The 9 favorite airline routes of 2023, as nominated by TPG’s aviation team

24.12.2023 - 19:13 / thepointsguy.com / David Slotnick

As we close out the year, the TPG team is looking back at all the big travel announcements from 2023.

This includes going through the near-constant stream of route-map updates unveiled by airlines around the world.

We've already rounded up the top 10 best new airline routes of the year, and now the TPG aviation team — comprised of senior aviation editor Ben Mutzabaugh, senior aviation business reporter David Slotnick and senior reporter Zach Griff — has compiled its personal favorite new flights.

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Here they are.

Ok, I'll admit up front: This is a nostalgia play. I've long had a soft spot for Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT).

The airport was the main hub I flew through in my late teens and early twenties back when it was still a hub (and a cutting-edge one, at that). I have memories of bouncy Dash 8 turboprop flights ferrying me from the small airport in State College, Pennsylvania, to PIT — where connections to the world awaited. It was a great place to connect.

Its "AirMall" concept, introduced in 1992 as PIT opened a sparkling new terminal, pioneered the retail and food experience now commonplace in U.S. airports. After arriving at PIT, I connected to nonstops all across the country. My first overseas flight was from Pittsburgh — USAir's nonstop to Frankfurt.

But the 2000s were not kind to PIT. USAir, which had rebranded as US Airways by then, struggled through multiple bankruptcies and eventually dropped PIT as a hub. The airport's lineup of European nonstops — once a source of pride for a city the size of Pittsburgh — dried up. The airport's domestic flight schedule also shrank dramatically as US Airways struggled to stay afloat and made cut after cut in Pittsburgh.

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In recent years, however, PIT has had a resurgence, focusing on local demand and rebuilding its domestic schedules across a number of airlines. With renewed stability and growth, the airport prioritized the return of overseas flights. There have been some wins, such as British Airways returning in 2019 with nonstops to London. Others have come and gone.

This brings us to Icelandair's new nonstops from PIT to its hub in Reykjavik. For me, the story behind the route can be just as exciting as the route itself. So, while Icelandair's arrival to PIT may not seem high profile, it keeps Pittsburgh connected with a second transatlantic route and lets me keep my memories of the airport's glory days alive.

— Ben

I grew up just beneath the flight path for arrivals into Florida's Boca Raton Airport (BCT). While the airport has exclusively been used for general aviation, I was shocked when I saw