This week’s long-haul flight schedule changes from Europe: What you need to know
November 5, 2025
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) winter season began at the end of October this year. Europe’s airline network planners are now filing their schedule changes to systems and preparing for the much-busier summer season. This is the case for the Lufthansa Group, which unveiled its schedule to the public last week.
There are also relevant changes from Asiana Airlines. The company announced it would be expanding in Europe with the addition of two new Airbus A350-operated routes to Budapest and Milan as of next year.
Last week’s schedule update can be found here.
This week’s changes
Using data from aviation analytics firm Cirium, the below is a non-exhaustive list of developments this week. “From April” also sometimes refers to the end of March, known as the start of the aviation summer season.
The sample was selected based on relevance and market trends, and does not include smaller changes such as minor aircraft changes with a limited impact on capacity. As always, schedules are subject to change.
North Atlantic
- United Airlines removes planned second daily flight between Brussels and Newark with a 757-200 for summer 2026. Instead, a single daily 787-10 will operate.
- American Airlines resumes Edinburgh to New York-JFK with its Airbus A321XLR as the type’s inaugural route. Flights will operate daily from March.
- Delta Air Lines reduces Barcelona to Atlanta flights from 10 weekly to daily from April 2026.
- Air France will launch Paris Charles de Gaulle to Las Vegas, thrice weekly.
- TUI begins Birmingham to Punta Cana winter service for the first time since 2020 (since just summer seasonal). Operates once weekly with a 787 as of this month.
- Air Caraïbes schedules one weekly flights to Samara in Summer 2026. This new destination will be launched this winter.
- Lufthansa increases Munich to Seattle to six weekly from initially planned three as of June 2026.
- Lufthansa increases Frankfurt to Raleigh-Durham from five to six weekly in April and May, and to daily as of June.
- Lufthansa increases Frankfurt to Washington Dulles and Los Angeles from 12 to 14 weekly from June.
- Air Transat increases Berlin and Istanbul to Toronto to three weekly from June, up from two weekly.
South Atlantic
- Lufthansa begins flying Munich to Sao Paulo for the summer season, three times per week with an Airbus A350.
- Lufthansa increases Frankfurt to Rio de Janeiro flights from three to six weekly as of April 2026.
Africa
- Lufthansa begins flying Munich to Johannesburg for the summer season, three times per week with an Airbus A350.
- Brussels Airlines begins Kilimanjaro flights as of June 2026 with an Airbus A330, routing triangularly via Nairobi on the return leg.
- Lufthansa increases Frankfurt to Cape Town from three to five weekly from April 2026.
- Lufthansa increases Nairobi from five weekly to daily from July.
- Kenya Airways revises last week’s filing and reduces Nairobi to Paris and Amsterdam back down to daily from April, instead of initially planned nine each. Paris will fly five weekly until then.
Asia
- China Eastern resumes Copenhagen to Shanghai earlier, launching thrice weekly from April instead of July.
- Asiana Airlines begins twice weekly Budapest to Seoul Incheon and thrice weekly Milan Malpensa to Seoul Incheon from April.
- Austrian Airlines increases Vienna to Tokyo Narita from five weekly to daily from June.
- KLM increases Amsterdam to Hyderabad from three to four weekly from January until March.
- Air France increases Paris to Hyderabad flights from 14 to 17 weekly in May, July and August. In June, flights are increased to 15 weekly.
- China Eastern increases Venice to Shanghai from three to four weekly from April.
- Smartwings increases its charter flights between Prague and Salalah on a Boeing 737 MAX 8 from three to four weekly from now until March.
- Lufthansa increases Frankfurt to Chennai from five to six weekly from June.
- Austrian Airlines increases Vienna to Shanghai from five to six weekly from June.
US-Europe gains two more routes despite uncertainty
Expansion continues between the United States and Europe. The Airbus A321XLR has played a considerable role in driving this growth over the last few years, especially for smaller US airports, as an Aerospace Global News analysis found last month.
For American Airlines, the type is seemingly the ideal tool for services between New York’s JFK Airport and smaller European airports. It announced its inaugural route for the A321XLR last week, connecting JFK with Edinburgh, Scotland.
In other news, Air France also unveiled a brand-new route. Flights between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Las Vegas will operate three times per week with an Airbus A350-900, beginning April 2026.
Asiana Airlines announces two new European routes
South Korea’s Asiana Airlines unveiled expansion to two new routes in Europe last week. It plans to fly to Milan and Budapest from the end of March 2026, flying on its Airbus A350. The aircraft are configured with 283 seats in economy class and 28 in business, for a total of 311.
Although it is allowed to, Asiana is among the Asian airlines that do not fly over Russia.
An airline spokesperson said that the new routes provide “new and diverse European travel options” and contribute to the “promotion of economic and cultural exchanges with major European cities.”
Separate to its expansion to new destinations, Asiana will also increase flights to Barcelona next year from five weekly to daily.
Air Caraïbes’ new Samaná flights
In September, French airline Air Caraïbes announced it would be adding a third destination in the Dominican Republic to its network. A month later, it revealed that it would be extending the flights into Summer 2026. This has now been reflected in its schedule filings.
Flights to Samaná will launch in mid-December 2025 from Paris Orly. This is Samaná’s only connection to Europe for now. In the past, European leisure operators have flown to places like London Gatwick, Frankfurt and Madrid. Now-defunct XL Airways France flew from Paris until 2018.
The company’s new route from Paris Orly will fly twice weekly this winter in a multi-stop operation. An Airbus A350 will be deployed from Paris to Samaná, onwards to Santo Domingo and then back to the French capital. Services will reduce to once weekly in summer it seems, using an A330.
Featured image: Markus Mainka | Adobe Stock
