While United Airlines already announced an impressive expansion for the summer of 2025, the Chicago-based Star Alliance carrier has just added yet another long haul route.
United’s new seasonal Denver to Rome route
For the summer of 2025, United will operate a daily seasonal flight between Denver (DEN) and Rome (FCO). The flight will be available for nearly five months, between May 1 and September 24, 2025. It will operate with the following schedule:
UA177 Denver to Rome departing 5:50PM arriving 12:20PM (+1 day)
UA178 Rome to Denver departing 2:20PM arriving 5:45PM
The 5,576-mile flight is blocked at 10hr30min eastbound and 11hr25min westbound. United will use a Boeing 787-9 for the route. These planes have 257 seats, including 48 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 188 economy seats.
The new route is already on sale, though as you’d expect, there aren’t many premium award deals to be had.
How this fits into United’s route network
While Denver is a massive domestic hub for United, it’s not a huge long haul hub for the airline. Currently United’s only long haul routes from Denver are to Frankfurt (FRA), London (LHR), Munich (MUC), and Tokyo (NRT), and they’re all operated on a year-round basis.
It’s logical enough that if United is going to add a seasonal transatlantic flight from Denver, it would be to Rome. Italy, Spain, and Greece, are the three hottest transatlantic summer destinations nowadays, and Rome often takes the top spot.
In addition to this new service, United flies to Rome year-round from Newark (EWR) and Washington (IAD), and seasonally from Chicago (ORD) and San Francisco (SFO). Perhaps the only surprise here is that United doesn’t serve Rome out of Houston (IAH), but for the purposes of connecting traffic, that can also be captured through most other hubs.
I’m curious what’s enabling this new route addition. Presumably United has some spare aircraft it wasn’t otherwise expecting to have. I’m guessing United isn’t counting on taking delivery of new Boeing wide body jets earlier than planned, because Boeing’s gonna Boeing. So presumably this addition is made possible by a cut somewhere else. Maybe United has come to terms with some service cuts to China and/or Israel for next summer?
The only downside to long haul expansion out of Denver is that there’s no United Polaris Lounge at the airport, so the ground experience isn’t as good as you’d get at other hubs.
Bottom line
For the summer of 2025, United will operate a daily flight between Denver and Rome using a Boeing 787. Denver doesn’t see much long haul service from United, so it’s always fun to see more service added. I’m sure this will prove a convenient (but pricey) option for many looking to travel between the two airports.
What do you make of United’s new Denver to Rome route?
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