The 15 Most Exciting New Routes Coming To The United States in 2020

It’s been a pretty exciting year of new routes coming to the US in 2019, with the expansion of TAP Portugal in the US, a nonstop flight to Singapore from Seattle, and more seasonal flights to exotic destinations in Europe such as from Philadelphia to Dubrovnik. In this post, I will cover the most exciting airline routes coming to the United States in 2020. I will also explain the significance of them and will discuss the cabin interiors of each flight. For a future airline route to make it into this post, the flight has to begin in 2020 and fly to/from the US, although I might include a couple of routes which already exist although will begin on another airline in 2020.

I will format this post in list format and will count down from the 15th most exciting intercontinental route coming to the US to the most exciting route coming to the US. This list is highly subjective in terms of the order of the most exciting new routes coming to the US, although I hope to do my best regarding the reasoning for why the route is exciting.

15. Washington Dulles to Madrid on Iberia

Airline	Iberia
Flight Route	Washington Dulles to Madrid Barajas International Airport
Type of Aircraft	Airbus A330-300
Start Date	Resumes May 1, 2020
Number of Weekly Flights	5x Weekly
Flight Length	Around 3,800 Miles
In-Flight Experience	The flights on Iberia will be flown by Iberia’s Airbus A330-300s which have 292 seats; 29 in business, 21 in premium economy, and 242 in economy. Business class uses the Stelia Solstys seat and are in a mediocre staggered 1-2-1 configuration, although the seats are more than acceptable for a 7-8 hour transatlantic flight. Premium economy is in an industry standard 2-3-2 configuration while economy is in a 2-4-2 configuration. All seats are equipped with personal on-demand entertainment.
What Makes This Flight Special	United Airlines does fly seasonally on a Boeing 757-200 or Boeing 767-300 from Washington to Madrid, although this will be the first year-round flight from DC to Madrid. Additionally, this flight will be great for the American Airlines loyalists in Washington DC (which there are plenty of, due to AA’s hub at DCA) who will now have another way to spend miles for flights to Europe without the infamous surcharges on BA.

14. San Francisco to Rome on Alitalia

Airline	Alitalia
Flight Route	San Francisco International Airport to Rome Fiumicino Airport
Type of Aircraft	Boeing 777-200
Start Date	June 1, 2020
Number of Weekly Flights	3x Weekly; Summer Seasonal Service
Flight Length	Around 6,250 Miles
In-Flight Experience	The flights on Alitalia will be flown by Alitalia’s Boeing 777-200s which have 293 seats; 30 in business, 24 in premium economy, and 239 in economy. Business class uses the Stelia Solstys seat and are in a mediocre staggered 1-2-1 configuration, although should be fine for a 12-13 hour flight. Premium economy is in an industry standard 2-4-2 configuration and uses shell seats similar to those on Air France while economy is in a 3-3-3 configuration. All seats are equipped with personal on-demand entertainment.
What Makes This Flight Special	Despite Alitalia being on the brink of liquidation for the past years, it has somehow managed to stay alive due to government money injection after government injection and still has managed to expand, such as with their new flight to Washington Dulles this year. The flight will be the first flight on a full service airline from Los Angeles to Rome, although Norwegian will start the same route in April.

13. Boston to Ponta Delgada on TAP Portugal

Airline	TAP Portugal
Flight Route	Boston Logan Airport to Ponta Delgada-João Paulo II Airport
Type of Aircraft	Airbus A321LR
Start Date	Resumes June 4, 2020
Number of Weekly Flights	5x Weekly
Flight Length	Around 2,400 Miles
In-Flight Experience	TAP Portugal’s Airbus A321LRs have 16 seats in business class, which is in a staggered and alternating 1-1 and 2-2 configuration and uses the Thompson Vantage seat model, which is more than adequate for a 4-5 hour flight. Economy class is in a 3-3 configuration and also has an extra legroom economy class section. All seats are equipped with personal on-demand entertainment.
What Makes This Flight Special	While there are flights currently on Azores Airlines from Boston to Ponta Delgada currently, this flight on TAP sticks out for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the flight is operated by an aircraft which has a proper business class product with flatbed seats in business class, as opposed to Azores Airlines which just has recliners, and secondly you can earn or redeem miles on Star Alliance airlines such as United on this flight.

