More than 3,100 new services across 173 countries were launched by 359 airlines in 2015, according to the latest figures in the New Route Database reported by Airline Network News and Analysis. Less than half of these were already operated by at least one other carrier, while around 1,760 were entirely new routes.
European carriers topped the list of airlines across the world for new services, with Ryanair and easyJet leading, having both launched 99 new routes in 2015. Both airlines thrived in a year marked by various terrorist incidents, with Ryanair breaking the 100 million-passenger barrier with a total passenger lift of 101.4 million, while easyJet reported passenger numbers of 69.8 million during 2015.
The Spanish budget airline Vueling was a surprising third in the rankings, with 90 new routes launched last year, followed by Wizz Air (85 new services) and the American low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines (77 new services) making up the top five.
Other budget carriers among the top 10 for new routes included Allegiant Air in the US, Russia’s Pobeda (a subsidiary of Aeroflot), the Barcelona-based Volotea, Greece's Aegean Airlines and the Berlin-based Germania, while China Southern and China Eastern were the only Asian airlines to make the top 20.
| Airline | New routes launched in 2015 |
|---|---|
| easyJet |
99 |
| Ryanair |
99 |
| Vueling |
90 |
| Wizz Air |
85 |
| Southwest Airlines |
77 |
| Allegiant Air |
69 |
| Pobeda |
47 |
| Volotea |
47 |
| Aegean Airlines |
44 |
| Germania |
44 |
| Norwegian |
43 |
| Turkish Airlines |
42 |
| China Southern Airlines |
41 |
| Spirit Airlines |
40 |
| Frontier Airlines |
39 |
| China Eastern Airlines |
38 |
| SunExpress Germany |
37 |
| Delta Air Lines |
35 |
| Aeroflot |
34 |
| American Airlines |
34 |
Source: New Route Database from Airline Network News and Analysis
When categorised by country, for the second consecutive year airports in the US received more than double the number of new services received by any other country last year, welcoming 827 new routes including new flights from London Gatwick to Boston and Washington DC offered by Iceland’s WOW Air, with fares from as low as £99 promised.
Virgin Atlantic began its daily London Heathrow-Detroit service last June, while the American carrier Delta Air Lines offered daily flights from Heathrow to Philadelphia from last April.
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Airports in Russia, China, Spain and Britain were among the other countries to welcome the most new services, ahead of Germany, Italy, France and Greece, in descending order of new routes.
Japan, Canada, India, Mexico and Thailand were the other leading non-European nations that received the highest number of new flights.
| Country | New services launched in 2015 at all airports |
|---|---|
| US |
827 |
| Russia |
381 |
| China |
378 |
| Spain |
330 |
| UK |
312 |
| Germany |
299 |
| Italy |
281 |
| France |
209 |
| Greece |
187 |
| Turkey |
171 |
| Japan |
159 |
| Canada |
133 |
| India |
118 |
| Mexico |
116 |
| Thailand |
106 |
Source: New Route Database from Airline Network News and Analysis
Air Europa’s services from Palma de Majorca to Ibiza and Menorca were the busiest new routes last year, reporting 41 weekly flights in 2015, while Delta Airlines’ Seattle-Tacoma to Denver route was the busiest North American route, with 35 weekly flights - the same number seen by Aeroflot’s Moscow Domodedovo to Simferopol service last year.
Looking ahead to this year, new services from Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Birmingham and Manchester airports will make Peru, Costa Rica, Greece and North America easier to visit this year.
New flights from full-service and low-cost carriers will open up popular destinations including Los Angeles and Greece, as well as obscure spot such as eastern Iceland, to more Britons this year.
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British Airways will launch 13 new services, including three flights a week to Lima, the Peruvian capital, in May, and twice-weekly services to San Jose, Costa Rica, from April 27. Both routes will run from Gatwick, from where it will also launch a new service to New York's John F Kennedy airport, already served from Heathrow.
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Other new long-haul routes include Thomas Cook flights to Los Angeles and Boston from Manchester Airport. They follow the airline launching direct flights to Cape Town in South Africa this winter.
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