Recently, United Airlines announced an incredible international expansion for the summer of 2025, whereby the airline is adding eight new destinations. What makes this so cool is how far-flung some of the new destinations are. If you ask me, the two coolest new routes are to Nuuk, Greenland, and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
While United Airlines’ Greenland route went on sale a few months back, there was no sign of the Mongolia route going on sale… until now. There’s an exciting update, as this flight is now bookable, so let’s go over the details (thanks to @IshrionA for flagging this).
In this post:
United will fly from Tokyo to Ulaanbaatar as of May 2025
Between May 1 and October 12, 2025, United Airlines plans to operate a seasonal, 3x weekly flight between Tokyo Narita, Japan (NRT), and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (UBN). The 1,900-mile flight will operate with the following schedule:
UA7 Narita to Ulaanbaatar departing 4:30PM arriving 8:55PM
UA6 Ulaanbaatar to Narita departing 9:55AM arriving 3:45PM
The westbound flight is blocked at 5hr25min and operates on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, while the eastbound flight is blocked at 4hr50min and operatens o Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
As you can tell, this route is scheduled so that it connects to the transpacific flight bank at Tokyo Narita. Furthermore, it seems like crews will be able to do a “turn” with the same aircraft, given the 13-hour overnight, so that’s pretty efficient.
United intends to use a Boeing 737-800 for the route, featuring 166 seats. Yes, this is the same plane you’ll find on many domestic United routes. It’s configured with 16 first class seats and 150 economy seats. The forward cabin on this flight is marketed as business class, but don’t expect flat beds.
While the flight is now bookable with cash, I don’t yet see award availability loaded. For cash fares, I see roundtrip economy tickets starting at around $567 all-in, while I see roundtrip business class tickets starting at around $1,274 all-in. Of course many passengers will book this route as part of a larger itinerary to and from the United States.
United isn’t the only airline operating this route, as there’s also service from MIAT Mongolian Airlines and Aero Mongolia.
Why on earth would United fly to Mongolia?!
Understandably, some people might be puzzled by United Airlines’ decision to start flying between Japan and Mongolia, as that seems random. Not only is this the first time that United is ever flying to Mongolia, but it’s also the first time any US airline has offered regularly scheduled flights there.
Well, this decision isn’t quite as random as it may sound, though it’s definitely some of the more adventurous expansion we’ve seen from an airline (Patrick Quayle, United’s SVP of Global Network Planning and Alliances, keeps one-upping himself). So, what’s going on here?
United has a Boeing 737 base in Guam, but that operation isn’t as profitable as it was back in the day. So rather than sending those 737s back to the United States mainland to fly there, the airline is experimenting with something else. United is shifting some 737s from Guam to Tokyo Narita, to give that kind of service a shot.
In a way, what’s old is new again, because United used to have a significant intra-Asia route network out of Narita back in the day, before the airline could fly straight from the United States to destinations like Singapore.
How could this route make any sense? There are several factors at play:
- United has a large transpacific operation to and from Tokyo Narita, so the airline will provide quite a bit of connectivity for this service, for those coming from the United States
- United joint venture All Nippon Airways doesn’t fly to Mongolia, and has the general issue of primarily flying wide body planes on regional flights within Asia; so United is able to add a lower capacity, lower cost option, and might appeal to some people traveling exclusively between Japan and Mongolia
- The “big three” US carriers make a large percentage of their profits from their loyalty programs, and United views having an interesting, global route network as a key selling point of its program, and that’s a consideration for destinations like Greenland and Mongolia
Only time will tell if this service returns for a second season. In the meantime, I commend United for its creative expansion, and I love to see a US airline trying some cool stuff. Flying a United 737 from Japan to Mongolia sure is a unique experience… talk about something we’d never see at American or Delta!
Bottom line
United Airlines’ new flight to Mongolia is now on sale. The flight will operate between Tokyo Narita and Ulaanbaatar 3x weekly during the summer season, and it’s easily one of the coolest routes we’ve seen added by a US airline in a long time. Mongolia is a pretty cool country, so if you have a chance to give this route a try, I’d highly recommend it.
What do you make of United’s Ulaanbaatar service?
but Ben why are you commending an airline for trying something cool and adventurous- think about the potential loss of PROFIT!!!!!!!!!!!! The potential loss of shareholder value!!!!!!!!!!
Still waiting for the schedule of the NRT-ROR nonstop that was part of the same route expansion announcement back in October... Any updates on that?
That would be awesome if this route remained long-term. Only went to Palau once back in the early 2000s, and by far the best diving I've ever done. Would love to go back.
I wonder if there's any easy way to fly from Guam... I hope to do the Island Hopper in a few years when my son is older.
Strongly doubt it will overfly North Korea as depicted on your map! Mongolia is becoming a popular new destination for Aussies and Kiwis
With DJT back in office soon, we might see better relations with rocket man soon; overflight of the DPRK will be no problems. And FNJ-IAD on the Il-62 will soon become reality as well.
Another factor is that Miat Mongolia announced that it intended (to take the regulatory steps required) to fly to San Francisco, with its newly ordered 787s.
This was then followed by a delay, and temporary lease of the aircraft to Riyadh Air for promotional purposes, so who knows to what extent they'll follow through.
I'm speculating that Mongolians in SFO+LAX (the two largest such populations in the country) constitute a not-insignificant portion of UA's Asian...
Another factor is that Miat Mongolia announced that it intended (to take the regulatory steps required) to fly to San Francisco, with its newly ordered 787s.
This was then followed by a delay, and temporary lease of the aircraft to Riyadh Air for promotional purposes, so who knows to what extent they'll follow through.
I'm speculating that Mongolians in SFO+LAX (the two largest such populations in the country) constitute a not-insignificant portion of UA's Asian connections, and that they'd prefer to keep it that way
These are the same flight numbers as the IAH-NRT-IAH flights