My, how things can change in just a short couple of years. In 2019, there was so much promise for a host of new and exciting airline routes, but, well, we all know what happened. Very few, if any of those new flights, actually started while the pandemic raged.

Now there is hope on the horizon again. Many airlines are planning to launch those long-awaited routes next year, and some have already announced exciting new trips that weren’t even on their minds back in 2020.

To help you find your own excitement and inspiration, let’s take a look at the new airline routes that have either just started or are slated to start in 2022.

Europe

We’ll start with flights over the Atlantic, because that’s where most of the action is this year so far. With Europe opening over the summer and the U.S. opening to Europeans only this November, summer 2022 will be the first opportunity airlines have to have a normal year.

Austin to Amsterdam, on KLM, was supposed to start in 2020 but will now start March 28, 2022

Boston to Athens, on Delta, starts May 27, 2022
Boston to London/Heathrow, on United, starts March 26, 2022

Chicago/O’Hare to Milan/Malpensa, on United, starts May 6, 2022

Dallas/Fort Worth to Istanbul, on Turkish, started September 24, 2021
Dallas/Fort Worth to Madrid, on Iberia, starts April, 2022

Denver to Paris/CDG, on Air France, started on July 2, 2021

Detroit to Istanbul, on Turkish, will begin but no details are available

Fort Myers to Frankfurt, on Eurowings, starts March 28, 2022

Newark to Bergen (Norway), on United, starts May 20, 2022
Newark to Dubrovnik, on United, started July 1, 2021
Newark to Nice, on United, was supposed to start in 2020 but now starts April 29, 2022
Newark to Palma de Mallorca, on United, starts June 2, 2022
Newark to Ponta Delgada (Azores), on United, starts May 13, 2022
Newark to Tenerife (Canary Islands), on United, starts June 9, 2022

New York/JFK to Dubrovnik, on Delta, starts July 2, 2022

Orlando to Edinburgh, on Virgin Atlantic, starts March 29, 2022

Salt Lake City to Frankfurt, on Eurowings, starts May 23, 2022

Seattle to Istanbul, on Turkish, will begin but no details are available

Washington/Dulles to Athens, on United, started July 1, 2021
Washington/Dulles to Madrid, on Iberia, restarting April 2022

One last thing worth noting over the Atlantic: European leisure operator TUI will move its Florida gateway to… Melbourne, a small and easy airport located a little over an hour southeast of Orlando.

Melbourne, FL, to Birmingham, Doncaster/Sheffield, London/Gatwick, and Manchester starts March, 2022.

Melbourne, FL, to Bristol, Glasgow, and Newcastle in May with Edinburgh starts June, 2021

Canada

With borders closed to most Americans, there was a resurgence in domestic leisure travel in 2021 and that led to a great number of new routes. Now that borders are opening, we’re seeing growth in routes to Canada.

Boston to Calgary, on WestJet, starts May 19, 2022

Las Vegas to Ottawa, on Flair, starts March 29, 2022
Las Vegas to Victoria (BC), on Swoop, starts January 13, 2022

Los Angeles to Montreal, on Air Transat, starts May 16, 2022

Nashville to Edmonton, on Flair, starts April 16, 2022

San Diego to Montreal, on Air Canada, starts May 21, 2022

San Francisco to Montreal, on Air Transat, starts May 19, 2022

Seattle to Montreal, on Air Canada, starts May 31, 2022

Middle East and Africa

Dallas/Fort Worth to Tel Aviv, on American, starts March 5, 2022

Miami to Dubai, on Emirates, started July 22, 2021

Newark to Johannesburg, on United, started June 3, 2021

Washington/Dulles to Amman, on United, will begin next summer pending government approvals
Washington/Dulles to Lagos, on United, started November 29, 2021

Central and South America

Central America has been booming during the pandemic because most countries were open to Americans and several airlines were trying out new routes. And since many routes going south begin in the winter, not the summer, they’ve already been launched, including some that launched last winter that we are including here too. In addition there are a couple more in Central and South America that will begin next year.

Austin to Liberia (Costa Rica), on American, started Nov 2, 2021

Denver to Roatan (Honduras), on United, starts Dec 18, 2021
Denver to San Jose (Costa Rica), on United, started Dec 19, 2020

Fort Lauderdale to Barranquilla (Colombia), on Spirit, started Nov 19, 2020
Fort Lauderdale to Bucaramanga (Colombia), on Spirit started Nov 18, 2020

Los Angeles to San Pedro Sula (Honduras), on United, started Feb 4, 2021

Minneapolis/St Paul to Roatan (Honduras), on Sun Country, started Dec 18, 2020

New York/JFK to Cali (Colombia), on American, started May 6, 2021 and on Avianca, starts Dec 4, 2021
New York/JFK to Belo Horizonte (Brazil), on Eastern, starts June 9, 2022
New York/JFK to Puerto Vallarta, on JetBlue, starts February 19, 2022

Newark to Cartagena, on JetBlue, started Aug 2, 2021

New Orleans to San Pedro Sula (Honduras), on Spirit, started Jul 8, 2021

Ontario to San Salvador, on Avianca, started Jul 2, 2021

Orlando to Belize, on Frontier ,starts Dec 11, 2021
Orlando to Cali (Colombia), on Avianca, started Jul 15, 2021
Orlando to Liberia (Costa Rica), on Frontier, starts Nov 11, 2021

San Francisco to Liberia (Costa Rica), on United, started Jan 9, 2021

Seattle to Belize, on Alaska, started Nov 19, 2021

Asia

New flights over the Pacific are few and far between this year as airlines remain wary about just how much will open up.

Still, there are a couple of larger developments. First, Beijing has a brand new airport and whenever U.S. airlines resume their services, at least some will go to the new Daxing. That includes American from DFW when it starts (it hopes) in March 2022 and Delta from both Detroit and Seattle (it thinks) in April. United will remain at Beijing/Capital when it resumes service, but no U.S. carrier is flying to Beijing at all today.

You may also remember the big shift in routes from Tokyo/Narita to closer-in Tokyo/Haneda that was supposed to take place in 2020 when more slots opened up. That happened on some routes, but some never started. These are all hoping to take flight in 2022:

Los Angeles to Tokyo/Haneda, on United, was supposed to start in 2020 but will now start January 4, 2022

Newark to Tokyo/Haneda, on United, was supposed to start in 2020 but will now start January 4, 2022

Portland (OR) to Tokyo/Haneda, on Delta, was supposed to start in 2020 but will now start March 26, 2022

San Jose to Tokyo/Haneda, on ANA, starts March 27, 2022

Washington/Dulles to Tokyo/Haneda, on United, was supposed to start in 2020 but now starts March 26, 2022

Elsewhere in Asia, there are a couple routes of note, including a pair heading to Bangalore, which had been delayed during the pandemic.

Portland (OR) to Seoul/Incheon, on Delta, starts May 2, 2022

San Francisco to Bangalore, on United, was supposed to start in 2021 but will now start May 26, 2022 (already flown by Air India)

Seattle to Bangalore, on American, was supposed to start in 2020 but will now start March 26, 2022

Brett Snyder is President at Cranky Concierge, a service that Wendy recommends to WOW List travelers seeking the savviest help with international airline travel. Brett’s service ferrets out the smartest routes and fares, monitors your flights, and provides emergency rerouting assistance if your flight is delayed or cancelled.

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