United Airlines has announced that it is ‘making it easier for business and leisure customers to jet across the pond’ with the addition of flights to London. United Kingdom on 28th July 2021 announced that fully vaccinated travellers from the United States would be able to travel quarantine-free.
United will have six daily flights between the U.S. and London, including a second daily flight from Washington DC. In August, United is increasing its service from Houston to London from five times weekly to daily. The airline will continue operating daily flights to London from Chicago, New York/Newark and San Francisco.
The Chicago-based carrier says that it looks forward to resuming additional London flights in the coming months as well as launching new nonstop service between Boston and London.
The United States may still be reluctant to reopen transatlantic air travel. However, with the news that the UK is scrapping quarantine for vaccinated travelers from the US as well as the European Union, United Airlines is betting on enough of an inoculated stream of Americans wanting to visit the UK to ramp up its schedule.
Patrick Quayle, Vice President of International Network and Alliances, United Airlines, said:
Today’s announcement is yet another major milestone in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic with the opening of one of the most important markets from the U.S. United has demonstrated that we can operate flights between the U.S. and England safely and we are eager to help rebuild these economies by facilitating business and leisure travel.
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As aforementioned, United is already operating flights between Heathrow and Chicago O’hare, Heathrow and Newark, and between Heathrow and San Francisco. These flights are operated by the airline’s Boeing B787 Dreamliner, either by the -8, the -9 or the -10 variant.
The new entry requirements of the United Kingdom are surely set to increase load factors as nearly 50% of the US population has already been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 while a total of 56.2% UK population has been fully vaccinated.
Travel Ready and self-testing
United allows passengers to make use of its ‘Travel-Ready Center’. This provides an online resource and an app where passengers can upload and store vaccination results as well as COVID-19 test results.
Additionally, United has partnered with medical device company Abbott to provide travellers with CDC-approved rapid antigen test kits. These tests can be self-administered under the real-time supervision of a telehealth portal, and if it comes negative, this will allow the passenger to board the flight back to the US.
Meanwhile, United is heavily investing on Carbon-Free aircraft. The airline recently announced that it will buy up to 50 Supersonic aircraft from BOOM Aerospace. The Chicago-based carrier is also investing in airplanes that have lower carbon emissions. It includes the airline’s recent order of 200 Boeing B737MAX and 70 Airbus A321neo aircraft. It is also eyeing flying electric aircraft by 2026.
The airline recently added nearly 150 flights to Warm-Weather cities for Winter season and three brand-new Transcontinental routes. United is now also offering the option to pre-order snacks and beverages including to Economy class passengers.
Featured image by United
What do you think of United ramping up capacity to London? Let me know in the comments section below.
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