United Airlines is ramping up service in Denver with six new routes, 35 new flights, 12 new gates, a new early morning departure bank, and three new club lounges.
United Airlines Add Six New Routes From Denver
“New” routes will include:
- Dayton, OH (DAY)
- Greensboro, NC (GSO)
- Lexington, KY (LEX)
- Montego Bay, Jamaica (MBJ)
- San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU)
I put “new” in quotation marks only because I have actually flown from Denver to Dayton before, though the route was suspended at the start of the pandemic and has not operated since.
The new routes will debut later this year, with San Juan launching on October 29, 2023, and Montego Bay launching on November 4, 2023.
New United Clubs, Including Largest In System
United now operates out of Concourse A in Denver, not just Concourse B. This summer, United will open a new 24,900-square-foot club in Concourse A and has released two renderings of the new lounge:
Work continues in United Club B-East and when that reopens, it will become the largest United Club in the entire system, spanning 36,500 feet over three levels (with a Colorado-inspired design).
Once the B-East Club reopens this summer, the B-West United Club will close and undergo similar remodeling and expansion.
United Airlines is currently operating a pop-up lounge in the B Concourse as well as its Club Fly Lounge, a grab-and-go concept with barista-made coffee.
New Early Morning Departure Bank
United will add a new early morning departure bank from Denver to destinations including:
- Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)
- Las Vegas (LAS)
- Los Angeles (LAX)
- Orlando (MCO)
- Phoenix (PHX)
- Portland (PDX)
- San Diego (SAN)
- Seattle (SEA)
These departures during the 6:00 am hour will add connectivity to more cities. In the other direction, new late-evening returns will also add more flight options to Denver.
New Gates
United plans to open 12 more gates by the middle of next year, which would bring United’s gate total to 90. Furthermore, United is investing more than $40 million to update its existing Concourse B gates by “incorporating modern furniture options with in-seat power and new digital signage and self-service kiosks to support customers on their journey.”
Aesthetically, the new gate areas incorporate immense natural light and have an open and minimalist design that should age well over the years.
New “That’s The Denver In Us” Ad Campaign
United also debuted a new ad campaign today it calls “That’s the Denver in Us” which builds upon its Good Leads The Way campaign it began last year.
“‘That’s the Denver in Us’ is the story of an airline and a city with a shared DNA that bring out the best in each other. From taking Denver careers to new heights as the largest private employer in the city, to serving as the ideal backdrop to prepare the next generation of pilots at the world’s largest training facility, Denver and United’s more than 85-year history is unique and extends far beyond the arrival and departure gates.”
United is the largest private employer in Denver, with 10,000 Denver-based employees, and plans to hire over 2,000 more this year.
Today Is “United Airlines Day” In Denver
United’s political clout is demonstrated in Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock marking today as the first “United Airlines Day” in Denver.
A proclamation from the Mayor reads:
“United’s domestic and global network supports DEN’s Vision 100 strategic plan to expand for 100 million passengers within the next decade, and I’m proud to see them continue to grow their network at DEN and further connect our community to more destinations.”
Yes, that Denver Mayor…
> Read More: Denver Mayor Warns Us Not To Travel…From The Airport As He Boards Flight
CONCLUSION
United Airlines is adding new routes and more flights, expanding gate areas, and opening new lounges. This summer, United will fly to more than 150 destinations from Denver, with over 450 daily departures, which it carefully claims is “50% more flights and destinations than the airline’s nearest competitor” (meaning Southwest Airlines).
I am in Denver today to cover this. I’ll be touring the new lounge facilities and might even have a chance to ask Scott Kirby about whether he signs off on MileagePlus devaluations. Stay tuned for more news and photos from Denver.
This is great news to unlock United’s full potential and to regain their natural market share.
The United Next program paves the way for this and it’s United’s time to establish Denver as it’s premier domestic hub ~ similar to Charlotte for AA.
What is United’s largest hub by seat count? It seems that Houston is out of the running and it’s got to be something to the effect of Chicago, Newark and Denver. United has deployed significant capacity this year to Newark serving Vegas 7x daily, FLL 8X and Orlando around 12x daily.
This is the early days of United’s domestic growth and I am excited! With the retirement of the 320’s their replacements will all be roughly 30+ seat increases from the 321neo, which can help increase gauge.
I will be shocked if they actually open up these lounges this summer.
