They don’t have to be weird, they can also be unique.
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I guess, I’m just saying that this seems pretty pointless to me, since airline routes are very well thought out…
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I don’t think anyone is saying these routes aren’t “well thought out.” They’re just sharing what they think is unique 🤷🏻♂️
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American Airlines:
Charlotte-Barbados (KCLT-TBPB)
Barbados-Charlotte (TBPB-KCLT)
Never really understood why this was a flight because normally flights to and from the West Indies are from major (caribbean inhabited) cities like New York, Miami & Toronto. However, Charlotte seems way out this range, unless people use this flight as a connection to get somewhere else.
A majority of the global airlines follow the hub and spoke system. They establish hubs in cities and launch numerous destinations in order to connect passengers to where they need to go. There are obviously routes that don’t follow this model, which is why they’re considered “unique”. Obviously these unique routes are thought out and intended to capture the O&D market as a P2P route.
I was asking about routes that seem “out of place” and do not follow this hub and spoke model. Many fifth-freedom flights listed above fall under this category.
I’d say CLT is a strong secondary gateway into the Caribbean for American. Not only for connections, but also for leisurely activity. American can connect passengers from across the country to Charlotte (or Miami), and then bring them to Barbados.
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United has a hub in San Francisco so it makes sense
And what makes the Azores flight to Oakland weird
Anyways, mine is San Jose (SJC/KSJC) to Las Vegas (LAS/KLAS) on Delta
But soon, it will be SJC-SFO and SJC-OAK on Voom XD
Another Unique route is when KLM operates Lax to Vegas and back during CES in the beginning of each year.
Oh wow! Thank you for informing me on this, I never knew that! :)
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United’s SFO-CTU is a remnant of United’s expansion into secondary Asia, while XIY/HGH failed. United’s the only U.S. carrier that tried these routes.
And… Terceira to Oakland?
These are all the destinations from Terceira. I believe Azores Airlines leased a Hi-Fly A340 for the route. Of all places, they target Oakland.
Well, San Francisco is a big airport for travels from Asia, so it makes sense United, who has a hub at SFO, would want to fly to those areas, even if they are not as big.
And Azores targeted Oakland because it has lower gate prices compared to San Francisco
Oakland is literally an airport for low cost airlines, hence the Spirit and Allegiant presence
Of course there’s demand from SFO to Asia. Every “unique” route has its logical background.
It’s not just the fact Azores Airlines avoided SFO for OAK, but that they targeted the region in general before other places. You’d usually expect a TATL flight to the New York region before the west coast.
This might be one of the only TATL routes unserved by the New York region that the west coast has.
However, what drives the demand? Tourism? Ethnic backgrounds? A route like this is rather random and unexpected.
Most likely cultural diversity in the Bay Area. People in the Bay Area come from all different cultures
And people in the Bay Area like to travel. Airlines love the Bay Area, but most of them go to SFO. But there are few that go to SJC like BA and ANA. And Azores would not want to go to SFO since they are a low cost, so they choose an airport known for low cost but also in the Bay Area: OAK.
Although, low-cost foreign airlines are gradually shifting their flights from OAK to SFO.
Norwegian will be ending its OAK-BCN/CDG flights and will shift them to SFO. LEVEL also moved its BCN flight from OAK to SFO.
I’m not even sure if this TER-OAK flight flew this past season.
But that doesn’t mean Azores will. If they see SFO as a better alternative and can afford to pay for the slots and gate space at SFO, by all means, go to SFO!
But I’m just saying as to why they targeted OAK. And yes, I did see OAK-TER a couple times a week in the summer (more notably around June or July)
Ethiopian:
BKK-HKG
HKG-MNL
Air India:
HKG-ICN/KIX (terminated last month)
China Airlines:
HKG-CGK
Cathay Pacific:
YVR-JFK
TPE-KIX
TPE-NGO
TPE-NRT
Singapore Airlines:
HKG-SFO
EgyptAir:
BKK-HKG
Royal Jordanian:
BKK-HKG
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I would not call it weird, as the flight originates in HKG. Basically, it’s HKG-JFK via YVR. However, I would call it UniQUe.
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