Wizz Air begins Medina
On February 15th, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi introduced Medina as its second Saudi Arabia route from the UAE capital. While famous for pilgrims, Medina is also Saudi’s fourth-biggest city. Served daily using 239-seat A321neos, 5W7125 departs Abu Dhabi at 06:20 and arrives at 08:35 local. Returning, 5W7126 goes at 09:15 and arrives back at 12:40. Two days later, Wizz Air Hungary started Rome Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi.
As Etihad has ended Abu Dhabi-Medina, 941 miles (1,514 km) apart, it is in the hands of ULCC Wizz Air. Looking back, Saudia and flynas also served the route in the past 20 years. The launch of Medina comes after its first UAE-Saudi route, Abu Dhabi-Damman, took off on November 2nd. It, too, is daily but faces Etihad (up to 22 weekly; A321/A320).
Abu Dhabi to Medina
Double celebration for Raleigh Durham
It’s unusual for an airport to have two important celebrations on the same day, but that’s what happened at Raleigh Durham this week. On February 16th, it welcomed the opening of Avelo’s fifth base, together with the inauguration of Breeze’s first flights from the airport. Don’t be mistaken: Avelo has served Raleigh Durham since last May. This concerns basing aircraft and staff at the airport.
Avelo’s new base saw four routes added. Fort Lauderdale (four weekly) and Fort Myers (three weekly) took off on the 16th, followed by Sarasota and West Palm Beach (both three weekly) on the 17th. Only Sarasota doesn’t have direct competition. In fact, it was last served by American 29 years ago in 1994, when the airline had a Raleigh Durham hub.
Meanwhile, Breeze launched the first three of eight routes: Raleigh Durham to Hartford (twice-weekly) and New Orleans (four weekly), along with Providence the next day (twice-weekly). Aside from Sunday-only Southwest flights to New Orleans until May, they face no direct competition.
Back: Air India from Mumbai to JFK
Love was in the air in more ways than one on this year’s Valentine’s Day: Air India recommenced Mumbai to New York JFK. Mainly using 238-seat 777-200LRs but occasionally less premium 342-seat 777-300ERs, the very long 7,799-mile (12,551 km) route operates daily. The first flight took 15h 40m to reach JFK and 13h 47m back.
Air India is no stranger to the route. According to the US Department of Transportation, it was served non-stop between August 2007-October 2010, then again from December 2018-March 2019. Delta also used to operate it from November 2006-October 2008, and December 2019-March 2020.
The appeal of the market to Air India isn’t hard to understand. In 2019, it had 147,000 roundtrip point-to-point passengers, according to booking data. They paid an average of $540 each way (excluding taxes and any fuel surcharge), among the highest of all big India-North America markets.
Mumbai to JFK
A Bonza second launch!
Sunshine Coast to Mackay has non-stop flights for the first time. Courtesy of new entrant Bonza, the 547-mile (881 km) drive from Maroochydore to Mackay – taking 10+ hours by car – can now be flown in about 70 minutes.
Operating twice-weekly using the 737 MAX 8, it comes shortly after launching its first route: Sunshine Coast to Proserpine for the fantastic Whitsundays. The duo will be joined by two other routes starting this month: Melbourne Avalon and Townsville. Another seven are due start from Sunshine Coast, its first base, in March/April.
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Sunshine Coast to Mackay
Porter launches Toronto-Edmonton
Porter has inaugurated its next Embraer 195-E2 route: Toronto Pearson to Edmonton. Some 1,675 miles (2,696 km) apart, it took off on February 14th, joining already-in-service Pearson to Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver.
For now, Edmonton – obviously a new airport for Porter – runs daily. However, it becomes double daily on February 23rd and triple daily on May 1st. When all three are operational, it’ll leave Toronto at 10:00, 13:50, and 22:45. Going to the nation’s biggest city, they’ll depart at 01:00 (!), 06:30, and 16:50.
With 18% of May flights, Porter is one of five airlines in the market. It exists alongside Air Canada (41%), WestJet (29%), Flair (8%), and Lynx Air (4%). Despite the recent entrants, Air Canada and WestJet still have 7 in 10 departures. Pearson-Edmonton now has 40% more flights than it did in May 2019, with Air Canada/WestJet’s share reduced from more than 9 in 10.
Toronto to Edmonton
