Aviation News

Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines recently made an equipment change on a popular route connecting Southern California and the Queen City. Last week, in favor of the Boeing 737 MAX 8, the carrier removed the Airbus A321neo from flights between Charlotte and Orange County.

Welcome to my 171st weekly routes article! It includes seven mini-stories about subjectively exciting services that took off between June 3 and 9. While dozens of routes worldwide started in the examined period, only a selection of intriguing additions are covered in this article.

American Airlines (AA) has formed a new Customer Experience Advisory Board with a broad range of experience to guide AA’s continued efforts to ensure all its flyers have the best experience in the sky.

United Airlines has more flights between the US and Europe than any other operator, with London Heathrow being its number one destination. The carrier's European dominance has been assisted by the launch of flights to four more cities. In May, it started flying to Bilbao, Faro, and Palermo, followed by Funchal in early June. This became the Star Alliance member's fifth destination in Portugal, a first for any North American operator.

Following furloughs just last month, Spirit AeroSystems is furloughing an additional 250-300 workers for a period of two to three weeks. KSN-TV reported that the previously furloughed employees have returned to work, but some of the same staff may be impacted in the next round of temporary layoffs.

Pilots aboard Delta flight DL1576 experienced a serious scare on June 9, 2025. As first reported by News4Jax, the Boeing 757-200 was flying from Atlanta to Orlando when smoke began pouring into the cockpit. Data from Flightradar24 indicates that this occurred at roughly 13:40, when the crew began to descend and subsequently diverted to Jacksonville.

On Thursday, a Boeing 767-300F aircraft flown by UPS, took off from Sacramento Mather Airport (MHR), California, only to return to the airport and land 25 minutes later. The aircraft had lost incoming communications with Air Traffic Control (ATC) during the climb away from the runway. After safely returning and reestablishing communications, the aircraft underwent maintenance and returned to service two hours later.

Airbus is set to feature an A321XLR painted in Riyadh Air’s livery at the 2025 Paris air show, taking place from June 16 to 22 at Le Bourget Airport. The aircraft, registered F-WWBZ, has been repainted in the Saudi carrier’s colors specifically for the event. The jet is part of Airbus’ test fleet and is not assigned to any customer.

On June 7, Colorado Springs gained its first international passenger service (Southwest to Cancun), which followed the opening of its Federal Inspection Services (FIS) facility. On the same day, Richmond regained international flights with the arrival of BermudAir. The Virginia airport last had non-US flights 11 years ago.

Over the past few years, United Airlines has been quick to try and differentiate itself from the competition through the addition of nonstop services to new, unique destinations. The airline has become well-known for doing this on the international front, with the airline building out a healthy network of international destinations that are off the beaten path. However, the airline has been quick to find sustained success doing something similar with domestic air travel markets.

On Sunday, June 8, a man breached security and accessed the airfield taxiway at London Heathrow Airport (LHR). He was chased down by other men and was later caught and arrested. While the incident was a serious security and safety risk, operations at the airport continued normally.

On June 5, Southwest did something unusual. It inaugurated not one or two but six West Coast routes from Baltimore,the carrier's fourth-busiest airport across its network based on daily aircraft movements. It now serves Long Beach, Ontario, Portland, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle, two of which have not previously had nonstop flights from the Maryland airport.

On early Monday, June 9, a Qantas Airbus A380 operating flight QF2 from London Heathrow to Singapore diverted to Baku's Heydar Aliyev International Airport, following a medical emergency onboard. The flight crew requested an emergency landing after a passenger's health deteriorated mid-flight. The aircraft landed safely in Azerbaijan, where the medical teams were on standby to assist.

Over the past few weeks, Air Canada has inaugurated several new or returning routes to Europe, launching flights to key leisure destinations on the continent located on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. With the newest routes, Air Canada’s network to Europe now comprises 50 routes in June.

As airlines around the world come to terms with the recent travel bans imposed by US President Donald Trump, American Airlines has asked the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) for a temporary dormancy waiver on certain Cuba-bound routes. This comes after the Trump administration announced last week that travel between the US and Cuba would be subject to partial restrictions.

On Wednesday, June 4, Southwest Airlines senior leaders spoke at the 9th Annual Future of the Consumer Conference, an industry gathering hosted by investment bank TD Cowen. Among many things that were discussed, it became very clear that Southwest Airlines is looking to evolve away from its traditional point-to-point business model towards a more hybrid approach that incorporates greater connectivity into the picture. The airline reaffirmed that it would aim to remain the dominant point-to-point carrier in the United States.

Singapore Airlines will soon be reintroducing its flagship Airbus A380 on routes to Auckland Airport (AKL) from its hub at Singapore Changi International Airport (SIN). This change will take place during the Southern Hemisphere's summer season, from January 18 to March 29 of 2026. This will mark the first Airbus A380 service to New Zealand in nearly two years. The jet will replace the Boeing 777-300ER on Singapore Airlines Flight 285 and Singapore Airlines Flight 286.

Belarusian national carrier Belavia has somehow managed to acquire three Airbus A330-200 aircraft despite heavy Western sanctions prohibiting aircraft and jetliner components from being sold to Belarus. These large, widebody aircraft were formerly operated by Emirates and are currently around 20 years old. These jets were then sold to Magic Air, a semi-shady airline based in the Gambia that Jordanian-Syrian businessman Tarek Abdel Hamid Al Ajami runs. These aircraft were acquired originally from the bankrupt Turkish airline Onur Air around five years ago.

Silver Airways was recently up for grabs at a bankruptcy auction but no buyers came forward despite the carrier’s extensive marketing efforts and outreach to dozens of potential buyers, according to a report by The Street.

On Friday, June 6, the stock market had one of its best days over the past few months, especially when it came to one specific industry. That industry, the commercial aviation sector, outperformed virtually all expectations, with share prices being shot skywards. Over the past few weeks, multiple major headlines have impacted investor confidence in the consumer aviation industry. Specifically, United Airlines and JetBlue announced a new partnership that will certainly have a large impact on the market and airline financial performance.