Earlier today, United Airlines announced its international expansion for 2025, and it’s truly unlike anything we’ve ever seen before from a US airline. United already flies to virtually all of the popular hotspots, so rather than just adding more flights to Nice and Venice (though it did that as well), United expanded to places like Kaohsiung, Nuuk, Ulaanbaatar, and more.
Along those lines, I saw something on Twitter/X that I can’t help but share.
In this post:
Fly a United 737 from Ponta Delgada to Ulaanbaatar
@iTripReport shared a graphic that really sums up how far United’s network has come over time. Specifically, you can now fly a United Boeing 737 all the way from Ponta Delgada, Portugal, to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. That’s 12 segments moving continuously in the same direction, covering a distance of 15,422 miles.
Admittedly from a passenger experience standpoint, this is probably also the least comfortable routing you could do on a US airline. But to me, it really sums up how United’s global network has become such a point of differentiation.
To be clear, I’m not saying United’s global network is amazing because you can fly a 737 across the Pacific, but rather this is more a metaphor for United’s overall network. We can also compare the general route maps across the Pacific of United to American and Delta, and the difference would be equally apparent. United is quickly becoming the Turkish Airlines of the United States in terms of its network.
Before someone else comes out and says it, I recognize that airlines are for-profit businesses that report to shareholders, and that’s fine and all. But as an airline passenger, I look at where an airline can take me, and not its stock price. For that matter, United’s financial performance is impressive, as the airline increasingly enters Delta’s league, and leaves American in the dust.
I think United’s investment in its network will pay off financially, as the airline is playing the long game. It’s not just about the international destinations served, but about how it makes United an airline people want be loyal to, an airline people want to collect miles with, etc.
Patrick Quayle is living the avgeek dream
Patrick Quayle, United’s SVP of Global Network Planning and Alliances, is an absolute visionary, as he’s the guy who has been behind United’s global growth. I’m equal parts impressed by him and jealous of what he gets to do every day.
If you’re like me, and you were an aviation geek growing up, you probably liked taking out a map and drawing lines, and creating your own fake airline route network. Quayle is quite literally living that dream.
I love Quayle’s adventurous spirit with expansion. For example, several months back we learned how United was reducing some operations in Guam, and planned to shift some 737s to Tokyo Narita instead, which is what makes some of these routes possible. As Quayle told The Airline Observer:
“Our job is solving problems and being creative, and not complaining. We have these assets that are out in the western Pacific, so let’s use it to try something different.”
That’s such an awesome attitude. It’s not “oh, let’s go with whatever the safest option is,” but instead it’s “let’s try something different.” United CEO Scott Kirby also deserves credit here, as clearly he’s onboard with this strategy. Quayle could be as creative as he’d like, but if he didn’t have the support of the CEO, this strategy would go nowhere.
Honestly, the contrast between American and United has never been clearer. American has spent the past couple of years trying to kill business travel and focus almost exclusively on domestic expansion. Meanwhile United is investing in its product and building an unrivaled network.
Bottom line
United has been steadily expanding its international network in recent years, but today’s expansion announcement showed a level of creativity we’ve never seen before from a US airline. It’s almost like some avgeek kid is building an airline route network, except, you know, he’s actually running network planning at one of the world’s biggest airlines, and the strategy is working.
Here’s to hoping that these routes succeed, and that this isn’t the end of United’s creative expansion…
Anyone else love to see the direction that United’s network is headed?
Ben,
Didn't you, long ago, criticize LH (I think it was, not sure) for flying an A320 from Europe to India (was it Pune? again not sure).
Mongolia to Azores all in 737s seems to me to be the flights made in Hell, but in the old days, what a mileage run !!
The record for flights in Hell probably was the Pacific milkman's run across all the islands, Continental then United, including biolabs, but...
Ben,
Didn't you, long ago, criticize LH (I think it was, not sure) for flying an A320 from Europe to India (was it Pune? again not sure).
Mongolia to Azores all in 737s seems to me to be the flights made in Hell, but in the old days, what a mileage run !!
The record for flights in Hell probably was the Pacific milkman's run across all the islands, Continental then United, including biolabs, but nobody ever took it full length. And at least the US contained the germs on an island, not smack in the middle of a giant country.
To be fair, at least United 737s have "real" business class seats, and some even has IFE screens, both of which are missing on Lufthansa A320s.
As an avgeek, have you ever wanted to do the Island Hopper? It's been on my bucket list.
United cannot be the Turkish Airlines of the United States until they give Mayor Adams a free upgrade.
One ?
Really exciting. And one of the reasons I can't help but fly United these days. Will prob go from basically 0 flights with them to 1k this year. Had to do a mileagerun to keep my BA GGL. Might just let it go. AA domestic/international is such a let down.
I can only imagine how much money Nuuk is going to lose. I'd be absolutely shocked if it makes it to a second year.
@ Bob Dole -- Anything is possible, but we're talking about a twice weekly flight that's shorter than a transcon. The operating costs aren't that high, and the airline can certainly command MUCH higher fares than it could on a comparable domestic flight. The question is what the load factor will be like, given the limited hotel inventory.
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...
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 can't imagine Nuuk has much to do... I also can't imagine"
I love that you freely offer opinions based your guesses when you can look up just anything on Google
I guess Greenland generally attracts high income travellers although I checked some hotels now and they are reasonably priced. I used to know someone who lived there. Personally I’d would love to visit. Flown over it so many times.
@ FNT Delta Diamond -- People don't generally go to Greenland for a day. It's not a place you go to see the cities, but rather to explore the nature, so people usually plan tours around.
That's going to change with United or another major airline. People will say, "Hey, they're flying twice a week to Greenland. Let's cash in miles and go there for 2 or 3 days to check off the bucket list."
That's my plan!
That's what I'm going to do. What's wrong with it?
Viking operates cruises out of Nuuk. Perhaps other cruise lines do too.
Pretty amazing expansion even if some are seasonal for obvious reasons.
I'd be interested in an analysis on the history of the NRT hub and viability. Maybe Cranky Flier will do one given how topical it is now.
I saw NWA/Delta's old route map and it was truly impressive, Delta's TPAC is a shell of what it used to be. It's interesting how UA is reviving this strategy, and I must say the destination choice is quite intriguing. KHH and UBN are a pretty good selection with strong demand.
Remember that things have changed again and what's old is new again - because Russian airspace is closed. That means that nonstops to deeper Asia from North America are longer now and require greater range than they did a few years ago. As UA still has remnants of a hub at NRT, they figured that they could leverage this unique strength to grow in Asian markets that no other US airline can possibly muster -...
Remember that things have changed again and what's old is new again - because Russian airspace is closed. That means that nonstops to deeper Asia from North America are longer now and require greater range than they did a few years ago. As UA still has remnants of a hub at NRT, they figured that they could leverage this unique strength to grow in Asian markets that no other US airline can possibly muster - aside from via codeshare.
And DL had already sacrificed some convenience when they blew out their former (NWA) hub at NRT in favor of ICN and using a lot of Korean Air metal for onward connections. That was competitive until the Russians invaded Ukraine, resulting in sanctions and closed airspace. Now, NRT is the quickest Asian hub - by far - as even ICN requires avoidance of Russian far east airspace that adds time to any flight from the USA (especially from the East Coast).
UA is brilliant in their strategy for next summer.
Here's a map I found:
https://northwestairlineshistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/NW-routemap-2004-04-magazine.pdf
AA at the same time is going "hey look how many flights we have out of ELP!"
AA's domestic network is arguably impressive...as long as you're flying to PHX, DFW, CLT or PHL.