United Airlines is gearing up for 2025 with its “largest international expansion in history” including eight new destinations across the globe including Mongolia and Greenland. Let’s unpack this big news.
United Airlines Announces New 2025 Destinations, Routes
While Tokyo Narita may not officially regain its “hub” status, United Airlines is augmenting its planned service from Narita to Cebu, Philippines with three more destinations from NRT.
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – Tokyo
United will offer seasonal service from Tokyo to Ulaanbaatar (UBN) starting on May 1, 2025. United sees tourist potential, explaining that nearly half a million people visited Mongolia so far in 2024, up 25% compared to 2023.
Kaohsiung, Taiwan – Tokyo
Expanding beyond Tapei, United will start year-round service to Kaohsiung (KHH) on July 11, 2025 from Tokyo Narita.
Koror, Palau – Tokyo
United already flies to Palau from Guam and Manila, Philipines, but will add a nonstop flight from Tokyo Narita, making Palau reachable with one stop on United from the USA.
Nuuk, Greenland – Newark
With the completion of the new airport in Nuuk (GOH), United will fly to Greenland twice weekly from Newark (EWR) starting June 14, 2025. The aircraft on this route has not been announced, but my guess would be a Boeing 757-200 or a Boeing 737 MAX 9 (the flight is only 1,860 miles, about four hours long).
Dakar, Senegal – Washington Dulles
On May 23, 2025 United will launch service to Dakar (DSS) from Washington Dulles (IAD). Delta already serves Dakar from New York (JFK). United boasts Senegal is centrally located on Africa’s west coastline and Dakar is the gateway to Africa with pristine beaches, lush forests, and rich archaeological history.
Palermo, Italy – Newark
On May 21, 2025 United will launch 3x weekly service to Palemro (PMO) on a Boeing 767-400 aircraft. United expects “surging” demand to Italy in 2025 and this will augment existing service to Venice, Naples, Milan, and Rome.
Bilbao, Spain – Newark
United will become the first carrier to launch nonstop service between the largest city in the Spanish Basque Country, Bilbao, and Newark. The flight will operate 3x weekly and launch on May 31, 2025. This will augment service to Palma de Mallorca, Tenerife, and Malaga as well as Barcelona and Madrid.
Madeira Island + Faro, Portugal – Newark
United will launch 4x weekly service to Faro (FAO) starting May 16, 2025 from Newark and 3x weekly service to Madeira Island (FNC). United also serves Porto, Ponta Delgada, and Lisbon in Portugal.
More Expansion, No Cutbacks
Other new routes include:
- Houston (IAH) ⇄ Puerto Escondido, Mexico (PXM) – starts April 5, 2025
- San Francisco (SFO) ⇄ San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO) – starts May 22, 2025
- Washingtion (IAD) ⇄ Nice (NCE) – starts May 24, 2025
- Washingtion (IAD) ⇄ Venice (VCE) – starts May 22, 2025
Finally, all existing routes will return, including Christchurch (CHC), so United is not subtracting existing routes to service.
On a call with Patrick Quayle, United’s SVP of Global Network Planning and Alliances, he pushed back on labeling this announcement United’s most “experimental” expansion yet, instead characterizing it as United’s most “exciting” expansion ever.
Quayle also noted that the Airbus A321XLR aircraft have been further delayed into 2026, so none of the new routes will operate with this incoming plane.
CONCLUSION
It is fitting that United announced these new routes after American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, because this announcement puts the others to shame in terms of its global reach. With new and innovate destinations, you must at least give United credit for trying to expand beyond the safe confines of major tourist and business destinations.
A trip to Greenland is certainly within sight now!
What are your thoughts on United’s latest expansion?
What about IAD-VCE and IAD-NCE?
Interesting choice for Monglia. Considering that United is the most experimental with its route network, why didn’t they consider Eastern Europe for their expansion? For example, baltic states would be nice addition since there is zero competition for non stop flight from US and airBaltic could provide a very competitive feeder network. You could easily fill up a 767/787 from RIX daily with all the connecting pax from TLL and VNO. I do believe that such addition would offer better yields than Mongolia.
I’d love a non stop to Riga or Tallian!
shocking
No BKK or SGN!