12. Chicago O’Hare to Prague on American

Airline	American Airlines
Flight Route	Chicago O’Hare to Václav Havel Airport Prague
Type of Aircraft	Boeing 787-8
Start Date	May 9, 2020
Number of Weekly Flights	5x Weekly; Summer Seasonal Service
Flight Length	Around 4,500 Miles
In-Flight Experience	American Airlines’ Boeing 787-8s feature 20 seats in business class and uses the Zodiac Concept D seat which is exclusively used on American Airlines and features reverse alternating forwards and backwards reverse herringbone seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. These seats are known to be narrow and not too private and are among the worse reverse herringbone seats. 28 premium economy seats are also available onboard the aircraft in a 2-3-2 configuration, along with 48 Main Cabin Extra seats and 143 economy seats. All seats are equipped with personal on-demand entertainment.
What Makes This Flight Special	This flight will be the first flight from the Chicago area to Prague and will be American’s second flight to Prague as it will compliment their existing year-round service from Philadelphia to Prague. As of summer 2020, there will be up to six daily flights from Prague to North American, with one on Delta to New York JFK, one on United to Newark, one on Air Canada Rouge to Toronto, one on Air Transat to Montreal, and then the two AA flights to Philadelphia and Chicago.

11. San Francisco to Warsaw on LOT

Airline	LOT Polish Airlines
Flight Route	San Francisco to Warsaw Chopin Airport
Type of Aircraft	Boeing 787-8
Start Date	August 9, 2020
Number of Weekly Flights	4x Weekly
Flight Length	Around 5,850 Miles
In-Flight Experience	The flight from Warsaw to San Francisco will be flown by one of LOT’s Boeing 787-8s, which features 18 Zodiac/Safran Aura seats in a 2-2-2 configuration. While the seats aren’t that private, they are fully flat and don’t have any restrictive footwells and should be fine for a 10 hour transatlantic flight. Additionally, 21 premium economy seats are configured in a 2-3-2 configuration along with 213 economy class seats in a 3-3-3 configuration. All seats are equipped with personal on-demand entertainment.
What Makes This Flight Special	LOT’s new service to San Francisco compliments their impressive long-haul growth over the past few years. LOT went from only flying from a handful of US destinations to flying six (and seven with SFO) destinations in North American and six long-haul destinations in Asia from Warsaw along with a handful of long-haul routes also out of Budapest, Krakow, and Rzeszów. Additionally, Warsaw will be SFO’s first destination in eastern Europe, which should make more destinations there easily accessible with one stop.

10. Boston to Vienna on Austrian Airlines

Airline	Austrian Airlines
Flight Route	Boston Logan International Airport to Vienna International Airport
Type of Aircraft	Boeing 767-300
Start Date	March 29, 2020
Number of Weekly Flights	4-6x Weekly; summer seasonal service
Flight Length	Around 4,050 Miles
In-Flight Experience	The flight from Boston to Vienna will be flown on one of Austrian’s Boeing 767-300s. The aircraft features 26 seats in business class and uses the Thompson Vantage seat, which is in a staggered 1-2-1 configuration; the configuration is nearly identical to that on American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, or Air Astana on their respective 767s. The aircraft also features 18 premium economy seats in a 2-2-2 configuration and 167 economy seats in a 2-3-2 configuration. All seats are equipped with personal on-demand entertainment.
What Makes This Flight Special	This new service will be the first nonstop flight from Boston to Vienna (I believe) ever. Besides providing a direct link between the two cities, it will be great for connections to central and eastern Europe, especially for those who don’t want to connect through a mega-hub such as Frankfurt. Unfortunately, since Austrian Airlines has a tiny long-haul fleet of only twelve aircraft, they will suspend flights for Miami in favor for starting the flight to Boston.

