The northern hemisphere’s summer season began on 25 March and will run until 27 October. anna.aero’s New Routes Database suggests that airlines will commence services on 506 new airport pairs during a busy first three weeks of S18. A similar comparison performed by anna.aero this time last year recorded just over 460 new route launches during the first three weeks of S17, so airlines have clearly upped the new route race this summer. This analysis reveals that Ryanair will offer more new routes than any other airline in early S18, while Frankfurt is the leading airport for new services and the US is the dominant country market.
According to anna.aero’s database, 125 airlines will offer at least one, if not more new airport pairs in the first three weeks of the summer season.
Ryanair tops the route launch table for early S18, but only just. The Irish operator is scheduled to start 66 new services in the first three weeks of the summer season, three more than fellow ULCC Frontier Airlines, which plans to introduce 63 new routes during the same period. A look back at previous anna.aero analysis of early summer route launches reveals that Ryanair has traditionally owned first position in this category, but its lead has seldom been this slender. In the early weeks of S17, the Irish carrier lead the way with over 100 new route launches, which was more than twice as much as its nearest competitor. This year, nine of the top 15 airlines (highlighted in blue) are based in Europe while a further four (highlighted in red) are US carriers.
The remainder include one carrier from Africa (highlighted in orange) and one from Russia. Eight of the top-ranked carriers for new routes can be classified as LCCs or ULCCs, including all of the top four. The top 15 also includes two USB3 (US Big three) airlines (United Airlines and American Airlines) but none of the MEB3 (Middle East Big three) carriers. The highest-ranked full-service carrier is SAS, which is scheduled to launch 13 new routes in the first three weeks of S18.
The airports welcoming the most new Ryanair services in early S18 are Frankfurt (14 new routes), Malta (11) and Bourgas (10). The Irish ULCC’s new routes will take in a total of 70 airports across 28 countries, with 50 of these airports welcoming just one new service. The average frequency across Ryanair’s 66 new airport pairs is 2.2 flights per week, with the highest frequency to be operated on the carrier’s Brussels Charleroi to Malta and Manchester to Belfast International links, both of which will see daily departures. Second-placed carrier Frontier will see a high concentration of routes launching from Austin (16 new services) and Raleigh-Durham (11). The only non-US routes amongst the 63 the ULCC will launch in early S18 are two links to San Juan, although these might still be classified as domestic since Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the US.
