The Airline News You May Have Missed in November 2024

November has been a month of big news in air travel, with some good (American Airlines expanded its use of software that calls out people who skip boarding queues) and some not-so-good (Delta Air Lines will start unbundling fares) occurrences.

But a lot more than that has happened in the past month.

Here’s a roundup of everything you need to know from November, beyond the stories we covered individually.

Southwest Adds More Flights Nationwide

Southwest is adding more flights next summer, focusing on Baltimore-Washington International (BWI). This is good news for flyers on the East Coast since Southwest offers many connections to Eastern cities from Baltimore.

5 new daily flights from Baltimore start on June 5, 2025:

• Long Beach (LGB) 
• Ontario (ONT) 
• Portland, Oregon (PDX) 
• San Francisco (SFO) 
• San Jose, California (SJC)

Southwest is also adding 2 routes from Nashville (BNA):

• Portland (PDX), 1 weekly, starts on June 7
• San Francisco (SFO), daily, starts on June 5

Finally, 5 new routes from other airports are also starting next summer:

• Charleston, South Carolina (CHS) to Kansas City (MCI), weekly, starting on June 7
• Colorado Springs (COS) to Cancun, Mexico (CUN), weekly, starting on June 7
• Houston-Hobby (HOU) to Seattle-Tacoma (SEA), daily, starting on June 5
• Jacksonville (JAX) to Kansas City (MCI), weekly, starting on June 7
• Spokane (GEG) to Chicago-Midway (MDW), 5x weekly, starting on June 5

American Airlines Adds, Cuts Domestic Flights

American Airlines is adding flights from various markets:

• Los Angeles (LAX) to Columbus, Ohio (CMH) daily from March 6, 2025. That’s one of the routes Spirit is going to cut in 2025, giving American a monopoly between the 2 cities.
• Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) to Bismarck, South Dakota (BIS), daily from June
• Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) to Boise, Idaho (BOI), daily from June
• Phoenix (PHX) to Appleton, Wisconsin (ATW), weekly from May

But it’s also making some cuts:

• Charlotte (CLT) to Tulum, Mexico (TQO) ends after February
• Washington-National (DCA) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) ends after May
• Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) to Key West (EYW) ends after June
• Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) to Palm Springs (PSP) ends after June 4
• Miami (MIA) to White Plains (HPN) ends after May
• Phoenix (PHX) to Idaho Falls (IDA) ends after May

Frontier Adds a Cheap Way To Get From NYC to ATL

Ultra-low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines launched flights between Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) on November 4. Frontier already flew from New York-LaGuardia (LGA) to Atlanta.

A check of prices for a Saturday in December on the nonstop Newark to Atlanta route revealed that Frontier is currently cheaper than the competition. When including 1 checked luggage and 1 carry-on in the fare, Frontier came out to $114 versus $144 for Delta, $145 for Spirit, and $154 for United.

Passengers have ample choice from Atlanta to all 3 main airports serving New York City. They can fly Delta, United, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit, and Frontier.

United Starts New Domestic Flights, Ends Some

Like American, United Airlines is shuffling its network, particularly in some smaller markets.

New flights include:

• Idaho Falls (IDA) to Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP), 2x daily starting in May 2025
• Houston (IAH) to Vail (EGE), starting in May
• Houston (IAH) to Eugene (EUG), starting in June

Some routes are also ending with the summer schedule that takes effect in April 2025:

• Newark (EWR) to Albany (ALB)
• Denver (DEN) to Shenandoah, Virginia (SHD)
• Erie, Pennsylvania (ERI) to Newark (EWR) and Washington-Dulles (IAD)

Hot Tip:

United also announced a massive route expansion for 2025, starting flights to places like Greenland and Mongolia while increasing the amount of flights to popular destinations it already serves.

Condor May Turn Up More on Your Radar

Condor is a German airline with several destinations in the U.S., and it can be attractive for people based in North America since you can earn and redeem Alaska Mileage Plus miles on Condor flights. Condor also has a good business-class seat on modern Airbus A330-900s, easily recognizable by their unique striped livery.

The airline is now looking to function more like a network carrier, expanding to European cities beyond the vacation destinations it has served historically. Next summer, Condor will add several European cities from its home base in Frankfurt (FRA), with flights to Berlin (BER), Hamburg (HAM), Milan-Malpensa (MXP), Munich (MUC), Prague (PRG), Rome (FCO), and Zurich (ZRH).

More Flights to Nigeria This Winter

Nigeria has 230 million people and only 2 direct flights to the U.S., which leaves a huge, unmet demand. That’s changing with an extra flight for the winter holidays.

