United launches unique global expansion for summer, adding 8 cities, 13 routes

United Airlines is gearing up for its biggest — and perhaps most exciting — summer season yet.

On Thursday, the Chicago-based carrier unveiled a blockbuster expansion that includes a whopping eight new international destinations and 13 new routes.

In recent years, United (and its competitors) have turned their summer expansions into a grand reveal, with teasers posted on social media in the hours leading up to the announcement, followed by splashy press releases with exciting details of all the new places you can go.

But this announcement — United's largest international expansion yet — is unlike any other we've seen from a major U.S. airline in recent history. In fact, it includes a slew of exotic, off-the-beaten-path destinations that are likely to impress, assuming that you can place them all on a map. (As for me, I didn't even know the airport codes for some of United's new destinations.)

Here's everything you need to know to start planning your summer trip. And if you're ready to book, all the new flights are already available for sale (except Nuuk, Greenland, and Dakar, Senegal — those are coming soon).

United unveils 8 new destinations

Beginning in May 2025, United will add eight new destinations to its network. The full list is available below.

Seven of the eight new destinations aren't served by any other U.S. airline — Delta Air Lines flies to Dakar from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).

Technically, Delta will also soon fly from New York to Sicily in Italy, but Delta chose Catania as its primary Sicilian gateway while United is opting for Palermo.

It's interesting that we're jumping from no U.S. nonstops to Sicily to suddenly having two as of next summer — something that's likely to please "The White Lotus" fans.

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Otherwise, this list of new routes feels markedly different from any other recent announcements from United. You'll notice that there are no new flights to London, Paris, Rome or even Athens, Greece, some of the tried-and-true destinations that consistently draw scores of American tourists each summer.

Of course, United already flies to many of the top European destinations (with two additional new transatlantic routes taking off next summer, as detailed below), but it's interesting to compare United's announcement with the recent expansions unveiled by American Airlines and Delta.

American and Delta are still very much focused on the pre-coronavirus pandemic playbook of boosting service to popular European destinations, such as Athens, Rome and Edinburgh, Scotland.

United and its network planning team, led by Patrick Quayle, are charting their own course. They continue to add service to far-flung destinations that might first elicit a "where's that?" question when you read the announcement.

Which strategy works best in the long term is still up for debate. After all, not every new United route works.

The airline calls Faro a new destination this year, but it originally announced that city in 2023 and then scrapped the launch of new flights just weeks before they were supposed to start. Plus, the airline recently added new flights to Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands in 2022, but they weren't as successful in the summer as originally planned, and now United will try operating them exclusively in the winter to see if there's more demand.

That said, several of the recent new United routes are sure winners. Take, for instance, service to Cape Town and Johannesburg, which Quayle referenced more than once in a briefing with reporters on Wednesday afternoon ahead of the announcement. Those routes were innovative when they launched in 2019 and 2021, respectively, and now consistently perform as some of the best in the international network.

Time will tell how United's new destinations fare, but the airline is confident they'll succeed.

"People look to United to tell them where to fly. ... These are unique destinations that are undiscovered gems. United just became this one-stop shop for all unique content that you need, whether it's business, whether it's leisure, whether it's honeymoon. No matter what it is, people are coming to United," Quayle said. (Despite United's network chief just starting his own professional Instagram account, Quayle still considers "routes" his real "content.")

It's interesting that four out of the five new flights from Newark will be operated by a narrow-body aircraft. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 does not feature lie-flat pods in the pointy end of the plane (just standard domestic recliners), so it's pretty clear that these routes are geared toward leisure flyers.

Of all the new transatlantic routes, just one will be operated during the daytime in both directions: the service to Nuuk in Greenland. Flights will depart Newark at 11:30 a.m. and arrive at 6:45 p.m., all times local. The plane will remain overnight in Nuuk, leave the following morning at 8 a.m. and land back in Newark at 9:30 a.m.

While most of the focus is on the Atlantic, United has been busy in recent months growing its presence at Tokyo's Narita International Airport (NRT) into a de facto gateway hub within the larger region. The airline recently announced new flights from Tokyo to Cebu in the Philippines taking off later this month, and now it's adding three more short-haul regional routes from the airport.

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Its latest announcement includes new routes from Tokyo to Mongolia and Taiwan.

United says that its joint venture partnership with Japanese airline All Nippon Airways will help these routes take off. The new flights will also be supported by travelers looking for one-stop connections from the U.S.

"We are thinking about Tokyo differently than how it's been thought of in the past. I think Tokyo is a real asset to us. ... And when we went through the data, a lot of this traffic was connecting over Beijing, but is not doing so anymore. And so this is a way to connect it over Tokyo," Quayle explained.

United adds 13 new routes

In addition to the new destinations, United is adding new routes to existing destinations for next summer. They include:

The two new routes from Dulles definitely fit the bill for a traditional European expansion. While Nice and Venice don't draw as many tourists as London or Paris, plenty of Americans still look to fly to these cities each summer, and United's new flights should have no trouble filling up.

After all, the airline already serves these cities from Newark, so it has a good pulse on demand. Plus, opening a new gateway will offer travelers more connecting opportunities from points across the U.S.

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As for the Tokyo-to-Koror route, United says it'll further grow its presence in Tokyo with these flights. The airline already flies to Koror from Guam and Manila in the Philippines.

United boosts short-haul international network

While much of the focus is on the new long-haul routes, United isn't resting on its laurels. The airline also has some new short-haul international flights taking off next year.

To start, a new once-weekly service from Houston to Puerto Escondido, Mexico, will take off April 5, 2025. United will be the first and only airline to connect the two cities. The airline's regional affiliate, Mesa Airlines, will operate the flight using an Embraer 175 aircraft.

Then, starting May 22, 2025, United will also add a new daily flight from San Francisco and San Jose, Costa Rica, on board the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. Once it launches, the airline will offer service to San Jose from all seven of its mainland U.S. hubs, making the airline the largest U.S. carrier to Costa Rica.

While not included in this announcement, United will also launch flights from Newark to Dominica in the Caribbean on Feb. 15, 2025, as TPG previously reported.

United grows existing portfolio

Finally, the airline will also expand the operating season and upgauge certain aircraft on key European routes next year.

From Newark, the carrier will relaunch flights to Athens on March 6, 2025; to Venice on March 29, 2025, and to Dubrovnik, Croatia, on May 1. Dubrovnik flights will also move to daily service, while flights to Palma de Mallorca, Spain, will increase to four weekly services.

Additionally, on May 1, United will resume service from San Francisco to Barcelona and Chicago to Athens. The latter will even be operated by a Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner, providing more capacity than before on this route.

Bottom line

When all is said and done, United will offer a whopping 800 daily flights to and from 147 international destinations, including 40 nonstop routes no other major U.S. airline serves.

This expansion reaffirms United's position as the largest international airline in the U.S. From unlocking new adventures in Greenland to adding more service to Italy, United will have something for everyone next summer.

For the airline, moves like this help enhance its end-to-end value proposition.

"What we see is the more unique content, the better the credit card acquisitions. And the more unique content, the more we differentiate ourselves from our competitors," Quayle explained.

While the airline has now formalized its summer plans, Quayle and the network team aren't going into hibernation mode. In fact, there have long been rumors that the carrier will soon add flights to Bangkok and possibly even to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Those flights weren't announced in Thursday's update, but Quayle did drop a teaser during his remarks.

"We will potentially add some more West Coast flying later this year, so stay tuned for that," he said.

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• How to survive basic economy on United Airlines