Lufthansa begins four Frankfurt routes
On April 23rd, Lufthansa began Frankfurt to London Gatwick (double daily; photo above), Skopje (10-weekly), Belfast City (four-weekly), and Asturias (three-weekly; photo below).
It is the first time that Belfast and Asturias have had Frankfurt service, while Gatwick returns after a ten-year absence; it was last operated by the Lufthansa. Frankfurt-Skopje returns after 17 years; it was last operated by the defunct Cirrus Airlines.
Frankfurt was Skopje’s largest unserved European market in 2019, when more than 22,000 people flew indirectly to the German city’s main airport. After Sarajevo launched in 2021, Skopje became Frankfurt’s largest unserved market in Central and Eastern Europe.
Photo: via Asturias Airport.
Click here for Frankfurt-Skopje flights.
All three routes revolve around point-to-point (P2P) and transit passengers. In Skopje’s case, some 67 destinations are reachable from over Frankfurt. Lufthansa will compete indirectly with Wizz Air (to Hahn) for the P2P market.
AirAsia Indonesia to Cambodia
There are again non-stop flights between the Indonesian and Cambodian capitals. It is thanks to AirAsia Indonesia, which began Jakarta-Phnom Penh on April 19th.
It comes after the last regular service, operated by Citilink, ended in 2020. In 2019, more than 53,000 flew between the two cities, whether non-stop or indirectly.
Photo: Cambodia Airports.
Click here for Jakarta-Phnom Penh flights.
The 1,221-mile (1,965 km) service operates four weekly. Fight QZ474 leaves Indonesia at 20:45, arriving in Cambodia at 23:45 local. Returning, QZ475 departs at 00:35, returning at the fun time of 03:30.
Nouvelair introduces next Paris route
Tunisian leisure carrier Nouvelair has launched its next route: Paris CDG to Sfax. Covering 1,070 miles (1,723 km), it started on April 19th.
Operating on Wednesdays and Sundays, it leaves Paris at 11:35 and gets back at 17:55. The aircraft starts/ends the day at Monastir and routes Monastir-Paris-Sfax-Paris-Monastir.
Click here for Paris-Sfax flights.
Paris CDG-Sfax was most recently served by Tunisair in 2019. However, Nouvelair competes indirectly with Transavia France, which operates from Paris Orly up to five weekly.
Paris Orly gets Oslo flights
It has taken a long time, but Paris Orly now has flights to Oslo. They are by Transavia France, and they run on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
It is the carrier’s only destination in Norway from Orly this summer. However, it joins service to other Nordic capitals: Copenhagen (launched in October 2022; served four to five weekly), Stockholm Arlanda (2021; served two to four weekly), and Keflavik (launched in 2010; four to five weekly).
The addition of Orly means that six airports in France have Oslo Gardermoen flights. Naturally, it is mainly about Paris CDG (63%) of departures, then Nice, Orly, Bordeaux, and Ajaccio.
Pobeda to Samarkand
On April 21st, Russia’s Pobeda has commenced Moscow Vnukovo, the carrier’s primary airport, to Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Using the carrier’s only aircraft type, the 737-800, the new route operates on Mondays and Fridays.
It is the fourth carrier on the 1,746-mile (2,810 km) airport pair, joining Azimuth (SSJ-100), UTAir (which uses the 767-200!), and Uzbekistan’s Qanot Sharq (A320). It joins Aeroflot from its Moscow Sheremetyevo hub and Uzbekistan Airways from Moscow Domodedovo.
This summer, Moscow Vnukovo has non-stop flights to 15 destinations in Central Asia, of which Dushanbe, the Tajik capital, is the most served. Click here for Moscow-Samarkand flights.
Source : Simple Flying