Five New Fifth Freedom Routes of 2025

If you’ve been feverishly roaming the interwebs for some new fifth freedom routes of 2025, I’m here to help.

Fifth freedoms are a common theme among travel websites, but I still want to provide a quick backgrounder. Created in 1944 by the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention for short), and now managed by the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), there are only five officially recognized “freedoms of the air.”

To quote the ICAO’s Freedoms of the Air page, the Fifth Freedom Right is

 the right or privilege, in respect of scheduled international air services, granted by one State to another State to put down and to take on, in the territory of the first State, traffic coming from or destined to a third State (also known as a Fifth Freedom Right)

Basically, a passenger can board the airline of a third country and fly it between two others, as long as the route officially starts or ends in the third country.

As a real world example of a fifth freedom, Emirates (based in the UAE) flies Dubai DXB – Bangkok BKK – Hong Kong HKG. Tickets on both BKK-HKG and HKG-BKK can be purchased, even if the passenger isn’t continuing from/to Dubai on that itinerary.

Although my most flown one is China Airlines (Taiwan-based) from Hong Kong to Jakarta, I quite enjoying searching for the more unexpected ones.

On that note, here are five new fifth freedom routes of 2025–

1. Shanghai Airlines, (Shanghai PVG) – Marseilles MRS – Casablanca CMN

Having just started on 19 January (nope, it’s already the 20th in Shanghai), this one operates three days a week, Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

The flight utilizes a Boeing 787-9, and complements Shanghai Airlines’ first ever route to Africa, Shanghai – Cairo, which only launched last month.

Shanghai Airlines’ parent company is China Eastern Airlines, which is part of the SkyTeam airline alliance.

2. Aegean Airlines, (Athens ATH) – Larnaca LCA – Rome FCO

On 1 April, the 26-years old Aegean Airlines will be commencing flights between Larnaca, Cyprus, and Rome.

Using Airbus A320s, the Star Alliance carrier will ply the route thrice weekly, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

3/4/5. The United 3, those being
United Airlines, (Guam GUM) – Tokyo NRT – Ulaanbaatar UBN/Palau ROR/Kaohsiung KHH

You can thank Continental’s 1968 establishment of Air Micronesia for that mighty important Pacific hub of Guam.

At just under four hours between the U.S. territory of Guam and Tokyo, this makes for an easy way to swap crew, and to use narrow-body jets.

The Mongolia route begins on 1 May, Koror some time that same month, and to Kaohsiung, on 11 July. These rolls of the dice will also make United the only U.S. carrier serving the trifecta of destinations.

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Which are your favorite fifth freedom routes?