United Airlines has revealed its transatlantic expansion plans for 2023, including a resumption of historic routes, a trio of news ones, and increased capacity on others. The result is a planned increase of transatlantic seats by 10% compared to 2022.
United Airlines Unveils Three New Transatlantic Routes, With A Total Of Seven 2023 Flights That Did Not Operate In 2022
First, let’s take a quick look at the new and returning routes, then we’ll explore them in a bit more detail below.
- Newly Announced Routes
- Chicago (ORD) – Barcelona (BCN)
- Newark (EWR) – Malaga (AGP)
- San Francisco (SFO) – Rome (FCO)
- Previously Announced New Routes
- Newark (EWR) – Dubai (DXB)
- Washington (IAD) – Berlin (BER)
- Returning Routes
- Chicago (ORD) – Shannon (SNN) – last ran in 2013
- Newark (EWR) – Stockholm (ARN) – last ran in 2019
- Increased Capacity
- Los Angeles (LAX) – London (LHR) – twice daily
- Washington (IAD) – Paris (CDG) – twice daily
Let’s take a closer look at each route.
Chicago (ORD) – Barcelona (BCN)
United will launch daily flights to Barcelona starting on May 25, 2023 using a Boeing 787-8 aircraft. This is service will augment existing Barcelona service from Newarkand Washington. In total, United will serve 14 European destinations from Chicago.
Newark (EWR) – Malaga (AGP)
United will launch three flights per week starting May 31, 2023 using a Boeing 757-200. Over the last five years, United has gone to serving only Barcelona and Madrid to now serving five:
- Barcelona (BCN)
- Madrid (MAD)
- Malaga (AGP)
- Palma de Mallorca (PMI)
- Tenerife (TNF)
The new Malaga service will be seasonal.
San Francisco (SFO) – Rome (FCO)
SFO-FCO marks the largest U.S. market to Italy without nonstop service. Alitalia announced in 2019 that it would begin service from San Francisco to Rome in 2020, but that never happened due to the pandemic.
United will use a Boeing 777-200ER on the route and offer daily flights starting on May 25, 2023.
With this addition, United will offer seven transatlantic flights to Europe from SFO, including:
- Amsterdam
- Frankfurt
- London
- Munich
- Paris
- Rome
- Zurich
Newark (EWR) – Dubai (DXB)
As part of its new relationship with Emirates, United will launch 777-200ER service between Newark and Dubai on March 25, 2023. The flight will operate daily and year-round.
Washington (IAD) – Berlin (BER)
United will operate daily flights between Washington and Berlin Brandenburg starting on May 25, 2023. A Boeing 767-400 will be utilized on the route and
Chicago (ORD) – Shannon (SNN)
United will operate summer seasonal daily flights to Shannon using a 757-200. Service will begin on May 25, 2023. Newark – Shannon service will continue.
Newark (EWR) – Stockholm (ARN)
United will operate summer seasonal daily flights to Stockholm using a 757-200. Service will commence on May 27, 2023.
Los Angeles (LAX) – London (LHR)
United will launch a second daily flight to London from Los Angeles for the summer season. Service will begin on March 25, 2023 and utilize a Boeing 787-9. United has obtained an additional Heathrow slot, as this new service does not come at the expense of one of its other routes. In total, United will operate 23 daily flights to LHR.
As a side note, United will no longer use 757-200 aircraft to London. All flights will be operated by a Boeing 767-300 or larger with direct aisle access in Polaris business class and a Premium Plus (premium economy cabin).
Washington (IAD) – Paris (CDG)
On June 2, 2023, United will add a second daily flight from Washington to Paris using a 787-8. The extra service will operate seasonally.
One Route Will Not Be Returning
All new routes launched in 2022 will be returning, with one exception. United’s service between Newark and Bergen, Norway (BGO) will not return, with United confirming the route did not operate sufficiently to justify its return.
