flights, reverting to a 747-400 twice daily during peak season, but in October 2019 British Airways resumed back to once-daily A380 operations during non-peak season, before ending operations to Dulles on the A380, once again, in early 2020. On February 1, 2016, Emirates upgraded its direct flights from Dubai International (previously a Boeing 777) to an Airbus A380. , Washington Dulles is only one of fourteen airports in the United States that sees daily operations from, and/or has at least one gate and one runway that can accommodate an Airbus A380; the others being Atlanta, Boston, Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Honolulu, Houston-Intercontinental, Las Vegas, Los Angeles-LAX, Miami, New York–JFK, Orlando and San Francisco. On May 16, 2018, Volaris Costa Rica launched flights to Dulles, becoming the first international low-cost carrier to serve the airport. On September 15, 2018, Cathay Pacific launched its longest nonstop route connecting Dulles to Hong Kong utilizing an Airbus A350-1000. The service has since alternated between the −900 and −1000 depending on season. However, this service has been temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, four new major international routes were added. Alitalia began non-stop service utilizing an Airbus A330 to Rome-Fiumicino, operating five times weekly during the peak summer season, reducing to three times weekly during the winter season. EgyptAir operates a Boeing 787–9 with nonstop service to Cairo three times a week year-round. TAP Air Portugal flies five times weekly with nonstop service to Lisbon onboard the Airbus A321LR, A330-900 and sometimes the A330-200. As of May 2019, United Airlines began non-stop service to Tel-Aviv, utilizing a Boeing 777-200ER operating three times a week. In 2020, LOT Polish, Iberia and Swiss were all due to start service to Dulles but have been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. LOT Polish are due to begin service onboard their Boeing 787 to Warsaw, Iberia will begin service onboard their A330-300 to Madrid and Swiss upgraded their Miami route from an A330-300 to a 777-300ER. With this change, the A330-300 that used to serve on the Miami route will now fly into Washington Dulles from Zürich. So far only the Iberia route has been implemented. In 2021, regional airline Southern Airways Express made Dulles its East Coast hub, switching from BWI. Southern Airways will operate flights between Dulles and small airports in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, some of them on Essential Air Service contracts. On