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Avelo Airlines has big plans for the Dallas area's newest airport, McKinney National Airport (DTX).

While the first flights at DTX do not take off until November, the Houston-based discounter is already adding four more routes — including one new destination — to its roster there.

Avelo's four new routes are:

DTX to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL): four-times weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from Dec. 16.

DTX to Denver International Airport (DEN): four-times weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays starting Dec. 16

DTX to Nashville International Airport (BNA): twice weekly on Thursdays and Sundays starting Dec. 17

DTX to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY): twice weekly on Thursdays and Sundays starting Dec. 17

Denver is a new destination for Avelo.

DTX is the Dallas area's third commercial airport after the giant Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Dallas Love Field (DAL). The airport, which has never offered regularly scheduled passenger service, is in the far northeast corner of the massive and rapidly growing metropolitan area. It is roughly 35 miles from both DFW and DAL, which are hubs for American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, respectively.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a commercial operating certificate, a necessary prerequisite to air service, to DTX on Sept. 26.

The first flights from DTX are scheduled to begin Nov. 11 on Avelo with nonstops to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) near Fort Myers, Las Vegas' Harry Reid International Airport (LAS), Orlando International Airport (MCO) and Tampa International Airport (TPA).

Avelo will base three Boeing 737-800s with 186 seats each at DTX by December.

No other airlines have announced plans to serve DTX.

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Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

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Delta Air Lines will connect two additional hubs with two of Europe's most popular tourist destinations next summer.

The Atlanta-based carrier on Friday announced new routes to Venice and Athens for 2027.

Both flights will run during the peak summer rush.

With that new service, Delta is certainly doubling down on what's been a relentless interest in southern Europe for travelers.

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ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY Over the last few years, airlines have responded with a slew of routes to places in Italy, Spain, Greece, France and Portugal.

Now, add these two new Delta routes to the mix:

Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) to Venice, launching on May 7

Detroit Wayne County Metropolitan Airport (DTW) to Athens, launching June 8

3 new routes in Europe for 2027

Venice and Athens are both cities Delta already flies to. But now, the carrier will connect more of its hubs with those markets — both, of course, history-rich cities that tourists visit by the millions every year.

For those keeping track, these new Boston-Venice and Detroit-Athens flights will give Delta a total of three new routes to Europe for summer 2027.

The Acropolis of Athens. SEAN CUDAHY/THE POINTS GUY Last month, the carrier revealed new service from Austin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) to Paris — its first long-haul service from its Texas focus city.

"We're giving customers more choice, greater flexibility and more opportunities to travel when and how they want," Jeff Arinder, Delta's vice president of international network planning, said in a statement Friday.

Details: New Delta flights to Venice, Athens

Delta will operate its service from BOS to Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE) four times per week between May 7 and Oct. 29. The carrier will use its Airbus A330-300 on the route.

Boston to Venice

Boston will be the third U.S. airport Delta will link nonstop to Venice, joining Atlanta and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).

More nonstop service to Venice means more opportunity to fly directly into the world-famous city instead of taking a flight to Rome (or Milan) and then taking the train. Just be sure to factor a water taxi ride into your trip budget!

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TANNER SAUNDERS/THE POINTS GUY Detroit to Athens

For Delta's new service from DTW to Athens International Airport (ATH), the carrier will use its slightly smaller Airbus A330-200.

Delta currently offers nonstop ATH flights from its Atlanta, Boston and JFK hubs. So this will give the carrier a total of four routes to the Greek capital, which for some travelers is the final destination — and for others a gateway to the Greek islands.

Review: The highly anticipated Conrad Athens The Ilisian blew me away — here's why

A longer 'summer' season

The last two summers, Delta opened up all-new destinations in Europe like Catania (Sicily), Olbia (Sardinia), Malta and Porto.

For 2027, the carrier appears to be focusing on stepping up its service to existing European destinations. With this expansion, it's giving Boston and Detroit new links to the continent, along with that new Paris nonstop from Austin.

Expanding into earlier spring

But it's not just new routes.

Delta on Friday also revealed it will lengthen its peak "summer" travel season across the Atlantic.

In recent years, a host of carriers — especially Delta — have noted how a growing number of flyers are visiting Europe earlier in the spring, or later in the fall.

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Conrad Athens The Ilisia. ELLIE NAN STORCK/THE POINTS GUY This can be a great way to avoid the brutal heat waves and massive crowds that are increasingly a reality for travelers making the trip in June or July.

Plus, the spring and fall "shoulder" seasons are often when prices (and award redemptions) are lower.

Delta on Friday said its seasonal routes from Minneapolis and Detroit to Rome will begin earlier than usual in 2027, with flights starting in early March.

Seattle-Rome service will return in April.

And the carrier is also planning an earlier start for its Catania, Porto, Prague, and Copenhagen flights, along with a handful of other routes.