9. Chicago O’Hare to Tel Aviv on El Al

Airline	El Al
Flight Route	Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport
Type of Aircraft	Boeing 787-9
Start Date	March 22, 2020
Number of Weekly Flights	3x Weekly
Flight Length	Around 6,160 Miles
In-Flight Experience	The flight will be operated by one of El Al’s flagship Boeing 787-9s, which feature 32 seats in business class in a staggered 1-2-1 configuration and will use the Recaro CL6710 seat. The seat is very good as it provides a fair amount of privacy and storage, and it is also available on TAP’s A330neos and China Southern’s A350-900s. The aircraft also is equipped with 28 premium economy seats in an industry standard 2-3-2 configuration and 222 economy class seats in a 3-3-3 configuration. As always, the aircraft is equipped with personal on-demand entertainment at all seats.
What Makes This Flight Special	El Al actually operated flights from Tel Aviv to Chicago up until 2007 when they discontinued flights to Chicago, although they will resume flights in 2020. Chicago had been without nonstop service to Israel for 13 years which is somewhat surprising, given Chicago’s somewhat sizable Israeli and Jewish population. is This new route compliments their impressive growth to the US over the past couple years as they recently introduced flights to San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Orland, and are undergoing a complete fleet overhaul with the introduction of Boeing 787-9s.

8. Dallas to Auckland on American Airlines

Airline	American Airlines
Flight Route	Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Auckland Airport
Type of Aircraft	Boeing 787-9
Start Date	October 25, 2020
Number of Weekly Flights	3-7x Weekly; winter seasonal
Flight Length	Around 7,450 Miles
In-Flight Experience	The flight will be operated by one of American Airlines’ Boeing 787-9s, which arguably features their overall best business class product. The aircraft features 30 Rockwell Collins Super Diamond, which are reverse herringbone seats in a 1-2-1 configuration and 21 premium economy seats in a 2-3-2 configuration. Additionally, there are 200 economy class seats onboard.
What Makes This Flight Special	This flight will be the second flight from Dallas to Oceania, along with Qantas’ flight from Dallas to Sydney. The flight will be operated seasonally in the Northern Hemisphere’s winter and is timed for the Southern Hemisphere’s summer tourist season. The flight will be much more convenient for those in the northeast and southeast of the US to connect to New Zealand as you won’t have to go out of the way to connect through Los Angeles anymore, where American currently flies to Auckland from.

7. Austin to Amsterdam Schiphol on KLM

Airline	KLM
Flight Route	Austin–Bergstrom International Airport to Amsterdam Schiphol airport
Type of Aircraft	Airbus A330-300
Start Date	May 4, 2020
Number of Weekly Flights	3x Weekly
Flight Length	Around 6,000 Miles
In-Flight Experience	The flight will be operated by one of KLM’s Airbus A330-300s, which have 30 seats in business class. Business class is equipped with the Rockwell Collins Diamond, which is also featured on their 777s, and is in a 2-2-2 configuration and is below industry standard, as it isn’t very private and is on the tight side. The aircraft is also equipped with 40 seats in KLM’s extra legroom economy section and 222 normal economy class seats.
What Makes This Flight Special	Up until 2014, Austin didn’t have any transatlantic flights, which was when British Airways started flying to Austin. Since then, they have at times operated the route with a Boeing 747-400, Norwegian has started flying there from London Gatwick, Lufthansa this year started flying there from Frankfurt, and next year, Norwegian will also fly there from Paris CDG. This new route by KLM is a sure sign of Austin’s economic growth over the past years and will hopefully drive down prices from Austin to Europe in the route’s competition with British Airways, Lufthansa, and Norwegian.

6. Dallas to Tel Aviv on American Airlines

Airline	American Airlines
Flight Route	Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport
Type of Aircraft	Boeing 787-9
Start Date	September 10, 2020
Number of Weekly Flights	Daily
Flight Length	Around 6,960 Miles
In-Flight Experience	The flight will be operated by one of American Airlines’ Boeing 787-9s, which arguably features their overall best business class product. The aircraft features 30 Rockwell Collins Super Diamond, which are reverse herringbone seats in a 1-2-1 configuration and 21 premium economy seats in a 2-3-2 configuration. Additionally, there are 200 economy class seats onboard.
What Makes This Flight Special	American Airlines actually served Tel Aviv from Philadelphia up until 2016, when it cut the route which had previously been operated by its predecessor–US Airways. Over the past three years, American hasn’t served Tel Aviv, while United has up to 4x daily flights there and Delta has up to 2x daily flights there from New York JFK. Additionally, this will make flying Tel Aviv for American Airlines loyalists a lot easier as you won’t have to connect on another Oneworl airline such as British Airways anymore to get to Israel.

