Norse flies 787s.
  
• Following plans to fly 15 percent more this summer than in 2019, Ryanair has unveiled its "biggest-ever" winter schedule from the UK with 13 new routes for a total of 449 from October. The discounter's new routes include: Bournemouth to Lanzarote; Edinburgh to Grenoble and Verona; Liverpool to Rome Ciampino and Gran Canaria; London Stansted to Catania, Klagenfurt, and Rovaniemi; Manchester to Klagenfurt, Podgorica, and Turin; and Newcastle to Barcelona and Cork. Flights begin during the last week of October.
  
• Frontier Airlines will add four new routes from Sin City in August. The discounter will connect Las Vegas to Baltimore-Washington, Buffalo, Hartford, and Kansas City daily from August 9. Frontier will compete with potential merger partner Spirit Airlines on the Baltimore and Kansas City routes; and Southwest Airlines on the Baltimore, Buffalo, and Kansas City routes, per Cirium schedules.
  
• Speaking of Las Vegas, David Neeleman-led startup Breeze Airways will connect the city to Akron-Canton, Ohio, with Airbus A220s from October 6. The route is Breeze's 11th from Las Vegas.
  
• Turkish Airlines added Bukhara, Uzbekistan, to its map last week. The Star Alliance carrier is connecting the city twice weekly to its Istanbul hub with an Airbus A321neo. Bukhara is Turkish's fifth destination in Uzbekistan, and one where it competes with Uzbekistan Airways, per Cirium.
  
• The Tajik capital of Dushanbe got its only nonstop flight to Germany last week. Somon Air began weekly service between the city and Munich with a Boeing 737-900ER on June 6. The airline plans to increase service to twice weekly in July.

— Edward Russell