United Airlines is betting big on July with 400 flights added compared to June. The airline in a statement said that it will operate at 80% of pre-pandemic US schedule.
July will be the largest month in terms of schedule since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The carrier plans to fly 80% of its schedule compared to July 2019 while the airline says that bookings for summer travel are up 214% compared to that of 2020.
More domestic flights
Domestically in the United States, United will add new routes to Bozeman in Montana, Orange County in California, Raleigh in North Carolina and Yellowstone in Wyoming. The airline is also adjusting its flight times at its hubs at Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport to provide more convenient options for passengers.
United is resuming and adding new routes and increasing its domestic network by 17% compared to its June schedule. It is adding flight banks in Chicago and Washington D.C. to provide passengers with convenient connection options. In Chicago, the airline will add two new banks for a total of nine flight banks and more than 480 daily departures across the globe. In Washington D.C, United is adding a third bank to its operation, and will operate more than 220 daily departures.
Ankit Gupta, Vice President of Domestic Planning and Scheduling, United, said:
This July we’re taking a big step toward flying at pre-pandemic levels for our domestic network. By adjusting our bank structures at two key hub airports, we’re able to offer our customers easy connections to destinations across the U.S. so they can start their vacations at times convenient for them.
Head-to-Head with Delta on Dubrovnik route
A few days ago, United had announced that it will start flying between New York and Dubrovnik from 8th July 2021. Just a few days later, it’s ‘Big-3’ competitor Delta announced the same route with the only difference being that Delta will launch the route on 1st July 2021. Well, United has now responded to this by bringing forward the launch of its New York-Dubrovnik service to 1st July 2021. Not only this, United will now fly 4-times-a-week to Dubrovnik instead of the originally planned thrice-a-week. The airline will fly on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays.
International boost
United plans to resume its daily service between New York and Athens in June, and in July, it will deploy a larger Boeing B777-200ER aircraft which includes United Premium Plus seats. The New York service will complement the already announced Washington D.C.-Athens route which will begin in July.
The airline also plans to add a second flight from Washington D.C. to Frankfurt, providing an evening departure with one-stop connections to over 50 cities in Europe. Lastly, United is planning to resume service to Spain and Portugal with flights from New York to Barcelona, Lisbon and Madrid, subject to these countries re-opening to vaccinated tourists.
Patrick Quayle, Vice President of International Network and Alliances, United, said:
As we start to see a strong desire from our customers to travel internationally to re-opened countries, we are excited to move up service and add a fourth weekly flight to Dubrovnik, Croatia. And with the additional seats we’re adding to Athens, Greece, we continue to make creative adjustments to match our service with customer trends.
United is reducing flights to India and also delayed its Bengaluru launch.
Featured image by WikiData
What do you think of United’s ambitious July schedule? Do you think recovery will be high in July as United is predicting? Let me know in the comments section below.
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