Three of the world’s most popular holiday islands are lining up to join the network served by oneworld?, with Iberia Regional Air Nostrum launching flights to Corfu and Funchal in Europe and British Airways opening service to the Maldives, in the Indian Ocean. The launches of these three new routes was announced as the alliance’s airlines added Benghazi and Bergen to the oneworld map.
Iberia Regional will fly to Corfu (which has the three-letter IATA code CFU) from both Madrid and Barcelona from 26 July throughout the peak summer season, to 6 September. From Madrid it will fly twice-weekly with a single weekly rotation from Barcelona.
It will serve Funchal (FNC) from both Bilbao and Valencia, with two round trips a week from both mainland gateways during the peak summer season, from 24 July to 6 September.
It is also opening routes from Valencia to both Dubrovnik and Marrakesh, and resuming services to Venice, all during the 24 July-6 September period. It will serve Marrakesh also from Bilbao and Malta from Madrid with three flights a week also during the summer peak. Dubrovnik, Malta and Marrakesh are already on the oneworld network.
British Airways will add the Maldives to the oneworld map from 25 October, with flights to its capital Male (which has the three-letter IATA airport code MLE) from London Gatwick with an initial three round trips a week.
BA will at the same time to resume services to Sharm El Sheikh, but the Egyptian Red Sea resort has remained on the oneworld map through services by Royal Jordanian.
It will serve both destinations with three-class Boeing 777s.
Benghazi (BEN) has joined the oneworld network on 1 June as the alliance’s second destination in Libya, with Royal Jordanian now serving the Mediterranean port with an initial two flights a week from its Amman hub. RJ and British Airways both serve Libya’s capital Tripoli.
Earlier, Finnair brought Bergen on-line as the alliance’s third destination in Norway, with flights to the West Coast city from its Helsinki hub with five non-stops a week on a seasonal basis, until late September.
American now links its DFW hub with Iberia’s Madrid home: American Airlines has launched its new route between its Dallas/Fort Worth base and the Madrid hub of oneworld partner Iberia. It is now linking the two gateways with two-class Boeing 767-300s non-stops daily – with the airline making clear that this will be the first of many new routes it will launch between the USA and Europe should its application for anti-trust immunity with Iberia and their fellow oneworld transatlantic partners be approved.
American Airlines has also added a third daily non-stop between Boston and London Heathrow and resumed its seasonal daily non-stops between the New England gateway and Paris CDG.