LOT Polish Airlines, Condor and United Airlines are expanding their international networks on routes to and from Europe over the coming weeks.
Warsaw-Riyadh
LOT Polish Airlines is set to launch flights to Riyadh, starting June 4, marking its entry into the Saudi Arabian market.
The service will operate three times a week between Warsaw Chopin Airport (WAW) and Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport (RUH) using Boeing 737-8 aircraft, with an estimated 6-hr. 30-min. flight duration.
The decision to inaugurate the WAW-RUH route was bolstered by Saudi Arabia's inclusion of the European Union in its e-visa system in June 2023, facilitating travel and tourism between the two regions.
The route is being supported by the Saudi Air Connectivity Program (ACP), established to expand the number of nonstop connections to and from Saudi Arabia as part of the country’s ambition to increase inbound tourists to 100 million by 2030.
Riyadh has six nonstop connections to points in Central and Eastern Europe at present, OAG Schedules Analyser data shows, with Flynas serving Baku, Azerbaijan; Batumi and Tbilisi, Georgia; and Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Azerbaijan Airlines also served Baku-Riyadh, while Wizz Air flies to the Saudi city from Hungary’s capital Budapest.
O&D traffic between Poland and Saudia Arabia totalled some 40,500 two-way passengers in 2023, Sabre Market Intelligence figures reveal, compared with 21,800 in 2019 before the pandemic. Warsaw-Riyadh was the top city pair, accounting for about one-quarter of the traffic.
Frankfurt-San Antonio
Condor will in May become the first airline to operate flights between Europe and San Antonio International Airport (SAT), which currently only has international service to Mexico.
The German leisure carrier will offer a 3X-weekly seasonal service between Frankfurt Airport (FRA) and the Texas airport using an Airbus A330-900neo aircraft configured with 310 seats, including 30 in business, 64 in premium economy and 216 in economy. Flights will be available from May 17 through Sept. 6.
SAT currently has international service to six destinations—all of which are in Mexico—but has long courted a nonstop connection to Europe. The airport estimates the transatlantic service will have an annual economic impact of $34 million for the region, spurring new leisure and business ties.
The new route is being supported by economic partnership greater:SATX, which has an air service development fund in place to help attract routes from unserved destinations. It is understood the organization is providing marketing incentives alongside airport waivers to landing and terminal fees.
San Antonio becomes the 29th destination in the U.S. to be served nonstop from FRA. Including SAT, Condor offers flights to 13 points, comprising Anchorage, Alaska, Baltimore Washington, Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis/St Paul, New York John F. Kennedy, Phoenix Sky Harbor, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle-Tacoma.
San Francisco-Barcelona
United Airlines is set to introduce nonstop service between San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Barcelona El Prat Airport (BCN) starting in May, marking the carrier's fourth route to the Spanish city this summer season.
Daily flights are scheduled to commence on May 23, utilizing Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, with an outbound flight duration of 11 hr. 30 min., and a return leg lasting 12 hr. 5 min.
The 5,954-mi. (5,174-nm) route represents United's second new seasonal service to Barcelona within a year, following the launch of flights from Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) in May 2023. The addition of San Francisco as another departure point means that United will operate seasonal flights to BCN from both SFO and ORD during the summer of 2024, complementing its existing year-round services from New York’s Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD).
United's entry into the SFO-BCN market will introduce competition to International Airlines Group's Barcelona-based LCC LEVEL, which recently resumed seasonal service with four weekly flights utilizing Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
LEVEL initially launched the route in October 2018 and operated without competition until Norwegian Air began service between the airports a year later. However, Norwegian suspended its operations due to the pandemic and subsequently withdrew from long-haul flying altogether.
United had also planned to launch flights between EWR and Faro, Portugal, in May, but has canceled the route until summer 2025 amid a U.S. FAA review of its activities, prompted by a series of operational incidents.
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