Bottom line

Delta's Europe plans for 2027 look very different than those of top rival United Airlines. United is using its new, smaller Airbus A321XLR to open up routes to some truly off-the-beaten-path destinations.

Delta, meanwhile, is sticking with service on larger widebody jets — and with this announcement, it's focusing on linking more U.S. cities to some of Europe's most tried-and-true tourist hot-spots.

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Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

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When boutique air carrier JSX debuted its first ATR turboprop in December, CEO Alex Wilcox was optimistic but skeptical.

JSX made its name selling upscale convenience: seating in a 1-1 configuration on most of its Embraer ERJ regional jets, with high-speed Starlink connectivity, flying from private air terminals at major airports or secondary airports in major cities.

Whether deserved or not, turboprops like the ATR carry a stigma in the U.S. that they are less comfortable than jets.

Nine months in, though, and Wilcox is happy with the results.

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"People really love the airplane," he said on the sidelines of the Regional Airline Association Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. "Once it works, people love it."

A presentation by ATR at the same event estimated that the net promoter score — a measure of customer satisfaction — for JSX's ATRs is 2.5 points higher than for its ERJs.

Onboard JSX's ATR 42. EDWARD RUSSELL/FOR THE POINTS GUY The "works" part is the challenge. Despite plans to have four ATR 42-600s configured with 30 seats in a 2-1 layout flying by summer, supply chain and maintenance issues slowed the rollout, Wilcox said.

JSX's fourth ATR entered service on Aug. 30, data from flight tracking website FlightRadar24 shows.

Those delays forced JSX to push off plans for new mountain service to Telluride Regional Airport (TEX) in Colorado and, potentially, Truckee Tahoe Airport (TKF) in California until at least summer 2027, Wilcox said. Local restrictions on jet operations at both airports mean JSX can only serve them with turboprops like the ATRs.

JSX currently flies its ATRs from the Santa Monica Airport (SMO) on the west side of Los Angeles to Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas, Napa County Airport (APC), Scottsdale Airport (SCF) near Phoenix and, as of Sept. 14 , Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK).

Members of the Club JSX loyalty program can earn and redeem points on all of the air carrier's flights, including those flown with ATRs. United Airlines' MileagePlus program members can also earn points on JSX flights and redeem them on select flights.

EDWARD RUSSELL/THE POINTS GUY ATR versus ERJ

JSX began flying an ATR on one of its multiple daily flights between Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) and LAS on Sept. 14 in what Wilcox described as something of an A/B test to see how the turboprop performs against the air carrier's Embraer jets.

"The NPS is high but is that Santa Monica or that the ATR?" he said. "We don't know. Now we're going to find that out. We're going to put it into regular rotation where the jets go."

SMO is a more convenient airport for much of Los Angeles' west side compared to either Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) or BUR in the San Fernando Valley.

JSX's website shows the BUR-LAS flight on the ATR scheduled at one hour and 20 minutes compared to the ERJ at one hour and 10 minutes.

FlightRadar24 data show the turboprop consistently takes about 10 minutes longer than the jet to complete the trip.

The results of the ATR versus Embraer test will inform JSX's decision on whether or not to finalize a deal for up to 25 new ATR 42-600s from the manufacturer, Wilcox said. While he previously hoped to make a decision by the end of this year, he now anticipates one by the middle of 2027, citing the delays JSX experienced with its first four turboprops.

Onboard a JSX ERJ regional jet. (ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY) JSX's future Heart

JSX is not putting all its eggs in the ATR basket. The air carrier on Wednesday put down a deposit for 50 of the planned hybrid-electric Heart Aerospace ES-36 turboprops.

If the plane achieves certification by 2031, as hoped, it would be the first entirely new turboprop in decades and one with operating expenses roughly 40% lower than those of fossil-fuel-powered planes.

"Someone needs to build it," Wilcox said. "No one's building 30- to 50-seat airplanes anymore other than ATR. For something that's going to have 40% of the energy costs, it could fly all electric with zero emissions if you had the right solar infrastructure and everything else, I think that's the future. It's also more reliable."

Asked how confident he is in Heart achieving its development target, he cited the company's first flight of a demonstrator model in August as evidence that it was "more than a paper organization."

"Seeing is believing," Wilcox said.

The ES-36 will seat up to 36 passengers in a single-class layout, though JSX can only configure its planes with 30 seats under the public charter model it uses to operate its flights. The plane can fly up to 745 miles — far enough to fly nonstop from SMO to TEX.

JSX hopes to begin flying the ES-36 by the "early 2030s" if Heart is able to certify the plane in five years, said Wilcox.

Heart also has commitments for the ES-36 from Air Canada and United Airlines.

Related reading:

When is the best time to book flights for the cheapest airfare?

The best airline credit cards

What exactly are airline miles, anyway?

6 real-life strategies you can use when your flight is canceled or delayed

Maximize your airfare: The best credit cards for booking flights

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Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.