A few weeks ago American announced new seasonal routes from Philadelphia to Budapest, Philadelphia to Prague, and Chicago to Venice. Today it’s United’s turn to announce some new seasonal routes to Europe for summer 2018.
Today United has announced four new transatlantic routes, including two to destinations that they don’t presently serve. Specifically, United has announced the following routes:
- Newark to Porto
- Newark to Reykjavik
- San Francisco to Zurich
- Washington to Edinburgh
Here are the details of all these new flights, which are already available for purchase:
Newark to Porto
United will operate a daily Boeing 757-200 flight between Newark and Porto between May 4 and October 4, 2018. The schedule will be as follows:
Newark to Porto departing 9:45PM arriving 9:50AM (+1 day)
Porto to Newark departing 12:35PM arriving 1:35PM
Newark to Reykjavik
United will operate a daily Boeing 757-200 flight between Newark and Reykjavik between May 23 and October 4, 2018. The schedule will be as follows:
Newark to Reykjavik departing 10:30PM arriving 8:10AM (+1 day)
Reykjavik to Newark departing 11:55AM arriving 2:05PM
San Francisco to Zurich
United will operate a daily Boeing 787-8 flight between San Francisco and Zurich between June 7 and October 26, 2018. The schedule will be as follows:
San Francisco to Zurich departing 2:10PM arriving 10:10AM (+1 day)
Zurich to San Francisco departing 9:50AM arriving 12:40PM
Washington to Edinburgh
United will operate a daily Boeing 757-200 flight between Washington and Edinburgh between May 23 and October 4, 2018. The schedule will be as follows:
Washington to Edinburgh departing 10:10PM arriving 10:25AM (+1 day)
Edinburgh to Washington departing 12:40PM arriving 3:40PM
United is extending other seasonal routes as well
In addition to the above, United has extended the service windows for a few other transatlantic flights, as follows:
- Chicago to Edinburgh will operate between May 4 and October 26, 2018
- San Francisco to Munich will operate between May 4 and October 26, 2018
- Chicago to Dublin will operate between April 9 and October 26, 2018
- Washington to Lisbon will operate between April 9 and October 26, 2018
Award availability on these new flights
All of these routes are already bookable, though United hasn’t made all that much award space available. I see a few random dates with some seats (more in economy than business), but overall the amount of award availability is disappointing, given that these flights were just loaded. Hopefully United will make more award space available on these routes over the coming days and weeks.
Bottom line
I love seeing airlines not just add new routes, but also add new destinations. While additional frequencies to Zurich and Edinburgh are nice, it’s even more exciting to see United add flights to Porto and Reykjavik, which they haven’t previously served.
United’s international growth lately is super impressive. In terms of international expansion, keep in mind that United is also adding flights from Los Angeles to Singapore and Houston to Sydney, which will be the two longest routes offered by US airlines.
What do you make of United’s new seasonal flights to Europe?
(Tip of the hat to Live and Let’s Fly)
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