Typically, I go out of town for the weekend just as the city’s dominate airline loads onto its website and other reservation systems four new seasonal flights to Europe. These are:

Lisbon, Portugal effective May 22 on a Boeing 757

Manchester, England effective May 22 on a Boeing 757

Barcelona, Spain  effective May 22 on an Airbus A330-200

Brussels, Belgium effective June 5 on a Boeing 767-200ER

All these new flight are seasonal with the end date for the year in September (Lisbon, Manchester, Brussels) or October (Barcelona). This will give Charlotte 12 flights to Europe next summer: the above plus 2 x Frankfurt (A330-300 and A330-200), London Heathrow (Airbus A330-300), Rome (Airbus A330-300), Paris (Airbus A300-200), Madrid (Boeing 767-200ER) and Dublin (Boeing 757). In addition, Lufthansa flies to Munich. US Airways also flies daily to Rio de Janerio and Sao Paulo in Brazil. Both flights will be on Boeing 767-200ERs next summer.

Keep in mind that  demand for travel between the United States and Europe is highly seasonal. Airlines can make a lot of money flying full planes to Europe in the summer and lose a lot of money flying half-full planes to Europe in winter. There are only a limited number of markets in which US Airways draws enough passengers to fill two flights a day — the first flight for the airline to a destination in Europe is from Philadelphia — and fewer still to which the airline draws enough passengers year-round. Of the 11 US Airways flights to Europe from CLT next summer, only two operate year-round — one of the Frankfurt flights and London. The other nine are summer seasonal only. The two flights to Brazil and Lufthansa’s Munich service also operate year-round.

Bonus thought: You’ll notice Amsterdam isn’t listed in the destinations served by US Airways from Charlotte. That doesn’t come as a complete surprise. A widebody jet (767 or A330) is needed to serve Amsterdam form Charlotte as it’s too longa flight for the smaller 757. US Airways has a limited quantity of widebodies. Also, strange, as this may sound, US Airways does better in Barcelona, Brussels, and Manchester than it does to Amsterdam — it has larger jets from Philly to those three destination than to Amsterdam.