United Bullish, Even As Recession Looms
Even with recession looming, Patrick Quayle, United’s Senior Vice President of Global Network Planning and Alliances, is bullish about transatlantic demand next summer.
“Next summer United is offering the best of both worlds: we’re making it easier for our customers to visit the most popular cities in Europe, but we’re also expanding our reach to give travelers access to new places they haven’t yet experienced.
“We expect another busy summer for international travel and are proud to build on our industry- leading global network to offer our customers the widest range of destinations and most convenient travel options.”
Based upon how full flights have been between Europe and the USA this month, it appears to me that business travel has come roaring back. While recession on both sides of the Atlantic may dampen demand, I also expect another blockbuster spring and summer of travel.
CONCLUSION
United will launch new service to Malaga and Dubai next year as well as add more service to European hubs like Barcelona, Berlin, and Paris. With only the Bergen route not returning, this represents a net gain in seats and another exciting transatlantic summer for United Airlines.
Berlin is EXTREMELY underserved and a huge business/lesiure/tech hub. All flights I have been on to Berlin have been sold out, even in premium cabins.
Thank you for compiling this nice list.
I don’t think United has regular service presently between Dulles and Shannon. My understanding is it’s presently only Newark.
I’m excited to see the ORD-SNN route on there!
As a NYC based traveler I’m upset the Bergen route is cancelled – had wanted to book that but hadn’t seen business award availability popup this summer and was hoping to have a chance next year when presumably travel demand slows. Stockholm and Dubai are nice but already served by other carriers.
United does not fly from Dulles to Shannon. Only from Newark. It flies from Dulles to a Dublin.
That was a test, not for you, but for another reason. I’ve updated the story.
It looks like the destinations are more geared towards leisure travel than business. However, it looks like UA did their homework in trying to capitalize on routes that are more profitable.
Sfo to FCO me please!!!’
Why UA is not interested in growing IAH-Europe?
We are pretty much stuck with with flights to a handful of hubs. No nonstop service to Italy, Spain, Switzerland, etc.
Right. And Air France flies nonstop to CDG but not UA.
IAH – CDG route was cut after Continental left Skyteam. At the time, UA/CO claimed that the route had been losing money for a number of years. Interestingly, UA/CO continues flying IAH – AMS route.
There are enough loyal UA Shell fliers to keep the AMS route, but Total fliers stick to Air France, and I once read most of the UA IAH-CDG demand was reward travel – it wasn’t making real money. I guess they figured if you want to use your miles to go to Paris, you can connect.
As much as I’d like to see more UA flights from IAH to Europe, I get why they don’t – the connections and demand just don’t make sense vs. the other hubs.
Disappointing DEN didn’t get anything, but at least LAX got another Heathrow.
I agree!! Both Den and Iah as well.
Agreed!
Also this summer Quayle said that all 2023 transatlantic flights would feature Polaris, obviously excluding the 757. All the 767-400 routes still have the awful seats loaded into the system for next summer. He said it would be done, but I highly doubt it. I will still avoid the 767-400 next summer.
The first 767-400 to get Polaris, N68061, has been in HKG since early July, what is taking so long?
Of course nothing for us in Houston …. The ugly stepchild in the UA hub family. At this point it would be nice to have all the transatlantic nonstops out of iah that CO used to fly before the merger.
What all is missing besides Paris?
Doesn’t seem that bullish to me. The only truly new destination is Malaga (which could be viewed as a substitution for the BGO route), contrast that with last years 2022 summer fights, which heavily leaned toward new destinations. This seems like by and large new origin cities and higher frequencies, routes Unites already has a lot of data on. I’m a little disappointed but at least we get a new summer destination plus the SFO to Brisbane inaugural is coming up at the end of the month!
Frankly, I don’t understand why ANYONE flies United Airlines. Ever. (And that goes for American Airlines as well.) There isn’t an international destination United flies to that isn’t served by other, consistently better carriers.
