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 relaunch a few older nonstops that had been temporarily shelved, What’s more, some airlines have already announced exciting new trips that weren’t even on their minds before the pandemic.

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
Austin to London/Heathrow on Virgin Atlantic starts May 25, 2022

Baltimore to Reykjavik on PLAY starts April 20, 2022

Boston to Athens, on Delta, starts May 27, 2022
Boston to Barcelona, on LEVEL
Boston to London/Heathrow, on United
Boston to Reykjavik on PLAY starts May 11, 2022

Chicago/O’Hare to London/Heathrow, on United
Chicago/O’Hare to Milan/Malpensa, on United, starts May 6, 2022
Chicago/O’Hare to Reykjavik, on United
Chicago/O’Hare to Rome, on United
Chicago/O’Hare to Zurich, on United, starts April 23, 2022

Dallas/Fort Worth to Helsinki on Finnair
Dallas/Fort Worth to Istanbul, on Turkish
Dallas/Fort Worth to Madrid, on Iberia, starts April, 2022

Denver to Paris/CDG, on Air France
Denver to Munich, on United

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

Fort Myers to Frankfurt, on Eurowings

Las Vegas to Munich, on Eurowings Discover

Los Angeles to Dublin, on Aer Lingus, starts May 12, 2022
Los Angeles to London/Heathrow, on United
Los Angeles to Paris/Orly on Frenchbee starts April 30, 2022

Newark to Athens, on United
Newark to Barcelona, on United
Newark to Bergen (Norway), on United, starts May 20, 2022
Newark to Dubrovnik, on United
Newark to Frankfurt, on United
Newark to London/Heathrow, on United
Newark to Nice, on United, 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 Rome, on United
Newark to Tenerife (Canary Islands), on United, starts June 9, 2022

New York/JFK to Stockholm on Delta starts June 1, 2022

Orlando to Edinburgh, on Virgin Atlantic

Portland (OR) to London/Heathrow on British Airways starts June 3, 2022

Raleigh/Durham to Reykjavik on Icelandair starts May 12, 2022

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

San Francisco to London/Heathrow, on United

Seattle to Helsinki on Finnair starts June 1, 2022
Seattle to Istanbul, on Turkish, will begin but no details are available

St Louis to Frankfurt on Lufthansa starts June 1, 2022′

Washington/Dulles to Amsterdam, on United
Washington/Dulles to Athens, on United
Washington/Dulles to Berlin, on United
Washington/Dulles to London/Heathrow, on United
Washington/Dulles to Madrid, on Iberia, restarting April 2022
Washington/Dulles to Reykjavik, on United

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

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

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.

Atlanta to Montreal, on Air Canada, starts June 1, 2022

Austin to Vancouver, on Air Canada, starts June 1, 2022

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

Chicago/O’Hare to Toronto on Flair starts May 17, 2022

Detroit to Montreal, on Air Canada, starts June 1, 2022

Las Vegas to Ottawa, on Flair
Las Vegas to Victoria (BC), on Swoop

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

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

New York/JFK to Toronto on Flair starts April 7, 2022

Salt Lake City to Toronto on Air Canada, starts June 2, 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

Australia and New Zealand

Honolulu to Auckland, on Air New Zealand, resumes July 7

Houston to Auckland, on Air New Zealand, resumes July 7

Los Angeles to Auckland, on Air New Zealand, resumes May 1

New York/JFK to Auckland, on Air New Zealand, starts Sept 17, 2022

San Francisco to Auckland, on Air New Zealand, resumes April 14, 2022

Middle East and Africa

Boston to Tel Aviv, on Delta, starts May 26, 2022
Boston to Tel Aviv, on El Al

Chicago to Tel Aviv, United and El Al

Dallas/Fort Worth to Tel Aviv, on American, starts May 7, 2022

Miami to Dubai, on Emirates

Newark to Cape Town, on United (year-round) starts June 5, 2022
Newark to Johannesburg, on United
Newark to Tel Aviv, on El Al, starts July 2022

New York/JFK to Doha on American starts June 4, 2022
New York/JFK to Tel Aviv, on El Al, starts July 2022

Miami to Tel Aviv, on El Al, starts July 2022

San Francisco to Tel Aviv, on United

Washington/Dulles to Amman, on United, starts May 5, 2022
Washington/Dulles to Lagos, on United

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 Cozumel on American starts June 11, 2022
Austin to Liberia (Costa Rica), on American

Denver to Roatan (Honduras), on United
Denver to San Jose (Costa Rica), on United

Fort Lauderdale to Barranquilla (Colombia), on Spirit
Fort Lauderdale to Bucaramanga (Colombia), on Spirit

Los Angeles to San Pedro Sula (Honduras), on United

Minneapolis/St Paul to Roatan (Honduras), on Sun Country

New York/JFK to Belo Horizonte (Brazil), on Eastern, starts June 9, 2022
New York/JFK to Cali (Colombia), on American, started May 6, 2021 and on Avianca
New York/JFK to Cartagena on Avianca
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

Ontario to San Salvador, on Avianca

Orlando to Belize, on Frontier
Orlando to Cali (Colombia), on Avianca
Orlando to Liberia (Costa Rica), on Frontier
Orlando to Medellín on Avianca

San Francisco to Liberia (Costa Rica), on United

Seattle to Belize, on Alaska

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.

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.

Los Angeles to Tokyo/Haneda, on United, expected by October 29, 2022
Los Angeles to Tokyo/Narita on Zip Air

Newark to Tokyo/Haneda, on United, expected by October 29, 2022

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

San Francisco to Bangalore, on United, starts October 28, 2022
San Francisco to Singapore, on United

Washington/Dulles to Tokyo/Haneda, on United, October 29, 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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