5. Newark to Palermo on United

Airline	United Airlines
Flight Route	Newark Liberty International Airport to Palermo Falcone Borsellino Airport
Type of Aircraft	Boeing 767-300
Start Date	May 20, 2020
Number of Weekly Flights	Daily; Summer Seasonal Service
Flight Length	Around 4,460 Miles
In-Flight Experience	The flight will be operated by one of United’s non-premium-heavy Boeing 767-300s which have 214 seats. While it is currently scheduled on one of United’s non-retrofitted 214 seaters without the new United Polaris seats, in reality most flights will be operated by aircraft with the new United Polaris seats since United should be wrapping up their 767-300 Polaris retrofits by mid-2020. On Polaris-configured aircraft (review here), business class is in a 1-1-1 staggered configuration which has United’s excellent Polaris/Zodiac Optima seats. Economy class is in a 2-3-2 configuration and has either 46 or 49 economy plus seats.
What Makes This Flight Special	United will be the only airline operating flights from North America to Sicily, although Meridiana (now Air Italy) operated JFK to Palermo flights up until a couple of years ago before their rebranding. The flight will be especially convenient for those in New York (or even North America) looking to vacation in Sicily as you will be able to avoid a connection at a hub in Europe such as Rome or Frankfurt.

4. Philadelphia to Casablanca on American

Airline	American Airlines
Flight Route	Philadelphia International Airport to Casablanca Mohammed V InternationalAirport
Type of Aircraft	Boeing 757-200
Start Date	June 4, 2020
Number of Weekly Flights	3x Weekly; Summer Seasonal Service
Flight Length	Around 3,680 Miles
In-Flight Experience	The flight will be on an American Airlines’ Boeing 757-200, which is probably American’s worst medium haul aircraft. Business class uses 16 Rockwell Collins Diamond seats in a 2-2 configuration, although they aren’t equipped with personal on-demand entertainment; tablets equipped with entertainment will be passed out onboard. While the seats aren’t great for long-haul flights, they should be fine for a 7-hour flight. Economy class is in a 3-3 configuration and has a Main Cabin Extra section, although there is no free in-flight entertainment (although there is WiFi for purchase) in economy class, which is really unacceptable for an American airline, so be sure to bring some sort of entertainment onboard!
What Makes This Flight Special	This flight will be the first of any US airline to serve Morocco nonstop, which is honestly pretty surprising, given that it’s a huge tourist destination. This also will be American’s first destination in Africa, meaning that they’ll join the six-continents club, which United just re-joined with their Cape Town flight, next year. Additionally, Casablanca is a hub for Royal Air Maroc, which will join OneWorld next year, meaning that American Airlines passengers will be able to connect to North and West Africa.

3. Chicago to Brisbane on Qantas

Airline	Qantas
Flight Route	Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Brisbane Airport
Type of Aircraft	Boeing 787-9
Start Date	April 15, 2020
Number of Weekly Flights	4x Weekly
Flight Length	Around 8,900 Miles
In-Flight Experience	The flight will be operated by Qantas’ Boeing 787-9s, which are in a quite premium-heavy configuration, with 42 business class seats, 28 premium economy seats, and 166 economy class seats. Business class uses the fabulous Thompson Vantage XL seats, also found on SAS’ A330s and A340s, South African’s A330-300s, or Delta’s A350s. The seats are in a staggered 1-2-1 configuration and are among the more private seats out there. Premium economy will also be in a 2-3-2 configuration (although Qantas’ 787 premium economy seat hasn’t gotten great reviews) and economy class will be in a 3-3-3 configuration.
What Makes This Flight Special	The flight will be Chicago’s second nonstop flight to Oceania (Air New Zealand currently flies there from Auckland) and will also be the world’s fourth longest flight (although it will be Qantas’ second longest flight, as they currently hold the #3 spot from Perth to London). The flight will be a significant step in the right direction for Qantas’ Project Sunrise, in which they plan to use a specialized Airbus A350-1000 to fly nonstop from Sydney and Melbourne to New York, London, Paris, and possibly other cities, starting in hopefully 2023. This will be Qantas’ seventh destination in North America, after Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu, Vancouver, Dallas, and New York JFK (via LAX)