I took a hard hat tour of the new A lounge and will have pictures tomorrow – it’s quite a lot of work that has to be done, but UA assured me it would be complete “by summer.”
Just the start of huge growth in the coming years. All of UA’s hubs will be substantially larger by the end of the decade compared to pre pandemic.
While these new routes aren’t as flashy as long haul international, growing the domestic network is extremely important as UA still trails AA and DL domestically. Hopefully within a few years they’ll be leading AA and DL domestically. They’re already miles ahead internationally.
At some point AA is going to be forced to either use or lose some of their under utilized gates at ORD. That plus the new terminal buildings should allow big growth in Chicago
Any idea if they plan to bring back DEN-MEX?
Have the flight times been announced for the DEN-MBJ flight yet? We have friends from England going to Jamaica a week after that flight starts operating. We’d like to meet them there. The flight times from ORD and IAH, I cannot make a connection from OKC without spending the night the day prior at the moment. If we could make a same day connection in DEN instead, that would be really helpful. As is stands, AA and Delta I can make a same day connection through DFW & ATL.
They are already for sale.
Yeah it is at 9:50am, believe it is Saturday only service.
Well that doesn’t work then as they are doing Sun-Sun. Might have to go with AA or Delta then. Thanks for the info!
The new lounge decor looks like an interesting departure from UA’s standard United Club design. Is this new design just for Denver or will other lounges be remodeled to look the same?
Agreed, a bit surprised by these photos. I thought it was going to be in line with the new clubs at EWR, ORD, and PHX that opened in the last year. I guess it is more of a unique DEN theme.
Maybe they can make the DEN-ASE-DEN a little cheaper than over $800-$1400 for the 20 minute flight…
Listen at 16 minute mark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXrAbaQm6o8
Kirby confirms next Polaris club will be Denver
Straight from his mouth!
DEN Polaris Lounge CONFIRMED! Finally! Having a top tier lounge in all domestic hubs, in addition to a consistent Polaris seat on all WB planes, is going to be a big competitive advantage for UA.
Exciting to hear Scott Kirby confirm at the press release today. Is there any confirmation regarding showers at the new clubs in Denver like that of c123 in Newark
Jay, no showers in the new A Club. UA was tight-lipped on whether the B Club would have showers, even though it is set to open this summer.
Whats your source for a DEN PL? Or are you being funny.
How is that being funny? Look it up, it’s all over the place. Think TPG was the first one to report it. Matthew tweeted about it too.
My source: Scott Kirby.
Did you watch the video linked in one of the comments above? Scott Kirby says it himself at the 16:18 mark.
Is Asheville, NC the sixth destination?
I work for UA at IAH. I really wish they would upgrade our gates with the digital signage and modern furniture. Some of our gate areas really need a refresh
I’m sure IAH will get some love eventually. Although DEN has been getting all the attention it’s not like UA is abandoning IAH by any means. All hubs should see improvements in the coming years.
Do we know where the Polaris lounge is going? I’m assuming it’s not the new A gate location nor the remodeled old east/west locations? I once heard United was planning a lounge in the center core of A, but that was pre pandemic. Maybe that’s the Polaris? That would be especially convenient for the LH flights that depart near there.
And since you’re in DEN, walk by the B East club undergoing renovation and see if you think that’s opening this summer. A few weeks ago, it was still down to the steel beams. I’d be shocked if it opened before summer 2024.
Polaris lounge is going by A18/A20. Although no construction has started and nothing has been *officially* announced besides Scott leaking it, the space was always planned for an eventual Polaris lounge.
With regards to the B club status, I walked by this weekend and it is still down to the beams and pipes fully exposed. I agree it definitely won’t open this summer, although summer 2024 probably is a little too far stretched. I’d guess sometime late fall or early winter of this year.
Ah, interesting. I didn’t realize another lounge was going in even further down from the new Club currently being built.
And maybe I’m over-estimating next summer, but given how long it took the Centurion and and Venture X (still not open), and how long B East has been closed, it seems like we’re nowhere close. Granted, UA has operations and stuff already running at DEN so maybe they’ll be able to get it opened sooner.
I walked by the Capital One lounge yesterday and it looks like tremendous progress has been made.
There has been, though little has changed visibly in a couple of months and they keep missing their own projections. I know these things take time and have a lot of moving pieces, but I’m just very suspect of the timeline for any lounge (at least at DEN) anymore. Excited to see how far along the new UA club in A is, per your other post.