For my travels there is one of significance: Shannon, Ireland.
Your choices from the US are Aer Lingus and United. While I think it’s fair to argue that the Aer 321neo business class product is better than UA’s 757, the Polaris lounge in Newark or Chicago exceeds the Aer Lingus lounge in boston, and If you live in the US and travel domestically, the loyalty with UA may be much more valuable to you than the Aer Club.
At the risk of redundancy, where’s the IAH love?
Y’all already have a decent number of flights, more than DEN and LAX, and are getting SYD back in a few weeks.
Having a dominant international network is great and all, so kudos to United for that, but that doesn’t mean just forget about the domestic network. The domestic network is still the bulk of your network, United needs to build that up stronger.
Firstly, they need to bulk up LAX. Clearly they still care about LAX if they are giving it another London flight, resuming Melbourne, starting Tokyo Haneda, etc. but they need to make it more competitive on the domestic side. It is ridiculous that United doesn’t fly to Dallas, Atlanta, or Miami from LAX, these are huge cities with a ton of O&D demand.
Next, you continue to beef up Denver, Chicago, and Houston. These all still need significant build up. Make these hubs on the scale of Dallas for AA or Atlanta for DL. If you can get these hubs to those levels, you will be dominating.
Finally, once you have all your hubs built up, you start building new hubs. I would say Tampa is the best place for United to build a new hub. They need a larger presence in that area. But DO NOT start building a new hub until you are dominant at all your existing hubs.
If Scott Kirby manages this right, which frankly he already is and shouldn’t be too hard to continue as United is already getting new gates at all their hubs, United will be the dominant carrier and it won’t even be close.
This is crazy: “It is ridiculous that United doesn’t fly to Dallas, Atlanta, or Miami from LAX.”
What are they thinking by not serving at least ATL and MIA?
Those airports already have 3 carriers providing nonstop service, all with a discount carrier– I suspect that it is harder to make money on such competitive routes
With 500 domestic narrowbodies on order, and approximately 150 being delivered between this year and next, with no significant retirements, I expect we’ll see some major domestic mainline expansion over the next year.
Once Denver airport expansion completes in 2025, UA will have 90 gates to operate 700 flights. DEN will become UA’s largest hub airport. Southwest is a close second.
While many comments that UA is weak in Florida and Southeast, and UA should build a hub/focus-city there, I feel that UA’s domestic market priority should concentrate on adding flights to existing hubs. UA can add flights to SFO concourse D once Alaska move to Terminal 1.
At the end of the year, Washington Dulles airport will finally have metro connection via silver line. I hope that there will be more demand from local population, encourage UA to add more flight banks.
UA need gates to expand at LAX. Someone can tell me when will Terminal 9 be built.
I’m not sure this is as bullish as I would have thought. There are some good choices here but I’m scratching my head a fair bit as well. A few comments:
– not announcing anything new to PSA or BLQ (FLR can’t take a plan ex US) is an obvious missed opportunity. If they can make Tenerife work I promise you they can make Florence/Tuscany work. I mean instead of Chicago to Shannon Ireland (lol) they should’ve done EWR/IAD – BLQ/FLR.
– EWR-AGP is a great one (Southern Spain is super popular and underserved), and a second IAD-CDG is an obvious no brainer (the daily is always sold out in summer)
– SFO-FCO is another no brainer, just wonder why it took them so long. Generally West Coast capacity TATL is way lower than it should be. Not sure why UA doesn’t add more routes from LAX. Another LHR is fine, but how about LAX-FRA or MUC given boatload of connections on LH.
– EWR-ARN is a really weird one. Not sure that of all the places in Europe, Sweden is where tourism and business is really at. I would’ve gone IAD- NCE or maybe IAD/EWR-AMSor even EWR-PSA/BLQ/NAP (if aircraft can do it). But ARN?
