Routes Insights: American Airlines, Avianca And Delta

Dallas-Fort Worth-Rio de Janeiro

American Airlines is growing its network in Brazil with the resumption of a route to Rio de Janeiro that has been absent from its schedule for more than six years.

Daily flights will connect its Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) hub and Rio de Janeiro-Galeão International Airport (GIG) from Oct. 27 using Boeing 787-8 aircraft, joining existing service from Miami International Airport (MIA) and New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).

American currently flies to GIG daily from MIA and three times per week from JFK. The planned route from DFW marks a resumption given the carrier served the sector regularly until February 2015 and again for a limited time during winter 2017-18.

GIG has four nonstop routes to the U.S. at present, each of which are operated by U.S. carriers. Alongside American’s services from MIA and JFK, Delta Air Lines flies daily from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, and United Airlines offers a daily link from Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

OAG Schedules Analyser data shows there are about 11,300 two-way weekly seats on GIG-U.S. routes, down from 17,600 at this time in 2019 when LATAM Airlines Brasil also offered flights to MIA and Orlando. Overall Brazil-U.S. capacity also remains about 24% down on pre-pandemic levels.

Alongside the route from DFW, American plans to expand frequencies between JFK and GIG to daily from Oct. 27 and boost MIA-GIG to double-daily. From the start of the winter 2024-25 season, the Oneworld alliance member will therefore offer 28 flights per week to Rio de Janeiro and 63 on routes between the U.S. and Brazil, accounting for a leading 31.2% of available capacity between the two countries.

Bogotá-Montréal

Avianca is set to enhance its North American route network by launching a new service from Colombia's capital Bogotá to Montréal, Canada.

The airline first entered the Canadian market a little more than two years ago with a route connecting Bogotá's El Dorado International Airport (BOG) and Toronto Pearson International Airport, in addition to existing flights to Toronto from San Salvador, El Salvador.

Beginning on March 31, the carrier will operate four weekly flights to Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL) using Airbus A320 aircraft on the 2,815-mi. (2,446-nm) route, providing 1,200 weekly seats between the two cities.

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Since Avianca's entry into the Canadian market in December 2021, the airline has transported approximately 350,000 passengers on more than 2,800 flights between Colombia and Canada.

Currently, Avianca's Star Alliance partner Air Canada is the sole operator of nonstop flights between Bogotá and Montréal, flying three times per week using Airbus A330-300 equipment. With the addition of Avianca's service, the number of two-way weekly seats on the route will exceed 2,900.

It is estimated that more than 120,000 Colombians live in Canada, while in excess of 20,000 Canadian residents visit Colombia each year. O&D traffic between Bogotá and Montréal totaled about 33,800 two-way passengers in 2023, Sabre Market Intelligence data shows, down by about 5% on 2019 levels.

Seattle-Taipei

Delta Air Lines is set to launch its inaugural nonstop route between the U.S. and Taiwan this summer, marking its return to the East Asian country after a seven-year hiatus.

Starting from June 6, daily flights will operate from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to Taipei Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) using Airbus A330-900neo aircraft.

Having previously served Taipei via Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT), Delta removed Taiwan from its route map in May 2017 during a restructuring of its operations in Japan's capital. It had offered a one-stop service between Seattle and Taipei in the past, providing year-round flights via NRT between October 2015 and October 2016.

Taipei will become Delta's seventh international market in the Asia-Pacific region, joining Auckland, Seoul Incheon, Shanghai Pudong, Sydney, Tahiti and Tokyo Haneda. The airline will also be the second U.S. carrier to provide nonstop U.S.-Taiwan flights, alongside United Airlines.

In the Seattle-Taipei market, Star Alliance member EVA Airways currently serves the 6,061-mi. (5,267-nm) sector daily using Boeing 787-10 aircraft. Delta will have a 45% capacity share of the market once flights begin.

Taiwanese carrier Starlux Airlines has also revealed that it intends to make Seattle its third destination in the U.S. during 2024, but has yet to confirm when flights will launch.

Sourced from Aviation Week