Delta Air Lines is adding a nonstop service to Lagos (LOS) from New York-JFK, complementing its Lagos to Atlanta (ATL) flight. The flight runs from December 2, 2024, until March 28, 2025, on Airbus A330-200 aircraft. United also flies from Lagos to Washington-Dulles (IAD).

More JetBlue to the Caribbean

On November 5, JetBlue became the only airline flying from New York-JFK to Bonaire in the Dutch Caribbean.

The twice-weekly flight is part of an expansion to the Caribbean that also led JetBlue to open a new flight from its JFK home base to St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVD) on October 9. That service, also twice weekly, competes with Caribbean Airlines.

On the New York to Bonaire route, JetBlue is currently offering introductory fares as low as $128 in December.

Turkish Airlines Goes Big on the U.S.

Turkish Airlines, a Star Alliance member and United Airlines partner, is expanding in the U.S. with new flights planned for summer 2025. Simple Flying reported that Turkish is planning an average of 24 daily flights from its Istanbul (IST) hub to the U.S. — 6% more than this year.

In particular, Denver (DEN) to Istanbul flights will become daily, and flights from Los Angeles (LAX) and Chicago O’Hare (ORD) go up to 17 per week.

This matters because Turkish — which serves more nations than any other airline — offers exceptionally far-ranging connections via Istanbul.

Note that Turkish Airlines business class, while acclaimed for catering and service, has a dated seat configuration on some long-haul aircraft. Its Airbus A330s and Boeing 777-300s have a 2-3-2 layout with middle seats, while business class on its Airbus A350-900s and Boeing 787-9s is a modern 1-2-1. Both layouts are found on flights to the U.S.

British Airways Leaves Dallas, American Takes Over

If you were looking to fly the giant Airbus A380 next summer from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to London-Heathrow (LHR), you’re out of luck. British Airways, which often flew the biggest passenger jet in the world between the 2 cities, is pulling out of the route on March 30, 2025.

American Airlines, its partner in the Oneworld alliance, is taking over the flight. Dallas-Fort Worth to Heathrow connects the biggest American Airlines hub to the biggest airport in Europe. There are 5 flights a day between them.

British Airways also canceled 1 of 2 daily flights between Miami (MIA) and Heathrow, with American taking over that as well. The reason behind the cancellations is that the airline is having trouble getting engines and spare parts from Rolls Royce for its Boeing 787s, forcing it to make adjustments.

News From Smaller Carriers

• Air India now offers Wi-Fi. You can now find connectivity on Air India Airbus A350s and A321neos, plus the Boeing 787-9s it inherited from Vistara after the 2 airlines officially merged this month. Even better, the inflight Wi-Fi is so far reportedly free.
• Brazil-based low-cost carrier GOL is about to get out of bankruptcy. This matters to U.S. flyers because GOL connects Miami (MIA) and Orlando (MCO) with Brasilia (BSB) and Fortaleza (FOR) — and because the airline has a loyalty partnership with American Airlines. GOL has reportedly reached an agreement with its parent company Abra Group, which also owns Avianca, to emerge from bankruptcy in April 2025.
• Virgin Australia and Etihad end mutual benefits. As reported in our October airline news roundup, Virgin Australia and Etihad are breaking up. Qatar Airways, Etihad’s Middle East rival, is buying 25% of Virgin Australia. So Etihad has now announced that codesharing and reciprocal frequent flyer benefits will end on June 1, 2025. We can now expect a similar agreement in the future between Virgin Australia and Qatar, which is a member of the Oneworld alliance, like American Airlines.
• ANA will fly from JFK’s Terminal 6. All Nippon Airways (ANA) says it will join its Star Alliance partners Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Swiss at the new Terminal 6 at New York’s JFK airport. T6 is scheduled to open in 2026 at a cost of $19 billion; construction is expected to end in 2028. Let’s hope the lounges at the new terminal will match the exceptional product aboard ANA’s Boeing 777s serving Tokyo-Haneda (HND) from JFK. The planes have a first and business class among the best in the world.
• WestJet grows in the U.S. Delta’s Canadian partner WestJet is betting on passenger growth from Vancouver (YVR) by adding flights to its 15th U.S. airport from the Pacific city. The latest addition is Austin (AUS), which WestJet will serve from Vancouver 3 times a week starting on May 11, 2025.

Final Thoughts

In November, we’ve heard of several developments that will give us more choice in 2025.

Condor and Turkish Airlines will be even more on the radar for savvy U.S.-based flyers. Delta will help address the dearth of direct flights between the U.S. and the most populous nation in Africa.

And low-cost airlines may be in financial trouble, but Frontier is adding more flights to the busy Atlanta-New York route while keeping prices much lower than its competitors.