2. Los Angeles to Christchurch on American Airlines

Airline	American Airlines
Flight Route	Los Angeles International Airport to Christchurch Airport
Type of Aircraft	Boeing 787-8
Start Date	October 27, 2020
Number of Weekly Flights	3x Weekly; Winter Seasonal Service
Flight Length	Around 6,900 Miles
In-Flight Experience	American Airlines’ Boeing 787-8s feature 20 seats in business class and uses the Zodiac Concept D seat which is exclusively used on American Airlines and features reverse alternating forwards and backwards reverse herringbone seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. These seats are known to be narrow and not too private and are among the worse reverse herringbone seats. 28 premium economy seats are also available onboard the aircraft in a 2-3-2 configuration, along with 48 Main Cabin Extra seats and 143 economy seats. All seats are equipped with personal on-demand entertainment.
What Makes This Flight Special	The route will be the first nonstop flight ever from Christchurch (or for that matter the South Island in New Zealand) to North America, which should make getting to the South Island (which as you probably know is huge in terms of tourism) much easier. I don’t think anyone saw this route coming, but good for American for experimenting with new long-haul routes, which they previously have been a bit conservative in doing, especially when it comes to Asia and Oceania. Next year in the winter, American will have three nonstop flights from the US to New Zealand, as this route will compliment their flights from Los Angeles and Dallas to Auckland.

1. Newark to Auckland on Air New Zealand

Airline	Air New Zealand
Flight Route	Newark Liberty International Airport to Auckland Airport
Type of Aircraft	Boeing 787-9
Start Date	October 29, 2020
Number of Weekly Flights	3x Weekly
Flight Length	Around 8,800 Miles
In-Flight Experience	The flight will be operated by one of Air New Zealand’s Boeing 787-9s, which are equipped with 27 herringbone seats in a 1-1-1 configuration. Air New Zealand uses the same business class seats as Virgin Atlantic, which do go fully flat, although don’t have that much privacy or storage and have to be flipped over to turn into a flat bed. While they aren’t the best business class product on the market by any standards, they are still okay. The aircraft also is equipped with 33 premium economy seats in a 2-3-2 configuration and 221 economy class seats in a 3-3-3 configuration.
What Makes This Flight Special	This will be the first nonstop flight from New York (also from the East Coast of the US) to Oceania, which is by any measures, a big deal. While Qantas has been hyping their nonstop flights from New York and London to Australia for years now, and won’t begin flights for at least another two years, Air New Zealand out of the blue announce nonstop flights to Newark (to be able to connect with United, and because it’s slightly shorter than flying to JFK), which highly impressed me. The flight will be the world’s fifth longest flight and will be Air New Zealand’s longest flight, and will become Air New Zealand’s seventh North American destination, after Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Honolulu, Chicago, and Vancouver. The flight should be very convenient for those traveling from New York and New England to New Zealand (I could even see some people connecting from London to Auckland via Newark, especially since Air New Zealand will cancel their one-stop London flight next year) and should also be convenient for those connecting on to Australia.

Conclusion

Next year has a lot of very exciting new routes in store for us, from more new nonstop flights across the Atlantic to at least three new ultra-long-haul flights to Australia and Oceania. Overall the trend we’re seeing is that airlines are launching more and more ultra-long-haul flights, some of which border the 18 hour mark, as airplane range keeps improving. We will probably keep seeing more of the same over the next few years, especially when Qantas launches their Project Sunrise flights (which I briefly talked about in this article) in (hopefully) 2023.

What is your favorite new route which will launch in 2020?