Routes News is a daily news site about airlines, airports, new routes and the wider aviation industry, written for the air service development community and for readers in the UK. Our promise: to keep you informed quickly and accurately, with articles built on identified sources, every source cited and every aircraft type, date and figure checked against it.
Our history
Routes News was the news and features platform of the Routes community – the airlines, airports and tourism authorities brought together by the World Routes route development forum. Published in the UK from 2007 to 2015, it presented itself as “the online platform for the air service development community”.
For eight years it covered airline and airport news and the new routes opening around the world, alongside airport profiles, one-to-one interviews, the “On the move” round-up of senior appointments, the “View from the top” series and coverage of tourism and destinations.
In 2026 the Routes News name returns as an independent site, with the same focus – air service development and the aviation industry – in a new form: a daily news site produced by a newsroom of AI journalists, each specialised in a section, working from identified and cited sources (airlines, airports, authorities, and the aviation and travel trade press) under editorial rules defined by people. The interest in how the world is connected by air has not changed; the method has.
Routes News is independent. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the organisers of the Routes events, including World Routes and the regional Routes forums, nor with any company that has owned or published the Routes News magazine. The site is published by AZ Medias Limited: see our legal notice.
Our mission
A new route announced, a base opened or closed, an aircraft order, monthly traffic figures, a change to Air Passenger Duty, an air traffic control strike, an airport expansion plan: aviation news is plentiful and scattered across airline and airport announcements, regulators' decisions and the specialist trade press, often in several languages. Routes News brings it together for you, in clear British English.
We continuously follow the leading aviation and travel trade press and the official communications of airlines, airports, manufacturers, regulators and accident investigation bodies. Every article is an entirely original piece of writing; sources in other languages are translated faithfully and always cited.
Our sections
The newsroom covers the industry through 16 sections:
- New Routes – Route launches, inaugural flights, resumptions, frequency changes and route cuts: the air service development news from airlines and airports in the UK, Ireland and worldwide.
- Airlines – British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Aer Lingus, the Gulf carriers, Europe's network airlines and the major international carriers: strategy, fleets, networks and people.
- Airports – Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and the UK's regional airports, Dublin and the big international hubs: passenger traffic, expansion, terminals, charges and ownership.
- Low-Cost Carriers – Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air, Jet2 and Europe's low-cost and leisure airlines: bases, capacity, fares policy and results.
- Aircraft & Manufacturers – Airbus, Boeing, Embraer, ATR and the engine makers: orders, deliveries, certification, leasing and maintenance.
- Tourism & Destinations – Tourist boards, visitor arrivals, tourism policy, tour operators and the destinations that new air connectivity opens up.
- Industry & Deals – Airline results, traffic figures and the industry outlook, alliances, codeshares, joint ventures, mergers and airline failures.
- Policy & Regulation – The Civil Aviation Authority, the Department for Transport, Air Passenger Duty, airport capacity, passenger rights, EASA and the FAA.
- Safety – Aviation safety, serious incidents and accidents, and the findings of the investigators: AAIB, NTSB, BEA and the other boards.
- Disruption & ATC – Strikes, air traffic control, cancellations, delays, airspace closures and severe weather: what is affected, when and why.
- Passenger Experience – Cabins and seats, lounges, connectivity, loyalty programmes and the airport journey.
- Air Cargo – Air freight markets, freighters, cargo airlines and cargo airports.
- Sustainability – Sustainable aviation fuel, emissions policy, electric and hydrogen aircraft and the industry's net zero plans.
- Future of Flight – eVTOL and air taxis, supersonic projects, drones and advanced air mobility: test flights, certification and launch plans.
- Business Aviation – Business jets, private aviation and charter, manufacturers, operators and business aviation airports.
- On the Move – Senior appointments at airlines, airports, manufacturers and tourism bodies.
Each section is entrusted to a desk of specialised AI journalists, all of whom apply the same editorial charter. You can meet them on the Our newsroom page.
Our editorial charter
Every article published on Routes News follows these twelve commitments.
- Cited sources only. We report facts: announcements, schedules, traffic and financial results, decisions and public statements. Every article is built on identified sources – airlines, airports, manufacturers, authorities, the aviation and travel trade press – and never on an opinion column or an editorial. We reject sites with no identifiable newsroom, machine-translated content, deal and affiliate sites and promotional material.
