en.Wedoany.com Reported - Air Canada is advancing its record-breaking summer long-haul operations plan. According to Cirium Diio data, the airline plans an average of 69 daily flights in July, the peak summer month, up from the record of 66 flights set in the same period last year. New routes are a key driver of this growth, with three launching during the review week (June 3 to June 9).
On June 3, the Star Alliance member resumed service on the Toronto-Shanghai route, operating four weekly flights with the 787-9. This route was the last segment in its 2020 network and, by block time, has become Air Canada's fifth-longest nonstop flight.
The following day, the first scheduled flight from Canada to Sicily, Italy, was launched. Air Canada inaugurated the Montreal-Catania route with three weekly 787-8 flights. Thanks to this route, available seats between North America and Sicily this year total 209,000, a 79% increase over the record set in 2025.
On June 5, Air Canada returned to Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Previously operated by its low-cost subsidiary Rouge (2016-2019), the route is now flown by the mainline carrier with three to five weekly 787-8/787-9 flights. In 2025, Budapest was Toronto's third-largest unserved city in Central and Eastern Europe, with 33,000 indirect passengers, ranking below Belgrade and Tirana. Air Serbia recently launched flights to Toronto, and Air Transat will make its first flight to Albania later this month. With the resumption of the Budapest route, Bucharest (24,000 passengers) becomes the largest unserved market in the region.
The concentrated launch or resumption of multiple routes within a very short timeframe is noteworthy. On June 4 and June 6, Southwest Airlines launched 20 routes in total, with no new routes starting on other days of the review week. Among the seven routes launched on June 4, the Boston-San Diego route operates daily, covering 2,249 nautical miles (4,165 km) with a block time of up to 6.5 hours, making it the longest domestic segment within the contiguous United States for the airline. Southwest described this route as a brand-new addition to its network.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT), the round-trip local passenger volume between Boston and San Diego last year was 520,000. Although there was no direct flight previously, Southwest had already carried 16,400 passengers via connections through Baltimore, Denver, and Chicago Midway International Airport. Its average one-way fare (excluding taxes and fees) was $171, below the overall market average of $262.
The 13 routes launched on June 6 all operate once weekly, with most running only through August. New additions include Orlando to Wichita, with just nine round-trip flights planned.
Delta Air Lines recently launched four new routes. The first, Los Angeles to Hong Kong, began on June 6 with daily A350-900 service. This route, operated alongside Cathay Pacific and United Airlines, marks the first time since 2020 that three carriers offer nonstop service.
This marks Delta's return to Hong Kong after its last flight in 2018 (from Seattle). Previously, it offered connecting service via Tokyo Narita Airport, a route inherited from Northwest Airlines. Below is the schedule for the Los Angeles-Hong Kong route:
Frequency: Daily; Los Angeles to Hong Kong local time: 11:05 PM to 5:05 AM the next day; Hong Kong to Los Angeles local time: 9:25 AM to 7:55 AM (same-day arrival).
On June 7, Delta followed up with three additional routes: New York JFK to Malta (three weekly 767-300ER), Los Angeles to Chicago O'Hare (20 to 21 weekly 737-800), and Austin to Kansas City (13 weekly, operated by SkyWest E175). Compared to last June, Delta's flight frequency in Austin increased by 9%.
Globally, the average sector length for scheduled E195-E2 flights is 636 nautical miles (1,178 km). On June 3, South Africa's Airlink launched the Johannesburg-Zanzibar route with two weekly E2 flights, covering a one-way distance of 1,346 nautical miles (2,493 km). This is the second-longest nonstop route for this aircraft type in Africa, after Cape Town to Zanzibar. Last year, 66,000 passengers traveled between Johannesburg and Zanzibar. Johannesburg is the second-largest international market for this Tanzanian destination in sub-Saharan Africa, after Nairobi. Airlink becomes the third carrier, following Air Tanzania and Safair.
On June 4, American Airlines' regional carrier American Eagle launched nine routes. Four markets from Phoenix include: Abilene (daily Envoy Air E175), Bozeman (daily SkyWest E175), McAllen (daily Envoy Air and SkyWest E175), and Rapid City (daily Envoy Air E175). Among these, Bozeman was previously served in 2021, and Rapid City was served from 2019 to 2022.
Despite mandatory flight reductions by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), three routes were launched from Chicago O'Hare: Allentown (two daily Envoy Air E170), Erie (daily SkyWest CRJ700), and Lincoln (daily SkyWest CRJ700). The Lincoln route was last operated in 2004, with three daily ERJ140/ERJ145 flights at the time.
On the same day, American Eagle also launched flights from its busiest hub, Dallas/Fort Worth, to Lincoln (two daily SkyWest CRJ700) and Roanoke (daily PSA CRJ900). Both are new markets. The Dallas to Roanoke sector, at 879 nautical miles (1,628 km), is the longest scheduled nonstop flight in Roanoke's history.
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