Many airlines have been announcing new routes to/from the US from/to Europe. With Norwegian adding various cities, and WOW Air having probably the largest expansion in the US of a foreign carrier in a year, the TATL landscape is shifting very fast. United has since announced the resumption of Denver to London flights. This was probably a response to Norwegian’s announcement to start flights to Denver, too, from Gatwick. United, as a response to the aggressive expansion of other carriers, has now announced new European routes.
New United Europe Routes
Most of the new routes will serve smaller cities from the East Coast. The new routes are:
- Newark-Porto
- The Newark to Porto flight will be operated by a 757, once daily. The schedule is as follows.
| Flight | From | To | Departure | Arrival | 2018 |
| UA144 | EWR | OPO | 9:45 p.m. | 9:50 a.m. | May 4-Oct. 3 |
| UA145 | OPO | EWR | 12:35 p.m. | 1:35 p.m. | May 5-Oct. 4 |
- Newark-Reykjavik
- This flight will be operated by a 757 as well, on a daily basis. The flight schedule looks as follows:
| Flight | From | To | Departure | Arrival | 2018 |
| UA138 | EWR | KEF | 10:30 p.m. | 8:10 a.m. | May 23-Oct. 3 |
| UA139 | KEF | EWR | 11:55 a.m. | 2:05 p.m. | May 24-Oct. 4 |
- Washington- Edinburgh
- The IAD-EDI flight will be flown with a 757 plane, just like the previous flights. The airline will have the following schedule for this flight:
| Flight | From | To | Departure | Arrival | 2018 |
| UA146 | IAD | EDI | 10:10 p.m. | 10:25 a.m. | May 23-Oct. 3 |
| UA147 | EDI | IAD | 12:40 p.m. | 3:40 p.m. | May 24-Oct. 4 |
- San Francisco- Zurich
- SFO-ZRH will be the only flight that will not be operated by a 757. The aircraft that will fly this route is a 787-8. The airline will operate the flight in cooperation with Swiss Air. Swiss will allow United passengers to connect to further destinations. The flight will be codeshared with Swiss. The schedule is as follows:
| Flight | From | To | Departure | Arrival | 2018 |
| UA44 | SFO | ZRH | 2:10 p.m. | 10:10 a.m. | June 7-Oct. 26 |
| UA45 | ZRH | SFO | 9:50 a.m. | 12:40 p.m. | June 8-Oct. 27 |
Seasonal Expansions
The airline will also turn seasonal service flights to a more extended schedule. These flight are:
- Chicago- Edinburgh (extended May 4th-October 26)
- San Francisco- Munich (extended May 4th-October 26)
- Chicago-Dublin (April 9th-October 26th)
- Washington- Lisbon (April 9th- October 26th)
What to Expect:
These flights are probably a response to other airlines expanding in the US. United will be flying to destinations that are not major hubs for their Star Alliance partners, except for Porto, Lisbon, Munich and Zurich. In these cities you can connect to other destinations across the globe with United’s Star Alliance partners.
In the flight itself, you can expect United’s Polaris Business Class service. There will be Saks Fifth Avenue bedding, as well as enhanced meal service, lie flat seats and their new amenity kits. The aircraft, however, will not offer the new Polaris seat, as this is only offered on select 767s and on the 777-300ER.
Landing Thoughts:
I am glad to continue seeing airlines expand their TATL services. This is making global connectivity more easy. For most premium passengers, there have been numerous enhancements. This is especially noticeable with United’s “new” Polaris business class. I can imagine these route announcements will be very welcome by United frequent flyers. With Delta adding flights from Orlando and adding a subsidized flight from Indianapolis, the next airline up is American. Who knows where they will expand next. Any ideas?
What do you think? Is United’s new route response to ULCCs? If not, what is driving the airline to add new routes to Europe? Let us know!
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Images from: Wikimedia Commons
