Europe S23 route announcements

[davidjohnson6]

Normally airlines in Europe announce new routes for the following summer in the period of late October to early December, with a strong desire to have everything on sale on websites for post-Xmas booking season. Unusually, the football World Cup takes place from 20 Nov to 18 Dec, and this is likely to capture the attention of many residents of Europe, cutting short the "slow news day" window. Granted airlines prefer the big sporting events not to be during peak flying seasons, but it still diverts attention from the marketing publicity.

Any thoughts on the strategy for route announcements this year ? Or is the airline brand the only thing that matters, and people will visit airline websites anyway to see what's available ?