The new routes to Taiwan’s biggest city are notable not for the destination—it’s a longtime Seattle nonstop—but how it gets there. Starlux, which sounds more like an intergalactic girl pop group than an airline, has only been around since 2020, but first landed in Seattle last year. The planes are new, cabins have luxury touches, and the loading procedures are so dialed it deserves a passenger ovation. Delta and China Airlines also added Taipei options in the last year, making the city ultra-connected to Seattle.

Though Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) manages to serve as the national airline for three countries—Denmark, Sweden, and Norway—it’s not well known in the US outside of major cities like New York and Miami. A new route from Seattle to the capital of Denmark, launched in May, doesn’t just open up Scandinavia’s famously progressive cities for quick trips, but cool spots like the remote Faroe Islands.

Nonstop service from Philippine Airlines to the country’s capital drew headlines in the fall of 2024 not just because it marks a new country for direct flights—33 total destinations and counting—but because Seattle is home to more than 100,000 people of Filipino descent.

Another link with tantalizing connections: Edelweiss Air’s new route to Switzerland’s biggest city, launching in June, means cheese, chocolate, and skiing. But it's also the southernmost European destination from Seattle if you don’t count continent-spanning Istanbul. Until we have direct flights to Italy or Spain, a Swiss stopover will have to do. (Alaska Airlines says they’ll launch their own Europe flights in 2026, so we live in hope.)

Not all international getaways require a week of PTO, and in May the city of Tacoma—not Sea-Tac—got its own direct flight to Canada. A few years ago Kenmore Air began flightseeing hops out of Commencement Bay, pairing with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians; eventually they added trips to the San Juan Islands. The tribe opened restaurant Woven beside the waterfront flight depot last year, and in 2025 the operation starts departures to Victoria, BC.

While Southern destinations may be in relatively short supply on the Sea-Tac departures board, Costa Rica finally joined the party. Alaska Airlines began routes to the country in 2015 from Los Angeles but only linked Seattle to the Central American vacation favorite last year. The city of Liberia is on the western side of the country, in Guanacaste province—and close to the Pacific surf beaches.

SeaPort Airlines’ new flights—announced and launched in May—are lacking a lot. They have no TSA lines (planes with nine or fewer seats don’t use the agency) and no parking fees at Boeing Field where the planes take off. They don’t have that excruciating wait for the boarding call; you check in 20 minutes before takeoff, and the flights only last 45 minutes. Business travelers get to skip the hassle of I-5 drives and big airport headaches, arriving at a business terminal next to PDX proper.

When Hainan Airlines began this route to China in 2024, they linked us with our sister city, one that inspired the Seattle Chinese Garden in Delridge. The metropolis on the Yangtze and Jialing rivers is many times the size of our humble Emerald City but its “mountain city” nickname and hills can feel familiar.

Another city that has long been accessible via a nonstop—but never like this. In June, Frontier Airlines joins Alaska as operators out of tiny, calm Paine Field, launching flights to its hub in Colorado, plus Phoenix and Las Vegas. The budget operation is not known for luxury, but the fares do start at absurdly low price points; think under $50 as long as you don’t bring more than a jacket and chapstick.