Summer 2027 is shaping up to be a bumper season for transatlantic flying. Based on Cirium Diio schedule data, ten airlines are adding 29 new or returning routes between the US and Europe — and several of them connect city pairs that have never had nonstop service before.

United and Delta lead the charge with 14 routes between them. United is going after smaller and second-tier cities in a big way: from its Newark hub, it will fly to Luxembourg (from April 2), Olbia in Sardinia, Catania in Sicily, Ibiza, Valencia, Marseille and even Terceira in the Azores on a 737 MAX 8. There's also Toulouse from Washington Dulles, Milan Malpensa from Dulles, and Denver to Paris from May 27. Delta counters with Austin to Paris, Boston to Venice, Detroit to Athens and service to Ljubljana from Newark and Washington.

The trend is easy to spot — Sicily, Sardinia and Spain's Mediterranean coast are suddenly on the nonstop map. Catania had zero US flights until 2025 and will have two carriers by next summer; Olbia's first-ever transatlantic link (Delta from JFK) lasted barely a year before United joined in.

American Airlines is adding eight routes, mostly on its narrowbody A321XLR: Philadelphia to Porto and Vienna (the latter the longest A321XLR route flown from the US so far), New York JFK to Nice and Amsterdam, Charlotte to Barcelona on a 777, and Philadelphia to Keflavík. Alaska Airlines joins the party from Seattle, with Athens (its longest-ever route at 5,384 nautical miles) and Paris CDG on 787-9s — Athens being Seattle's biggest unserved European market.

On the European side, seven routes are planned. TAP Air Portugal starts Lisbon to Orlando in late October 2026, Air France adds Paris CDG to Nashville and San Diego — San Diego has only ever seen charter-style conference flights before — and La Compagnie brings all-business-class A321LR service to Düsseldorf, the city's first regular US flights in seven years. Condor begins Frankfurt-area service and Icelandair adds a 737 MAX 8 route in May. British Airways shifts its Tampa flying from Gatwick to Heathrow, technically a new airport pair though Virgin Atlantic already flies it. On the flip side, 13 existing routes disappear from the July schedule, including Aer Lingus to Denver and Minneapolis, Air France to Denver, Level to Boston and LA, and BA's Heathrow-Orlando service.

Why it matters: for anyone in the US heartland, this wave means far less connecting. Detroit, Austin, Charlotte and St. Louis travellers get one-stop-free access to Europe, while leisure-heavy spots like Ibiza, Olbia and Catania become bookable as simple nonstops. Expect introductory fares when these routes launch between March and June 2027 — the first months of a new route are often the cheapest they'll ever be.

Detail via Simple Flying.