March 29, 2024

Alex o'Loughlin

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United Airlines plans big expansion of flights to Europe ahead of summer travel season

United Airlines ideas to offer more flights throughout the Atlantic this summer time than it did in 2019, a wager that global journey will bounce back again strongly regardless of the persistent pandemic.

United said Tuesday that it will improve transatlantic passenger-carrying capacity by 25% in excess of pre-pandemic stages to a combination of new places and aged favorites such as London.

Patrick Quayle, the airline’s senior vice president of global community, claimed it was the largest solitary transatlantic enhance in United’s record.

“We will be the major provider throughout the transatlantic,” he stated.

Later this week, United will start off serving several new places that it named last slide, like Portugal’s Azores and Spain’s Canary Islands. The enterprise is also adding flights — for case in point, jumping to 22 day by day flights from the U.S. to London in late May well.

Even right before Tuesday’s announcement, United had scheduled a lot more passenger-carrying capacity to Europe in June and July than its closest rivals — 15% far more than Delta Air Strains and 36% additional than American Airways, according to details from study business Cirium. Every provider also has European associate airlines.


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United’s annual revenue from U.S.-Europe flights fell from $7.4 billion just before the pandemic to $2.2 billion in 2020. It edged better to $3.4 billion final 12 months, or 14% of total earnings.

United was the initially important airline to call for vaccinations for all employees. The company stated 99.7% of its around 67,000 workforce have complied with the mandate. But 232 workers have not taken the vaccine and now deal with termination, United CEO Scott Kirby told CBS Mornings in Oct. 

Ongoing travel lag blamed on tests necessity

There is chance to United’s development strategies as international traveling has lagged the restoration in domestic vacation. Airlines blame that largely on a U.S. prerequisite that tourists examination detrimental for COVID-19 within just a day of boarding a U.S.-sure flight. Some People are unwilling to risk getting stranded abroad for various more times if they deal the virus throughout their vacation.

“The tests need is preventing a large amount of men and women from using outings that could possibly normally have taken,” Scott Keyes, a flight specialist and founder of Scott’s Low-cost Flights, a web page that finds bargains on airfare for its members, not too long ago instructed CBS MoneyWatch.

Carri Chan, a professor of selections, danger and operations at Columbia Business College, agreed that the testing necessity has been a far more significant barrier to journey than the prior mask mandate was. U.S. airways have made mask-carrying optional for the two travellers and employees in the wake of a judge’s ruling April 18 that struck down the Centers for Ailment Control and Prevention’s transit masking rules


Dr. Ashish Jha on battle over travel mask mandate

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“Surely for worldwide flights acquiring again to the U.S., there are folks who are worried about the money ramifications of not remaining able to arrive back if they take a look at beneficial,” she informed CBS MoneyWatch in March. She also reported that waiving the COVID-19 safeguards could dampen travel demand from customers from families with little young children, who aren’t but suitable for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Inspite of intensive lobbying by airlines, the Biden administration has offered no indicator of lifting the testing prerequisite.

United had to scale again its summertime strategies — delaying three new routes — for the reason that of a pilot scarcity and the grounding of various dozen Boeing 777 jets following the Pratt & Whitney engine on a single of them blew apart in excess of Denver in February 2021.

Quayle reported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine does not appear to be influencing bookings to Europe — one thing executives at other airlines have also mentioned. United does not fly to Russia, Ukraine or neighboring countries. Its closest vacation spot is Dubrovnik, Croatia. Quayle stated, on the other hand, that there may possibly be “a very little little bit” of weak spot for connecting flights into Poland or Romania.