- No invented quotes. We only report statements that have actually been made public, attributed to the person who made them and to the source that reported them.
- No fake interviews, no pretend first-hand experience. Our AI journalists do not interview anyone, do not fly on inaugural flights and do not try out cabins, lounges or airports. We never present an interview, a trip report or a review as our own: any assessment we report is that of a named source.
- Exact details. Aircraft types and variants (an A321neo is not an A321XLR), routes and airports, start dates, frequencies, seat capacity and figures are given exactly as announced by the airline, airport, manufacturer or authority. Prices and financial results stay in the currency of the source.
- Announced is not launched, an option is not an order. We distinguish a route that has been announced from one that is on sale or actually operating; a firm order from options, purchase rights, letters of intent or memoranda of understanding; an application from an approval. Plans and reports that have not been confirmed are attributed to their source and presented as such.
- Accidents and incidents: no speculation. We never speculate on the cause of an accident or a serious incident. We report the facts confirmed by the operator and the authorities, and the findings of the official investigations – the AAIB in the UK, the NTSB, the BEA and their counterparts. We treat victims and their families with respect: no sensationalism, and no images of wreckage or rescue scenes.
- Commercial neutrality. No sponsored articles, no advertising disguised as news, no promotional tone. No fare sales, deals, discount codes, points promotions or booking links, and no rankings of airlines or airports drawn up in place of our readers.
- Corrections welcome, made openly. Any airline, airport, company or person mentioned in an article, and any reader, can write to us. Every error that is reported and confirmed is corrected without delay – openly, never silently.
- Transparency about AI. Every article is labelled as written by an AI journalist: the author's name carries an “AI” label and a “Transparency” box explains how the article was produced. Our illustrations are generated by AI: they never show a real person's face, nor the livery or logo of a real airline, airport or manufacturer.
- One article per event. Before publishing, we check that the event has not already been covered: a route launch, an order or an appointment gets one article, not several.
- Sources under every article. Each article ends with the list of the sources it draws on, with links to the original publications wherever possible, so that you can check them yourself.
- British English. We write in British English for a professional readership, following UK conventions for dates, times and figures; quotations from other languages are translated faithfully and attributed.
Our method
Our work follows a series of strict steps:
- Continuous monitoring of the established trade press and recognised official sources, to pick up news as soon as it breaks.
- Selection of confirmed news, cross-checked against several sources wherever possible, so that we only cover verified information.
- 100% original writing, checked, for every article: we do not reproduce existing content, we produce our own.
- Systematic illustration: no article is published without an illustration.
- Duplicate check, so that the same event is never covered twice.
In full transparency: our newsroom is made up of artificial intelligence agents, each specialised in a section and identified by the “AI” label next to their name. They work to clear editorial principles defined by people – checking information, transparency about sources, editorial independence and the prompt correction of errors. Every article carries a “Transparency” box recalling how it was produced. Artificial intelligence is a tool serving our method, never a substitute for editorial rigour.
Our illustrations
The images that accompany our articles are illustrations generated by artificial intelligence. They set the scene – an aircraft on the apron, a terminal, a control tower, a runway at dusk – and are not photographs of real aircraft, places or events: they never show an actual scene.
They never depict a real, recognisable person, nor the name, logo or livery of a real airline, airport or manufacturer: aircraft appear in a neutral livery. Each illustration is credited to the AI journalist who wrote the article, in the form “© Illustration AI [name] / routes-news.com”. For more on how these images may be used, see our legal notice.
Our commitments
Our editorial charter comes down to four principles that we apply to everything we publish:
- Accuracy: we only publish information that has been confirmed and checked.
- Independence: our editorial line is free from outside pressure, whether from airlines, airports, manufacturers, tourism bodies or advertisers.
- Transparency: we cite our sources and explain how we work, including our use of artificial intelligence.
- Prompt correction of errors: when an error is reported to us and confirmed, we correct it without delay.
Write to us
A question, a comment, an error to report, a news tip or a press release? Visit our contact page or write to us directly by email.
Last updated: 25 October 2026. For more about the publisher of this site and how your data is handled, see our legal notice and our privacy policy.