United Airlines has big plans for Summer 2025. The carrier will add eight new destinations across Europe, Asia, and Africa, part of 800 daily international flights to and from nearly 150 unique destinations.
Map generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.
Going Green(land)
Greenland has big plans for tourism growth, with a new airport terminal having opened over the summer and the new runway set to open later this year. Indeed, when visiting earlier this year I noted that a flight between Newark and Nuuk “is the sort of seasonal less-than-daily service that United Airlines, for example, has been trying with its European summer operations of late.” Turns out United was way ahead of me on that observation.
The carrier will operate twice weekly flights on the route from June 14th, though specifics are not available as the website does not yet show the market as available.
Southern Europe’s continued draw
The warmth of summer in Southern Europe continues to attract capacity, and United hopes to tap into that with four new destinations, plus increased service on several other routes.
Newark is, again, the main hub for United’s European expansion. Service will be added to Palermo, Italy 3x weekly from May 21. Bilbao, Spain will also add 3x weekly flights from May 31. Portugal also sees a pair of new routes, with Faro launching 4x weekly starting May 16, and Maderia Island 3x weekly flights starting June 7.
Dulles will add seasonal service to Venice (daily) and Nice (4x weekly) in late May. Both of those destinations are also served daily from Newark for the summer season.
In addition to the new routes, United will resume service earlier in the season in several markets. These include:
- Newark-Athens, Greece on March 6
- Newark-Venice, Italy on March 29
- Newark-Dubrovnik, Croatia, on May 1 (and also increasing to daily)
- San Francisco-Barcelona on May 1
- Chicago O’Hare-Athens on May 1
- Newark-Palma de Mallorca increases to 4x weekly
Return of the Narita hub
For decades Narita was the gateway for US airlines to Asia. Thanks to partnerships and the ability to fly further nonstop, many of those onward operations disappeared. United is bringing three back in 2025.
The carrier will serve Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia seasonally from 1 May and year-round service to Kaohsiung, Taiwan from 11 July. Year-round service will also launch between Tokyo and Palau.
The three routes will be served by Guam-based 737s. Flight times will be aligned to connect with United’s services from the five US hubs where it flies from Narita.
Other bits
United’s Africa service will grow, with Dulles-Dakar launching 3x weekly from May 23. Starting on April 5 United will fly to Puerto Escondido, Mexico from Houston once a week on an E175. From May 22 United will add San Francisco-San Jose, connecting to all seven US hubs from the heart of Costa Rica.
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