I know these routes should be cool as an avgeek. But I really wanted SFO BKK, (and EWR HKG reinstated when the airspace ban is lifted),
No Bali ??? Looking forward to Faro!
And I was wondering what airline I should take to Mongolia…
I was surprised that no new flight route Dubai. I had expected that ORD or IAD will receive new non-stop flight to Dubai, as someone reported that UA has received new take-off slots at the airport.
Star Alliance airlines EVA Air currently flies Tokyo-KaoHsiung, with ANA codeshare. There are China Airlines and low-cost airlines also offering non-stop services. I do not understand why UA believes that there is money to be made in this low-yield route.
I’m very surprised we haven’t seen the return of IAD-DXB especially. UA flew this route previously for many years with little connectivity beyond DXB. Honestly I’m not entirely convinced that that route ended for a reason other than leadership at the time’s politics against the ME3, which they whined about extensively in the press when the route was pulled in 2015. Delta pulled out of ATL-DXB around the same time with a similar tantrum in the media.
As for KHH, it looks like most of the other traffic is timed for Asian travelers, but there isn’t a ton of good options for people originating from the other side of the pacific. The BR flight leaves before any of United’s US flights land in Narita, and most of the other options would require a separate ticket and terminal change in NRT. If it doesn’t work, UA can always put the 737 somewhere else experimental in Asia, like another Philippines city or Vietnam.
Very surprised that they didn’t axe Papeete. I guess they see an upside outside of the 55% load factors. Equally surprised we did not see BKK or SGN. Instead a very odd new destinations like Mongolia? How do you make a station work on a single limited flight like that?
It’s almost like they are throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks.
What is so special about United flying to places from Tokyo? Unless you fly from the US to Tokyo on United that means nothing. If flying from Tokyo to those destinations I would rather fly an Asian airline than United. I think their direct flights from the US to new destinations are much more interesting. BTW, why no love for DEN or ORD as major United hubs with no new destinations?
Not every route will make sense or make money but I like the boldness of the strategy. It’s better than being stagnant and doing the same thing over and over. BKK from the west coast would ne nice.
It will be interesting to see how many of these routes, and which, will still be here in a year.
But, good for UA, these are some interesting new destinations.
STFU Aaron
Oh are you still here? Go make yourself by going to catch a mouse or something.
Nuuk and Ulaanbaatar…of course,these are the geniuses at O’hare,UAL.Reminds me when I worked at the O’hare Hilton,after checking in a man from Oneida,New York,my supervisor pointed out to me,it isn’t oneida,rather,it’s spelled O’Nighta!
more 737 Transatlantic flights
No J on those
If those 737 Transatlantic flights do well I’m sure UA will upgauge them to A321XLRs with lie flat seats come 2026.
It is a shame that United’s A321XLR will now be delayed until 2026. It appears as though both Airbus and Boeing are struggling to deliver aircraft on-time.
I think Greenland is going to be a flop. I can’t imagine Nuuk has much to do and see for more than 1 or 2 days. And there’s a huge, huge shortage of hotels. I also can’t imagine there are any large chain hotels.
I see a lot of people questioning or expressing surprise at Palau. This is a popular destination for Japanese tourists. Delta used to serve it, like Guam, from NRT. And, Palau is essentially an American protectorate. Independent but closely linked to the US for matters of foreign policy and defense. I imagine United will have cargo contracts, including a USPS contract as the USPS is the post office for Palau.
I went to Nuuk this summer. Late July in fact, and the temps never got above 40 and it rained the whole time. I actually loved it; it was a fun place to visit, but I can’t imagine how the city is going to handle ~350 pax inbound from the USA every week. Only about 350 people flew YFB-GOH all season! There are only 2 hotels, and they mostly serve business visitors coming from Denmark and Iceland.
Without a partner, I’m not sure what UA expects to do with the route. Most people go elsewhere in Greenland. Even though SFJ isn’t a real town, from a visitor standpoint, you can access all of Greenland from there. Nuuk isn’t near the ice cap, doesn’t have much wildlife, and has notoriously bad weather.
For a country counter like myself, it was great. I’ll probably take this flight to easily go back again, but I don’t think it’s what most people expect when they plan what is most likely a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Greenland.