Summary
- China Airlines has launched Taipei to Prague, the first time it has been served
- Avianca now offers flights between San Salvador and Las Vegas, catering to the Salvadoran American population
- Qatar Airways has added Toulouse as its fourth destination in France, with plans to increase frequency and switch to the A350-900
Welcome to my 94th weekly routes newsletter! I've covered a few subjectively exciting routes that took off recently. Why not sign up and receive my newsletter in your email inbox every week?
China Airlines begins Prague
China Airlines now serves six destinations in Europe. It is thanks to Prague, which took off on July 18th. It is served twice-weekly year-round using the A350-900. Some 5,611 miles (9,029 km) apart – but longer in reality as it avoids China and Russian airspace – the first Europe-bound service took 13h 9m, just five minutes longer than the return.
The route has never been served before. It seems to result partly from ever-closer ties between the nations. In 2019, approximately 26,000 people flew between Taipei and Prague, most booking tickets in Taiwan. The Czech capital was Taipei's sixth-largest unserved European market that year.
China Airlines also anticipates transit passengers, especially to Japan and South Korea. A large market, Seoul is Prague's only other Far East destination this summer, served by Korean Air which, like China Airlines, is a SkyTeam member. Czech Airlines is a SkyTeam Partner and codeshares with the two Asian operators, so this is a factor too.
Las Vegas: San Salvador's latest route
Avianca has inaugurated a service between the El Salvadorian capital of San Salvador and Sin City. Served three weekly until it ends on September 19th, the 2,248-mile (3,617 km) route uses the A320neo.
Despite ~23,000 passengers flying via a hub in 2019, it is a brand-new route: it has not been served before. That year, Las Vegas was San Salvador's second-largest unserved market. Only Chicago – which remains unserved – was bigger.
Given more than 2.5 million Salvadoran Americans live in the US, the market is primarily based on visiting friends and relatives demand. This July-August, San Salvador has 2,844 departing US flights (double for both ways). Flights are 35% higher than the 2,101 in these months in 2019.
Toulouse welcomes Qatar Airways
On July 18th, Qatar Airways took off from Doha to Toulouse. It is the carrier's fourth destination in France, joining long-served Paris CDG along with Nice and Lyon. The latter launched on July 3rd. The addition of Toulouse means the airline has 32 weekly flights to France.
Served three weekly, QR47 leaves Qatar at 08:45 and arrives at 14:40. Returning, QR48 departs at 16:10 and returns at 23:55. It uses the soon-to-be-retired 260-seat A330-200, which is a relatively uncommon type for Qatar Airways to use to Europe. Either the 'Airbus connection' or, much more likely, aircraft availability drives the aircraft choice. Indeed, it expects to rise to daily as soon as possible – and has said it will switch to the A350-900 when it has enough of them.
Doha is Toulouse's only route to the Middle East/Asia. In 2019, 395,000+ passengers flew between Toulouse and Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Eastern/Southern Africa. Based on where Qatar Airways flies, Bangkok, Dubai, Mauritius, Beijing, and Singapore are the most popular.
Bula! Fiji Airways starts Canberra
In what was surely the most exotic launch, at least to a European, Fiji Airways took off from Nadi to Canberra, Australia's capital, on July 21st. Covering 2,113 miles (3,401 km), it operates twice weekly using the 737-800. It leaves Fiji at 09:30 and returns at 19:40.
It had around 8,000 roundtrip passengers in 2019, when it was Nadi's third-largest unserved market from Australia. The Gold Coast and Perth surpassed it, the latter a huge 3,931 miles (6,327 km) away – longer than Brisbane to Singapore.
That's it for the 94th edition of my routes newsletter. Sign up to get something like this in your inbox each week.