– EWR-DXB we already knew about, but again I find it odd that UA is doing this from EWR given EK already operates that route via ATH at around the same time. Why not go from IAD and complement EK’s morning flight, or do a EWR morning flight (I guess the issue there is connecting traffic, but still weird to compete head to head with EK).
– I never got the BER thing. Of all the places to go from IAD, BER? A second daily to MUC or ZRH would provide way more connecting traffic. Putting that aside, I suspect places like MXP (the flight from EWR is almost always sold out) NAP (same) are more popular.
I agree with all your points here.
Firstly, the fact that they can do 2x daily LAX-LHR but not one flight to FRA or MUC seems ridiculous. If you ask a UA person they’ll tell you Lufthansa already serves both routes, but guess what, Lufthansa a also already serves every other route you have to FRA or MUC. I think that is a lame excuse, and having a flight on United metal is different than a Lufthansa flight. Southern California United flyers have no direct flight to a Star Alliance European hub which is a joke. If they want a direct flight they have to fly to London and then book a separate BA ticket. It shouldn’t be that way.
I also agree a lot of the other routes are just meh. Maybe they’ll do fine, but there are lots of places that could’ve added more capacity that would have done better in my onion.
I would have loved to see more flights to CDG, AMS, FCO, MXP, NAP, BRU, ZRH, GVA, etc.
Also bulk up the secondary Europe hubs more. Give IAH/DEN/LAX more Europe flights.
All in all, these routes aren’t bad, but there are still tons of markets they could have tapped in on.
@Jared
Yes, and remember a) problem with relying on pax to book separately on BA after a UA LAX-LHR is that LHR is a *uniquely bad* market to operate this gig for UA, because everyone leaving LHR who isn’t connecting on the same ticket is paying UK’s APD tax. So that’s either lost revenue for UA or increased expense for pax who aren’t even staying in the UK, and b) re the point about LH operating these routes, LH’s product is *really really bad in J*, like worse than any US or European competitor, by far. It’s true that generally ppl don’t take note of intricate differences on cabin quality btw airlines, but LH’s is uniquely bad. I really think ppl will opt for UA (or maybe even a camel) over LH if given the choice. If you don’t know what I mean, spend $$$ on LH J and get back to me.
Also instead of ORD-BCN, just realized ORD-ATH would have been *way more lucrative*. The 982 and 124 from IAD/EWR are always packed, and bizarrely UA still does a 788 out of IAD … it’s a market badly in need of more capacity. Heck they probably could have done EWR-JTR (Santorini) on a 788 out of EWR if JTR can handle a widebody. The 991/2 from IAD to BCN are busy-ish but by no means full most of the time.
That’s a really good point about connecting in LHR and buying a separate ticket on BA.
In addition to that, the transfer process at Heathrow is a disaster. And I really dislike BA, specifically their narrow body product in Europe (have never tried them long haul, and probably never will).
I really do think if United launched a flight to any of their European hubs, most likely Frankfurt or Munich, but even Zurich or Brussels, I feel like one of these would do really well, and be so nice for LA based United flyers.
I very much understand the importance of SFO and dominating there, but at the same time that doesn’t mean you can’t also have a nice hub operation down at LAX.
Also Sam, I agree with you regarding the 787-8 on IAD-ATH, it should be a 777-200. Frankly, there are a lot of routes that UA is using the 788 on that they shouldn’t be in my option. ORD-CDG, ORD-AMS, ORD-MXP, ORD-FCO, IAD-ATH, the new 2nd daily IAD-CDG, IAD-AMS if that ever comes back. All of these routes could fill bigger planes, specifically in J, I really dislike how these planes are configured, very low premium, which is very unlike most of UA’s fleet. UA’s 788 seems like a Delta configuration, which are all a joke. Delta’s “flagship” plane has 32 J seats, should be double of that.
The Tenerife service goes to TFS – the resort airport on the island – rather than TFN, which is much closer to the capital and is a major hub for flights to other Canarian islands.