These Are the Most Exciting New Flight Routes Coming in 2019
If your end-of-year holiday is already spoken for and the new 19-hour Singapore Airlines slog between Newark and Singapore isn’t for you, consider some of the fresh new routes airlines recently announced for 2019.
New service to London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Edinburgh and Tokyo
On March 31, 2019 Japan Airlines will begin daily nonstop service between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and Tokyo-Narita (NRT) (Details here). The service is technically not ‘new,' JAL began flying this route in 1983 but dropped it in 1992.
British Airways debuts twice a week seasonal service between Charleston, South Carolina and London Heathrow on April 4, 2019. That’s just in time for the kick-off of the summer-long Underbelly Festival of circus, theater, comedy, cabaret and music on the south bank of the Thames.
This is Charleston’s first transatlantic flight and is scheduled to run through October 24, 2019. (Details and introductory fares here).
Lufthansa will begin offering five weekly flights between Austin, Texas and Frankfurt, Germany on May 3, 2019 (Details here). Among other attractions, Frankfurt offers a cluster of museums that includes the Icon Museum, the Museum of Applied Art and the Museum of World Cultures.
On May 23, 2019, Delta Air Lines will begin flying seasonal daily nonstop flights between Boston Logan International Airport and Edinburgh, Scotland. (Flight details here). Edinburgh is the self-proclaimed world’s leading festival city, offering the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival in May, the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June, the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival in July and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will roll the dice on service between Las Vegas and Amsterdam, with flights on Thursdays and Sundays beginning June 6, 2019. A third weekly flight on this route will launch on Tuesdays starting July 2, 2019. (More details here). Summer highlights in Amsterdam include the Julidans modern dance festival in July and the Canal Parade and street parties during Amsterdam Gay Pride in early August.
Singapore Airlines is in expansion mode from the US, having recently re-introduced daily nonstop flights between Singapore and both Newark Liberty International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport. On Sept. 3, 2019 the airline will debut nonstop flights between Singapore and Seattle (SEA), using an Airbus A350-900 airplane. The service will be offered three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) at first, but them step up service to four times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) in October 2019.
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And in February United Airlines will add two special nonstop flights between San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Spain’s Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN). Designed to make it easier for Bay Area techies to attend the giant 2019 Mobile World Congress, the two special roundtrip flights, leaving SFO Feb. 23 and Feb. 27 also offer a nice incentive to take an off-season stroll on Las Ramblas and get a good look at the art and architectural masterpieces by Gaudí.
Fresh domestic destinations
On Feb. 19, 2019, Alaska Airlines begins serving El Paso, Texas with daily nonstop service from both Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and San Diego International Airport. (Details here).
America Airlines’ 2019 schedule includes seven new domestic routes from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport rolling out in March and April to destinations that include Augusta, GA; Gainesville, FL; Yuma, AZ; Bakersfield, CA; Flagstaff, AZ and both Hollywood and Monterey, CA.
On Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, American will begin new daily service between Washington Reagan National (DCA) and Oklahoma City (OKC); between New York LaGuardia (LGA) and Knoxville, TN (TYS); and between JFK Airport and San Antonio International Airport (SAT). Details about these flights and several new international flights to destinations like Cuba, Aruba, Mexico, Honduras and the Dominican Republic can be found here.
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The airline will also launch daily nonstop flights between Philadelphia International Airport and both Asheville, NC and Chattanooga, TN on May 3. (Details here.) These will be the first nonstop flights from PHL to each of these cities. That means this spring you can more easily plan a trip that includes Philadelphia’s South Street Spring Festival, the Tennessee Whiskey Festival in Chattanooga or any of Asheville spring crafts, beer or music festivals.
With the introduction of twice-daily service between Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) and Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) in California on July 8, 2019, Delta Air Lines will have bragging rights on serving Atlanta from the four largest LA-area airports: LAX, John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Ontario International Airport and, of course, Burbank.
Delta notes that the new flights between ATL and BUR connect Hollywood to Georgia’s booming film production industry, but it also offers a flight path between Atlanta’s World of Coca Cola and the wide array of amusement parks in Southern California.
Spirit Airlines will add daily nonstop service from Austin to nine U.S. cities beginning in 2019. Service between Austin Bergstrom International Airport and Baltimore (BWI), Chicago (ORD), Denver, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Orlando will begin on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 2019. Service between Austin and LAX starts May 2 (details here).
