The world’s oldest inhabited city, a Black Sea resort known for magnificent stained glass and a ‘sublime’ West African island are just some of the destinations getting new direct flights from the UK this year.
Airlines across the world have been revealing their 2026 programmes in recent weeks, and we’ve had a look at what’s coming to the UK to bring you the most exciting routes taking to the skies in the next few months.
From quick city breaks to long-haul adventures across Asia, 2026 has a wealth of juicy new launches and fares that are worth snapping up fast.
Wizz Air
We pride ourselves on impartiality, but one new flight route has the Metro Travel team particularly excited.
Wizz Air is launching six new routes from London Luton Airport in 2026, including a UK first to the ancient city of Yerevan.
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From summer next year, a new flight will connect London to the capital of Armenia.
It will be the only direct route from the UK, and we’ll be sure that we’re on the inaugural jaunt.
Also coming to Luton with Wizz are:
- Alicante, Madrid, Seville and Valencia, Spain
- Faro, Portugal
- Turin, Italy
- Bordeaux and Lyon, France
- Chania, Corfu, Mykonos and Rhodes, Greece
- Dortmund, Germany
Virgin Atlantic
This is another flight we’d love to be on. From March 29, Virgin Atlantic will fly daily from London Heathrow to Seoul, the fascinating capital of South Korea.
It’s a new addition for Richard Branson’s airline, and yet another example of improved connections between the UK and east Asia.
Jet2
Jet2 had a great 2025. Not only was it the viral TikTok moment of the summer season, it was also named the best short-haul airline in the world and the UK’s most reliable.
On top of that, the carrier recently announced plans to launch flights from London Gatwick for the first time in 2026.
None of them are new for the airport, but there will be much more choice for holidaymakers going to places like Faro and Mallorca, which will both gain 10 new flights a week. One-way fares start from £26.
According to Jet2 CEO Steve Heapy, it’s been a long-held ambition for the airline to join its competitors in the Sussex hub.
Gatwick is the UK’s (and London’s) second-largest airport, and already home to several low-cost operators including Wizz Air, Ryanair, and easyJet.
Here are all the destinations Jet2 will offer once it starts flying from Gatwick:
- Fuerteventura
- Gran Canaria
- Lanzarote
- Tenerife
- Ibiza
- Majorca
- Menorca
- Alicante
- Girona
- Malaga
- Reus
- Faro
- Antalya
- Corfu
- Crete (Heraklion)
- Kalamata
- Kefalonia
- Kos
- Halkidiki
- Preveza
- Rhodes
- Skiathos
- Zante
- Malta
- Naples
- Verona
- Paphos
- Pula
- Bourgas.
EasyJet
EasyJet, which celebrated its 30th birthday in November, has announced several new routes from the UK that will begin in 2026, with a focus on expanding outside London.
One of the most exciting is a new direct flight from Bristol to the Cape Verde island of Sal, which launches on May 1.
It is part of a wider expansion that will see the low-cost carrier roll out 16 new routes from eight UK airports next summer, including Bari in Italy, Seville in Spain, and Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt.
As part of the plan, Scotland will also get its first direct route to Slovenia, with the launch of easyJet’s new Edinburgh–Ljubljana route (which takes off in April, from £41 one-way).
Here’s the full rundown:
- From Bristol: Bari, Seville, Cape Verde (Sal)
- From Birmingham: Inverness and Nice
- From Edinburgh: Ljubljana
- From Glasgow: Malta, Pisa, Lisbon, Sharm El Sheikh
- From Liverpool: Paphos (Greece) and Lisbon
- From London Southend: Jersey and Munich
- From London Stansted: Paris (Charles de Gaulle)
- From Newcastle: Dalaman, Turkey
- From Manchester: Montpellier and Preveza (gateway to Lefkada in Greece)
British Airways
British Airways is launching two new direct routes that we’ve got our eye on, and both are from London Heathrow.
The first is a seasonal route to the up-and-coming summer destination of Tivat in Montenegro.
The second is a year-round route to Guernsey in the Channel Islands, an underrated spot that we wrote a lot about in 2025.
Elsewhere, BA is also improving the connection between London Gatwick and Bangkok. Flights will now be year-round instead of seasonal.
Ryanair
Ryanair made sweeping (and in many eyes, savage) cuts to its European flight schedule in 2025.
The first wave of significant cuts took place early in the year when the Irish low-cost airline axed millions of seats to destinations across Spain.
In October, 24 German routes joined them on the chopping block, along with routes to several locations across France and Italy.
One airport that hasn’t lost out, though, is one of the busiest in Scotland.
Ryanair is adding 600,000 more seats from Glasgow Airport in 2026.
This will be split across increasing the frequency of some routes, and introducing flights to the Polish capital Warsaw on March 29.
