United Bets on Off-the-Beaten-Path Destinations for Summer 2025

14.10.2024 - 20:57 / skift.com / Patrick Quayle / Delta Air Lines / United Airlines / Meghna Maharishi

Paris, Rome and Madrid might be what comes to mind when planning a summer vacation. But what about a trip to the capital of Mongolia?

United Airlines is adding eight new, off-the-beaten-path destinations to its summer 2025 schedule, a bet that customers will travel to less popular destinations. 

The strategy is not new for United. The carrier currently operates nonstop flights to places like Palma de Mallorca and Dubrovnik, and is slated to start service to Marrakech later this month. 

“What we’re really trying to do is add experiences,” Patrick Quayle, United senior vice president of global network planning and alliances, said in a call with reporters. 

Many of United’s new destinations are in contrast to those of American Airlines and Delta Air Lines. American’s and Delta’s summer schedules typically revolve around more popular routes in Europe, including increased capacity to Italy and Spain. 

United isn’t ignoring big-name destinations completely. It is adding flights to Nice and Venice from Dulles. The carrier said it also plans to resume routes like San Francisco-Barcelona, Newark-Athens, Newark-Venice and Chicago O’Hare-Athens. 

The Dubrovnik-Newark service will increase to daily service on May 1. United will also operate its Newark-Palma de Mallorca route four times a week next summer. 

Quayle said United’s Palermo service will be its first nonstop flight to Sicily. Delta similarly added a new route from JFK to Catania, one of the largest cities in Sicily. 

He also said that United wasn’t expecting any impact from Boeing delivery delays and the ongoing machinist strike on its summer schedule. On Wednesday, Boeing withdrew its offer to the International Machinists Union, and it’s unclear when the dispute will be resolved.

For some of the quirkier destinations like Mongolia and Greenland, Quayle said United analyzed a range of data to determine what worked well in its network. 

“For example, Nuuk, it’s really hard to get to, and like Dubrovnik or Cape Town, it required really long, arduous journeys,” Quayle said. “And so by making it simpler, we saw that traffic demand in South Africa improved dramatically.” 

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