Crisis, what aviation crisis? This is the week in which international frontiers have clattered shut once more, at least if you happen to be flying in from China without a pre-departure Covid test. But 2023 will see more than 100 new and restored air routes from and within the UK by the summer.
The expansion will dismay those who believe there is too much flying already – including my flight-free colleague at The Independent, travel editor Helen Coffey. But they signal confidence from the airlines that travellers are more determined to travel than ever, with many seeking new horizons.
The southern components of the former Yugoslavia are getting attention, as is the far west of Africa – and British Airways has a surprising new destination in South America.
One encouraging signal is that the majority of the route launches are from airports outside London and Manchester. When airlines were shrinking their networks in response to travel restrictions, they tended to coalesce around Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and Manchester.
But in 2023 other airports are getting their mojo back. Belfast International is benefiting from the return, at scale, of Ryanair; Bristol is getting some tempting new links; and Edinburgh has two new key transatlantic routes. These are the pick of the new year bunch.
Belfast bonanza
The summer season officially gets under way, for the airlines at least, on 26 March – when the departure screens at Belfast International will suddenly be filled with Ryanair departures.
In what would be called a big bang were this not aviation, the Irish airline is taking on easyJet’s dominance of Northern Ireland’s biggest airport. International links to Bergamo, Faro, Girona and Krakow are augmented by domestic routes to Edinburgh, Manchester and Stansted. And that is just day one; 10 more links begin in the following days and weeks. Let the fares war commence.
On 22 June TUI Airways starts flying from Belfast International to Melbourne – the one in Florida, serving Orlando, not Australia. And George Best Belfast City airport gains a really significant connection on 23 April: Lufthansa to Frankfurt, where transfers to the world await.
Greek earnings
Aegean Airlines, one of the few “full service” carriers still flying within Europe, is launching summer flights from Birmingham, Bristol and Newcastle to Athens. Not…
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