As the peak northern summer travel season gets underway, airlines are continuing to target pent-up leisure demand and capitalize on traveler desire to reconnect with friends and family.

Many of the new routes beginning this month focus on short-haul beach and outdoor destinations, as well as locations that are free from quarantine measures and other COVID-19-related restrictions.

In Europe, tourism-dependent countries like Greece and Spain have eased entry requirements to lure back international visitors, and carriers have responded by adding service and new routes. Capacity to Greece is scheduled to rise by 83.3% in July compared to June, while capacity to Spain is set to increase by 64.3% over the same time period.

However, the rapid spread of the Delta coronavirus variant is casting a cloud over the season, with Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel leading calls for tighter controls on travel across Europe.

Elsewhere, the US continues to see an influx of new domestic leisure-focused routes, while new services in China remain solely concentrated on domestic markets.

Analysis of data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser reveals that carriers around the world are collectively planning to launch more than 1,000 new routes in July, with an average distance of 1,743 km.

Routes has selected 100 services starting this month, paying closer attention to new international routes joining airline networks.

Given the lower number of new long-haul routes, among the more eye-catching services are Air France’s fights between Paris Charles De Gaulle (CDG) and Denver International (DEN) and Emirates’ operations between Dubai (DXB) and Miami (MIA).

All the data is supplied by OAG and is correct as of July 1, 2021.

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