United Airlines announced it will be greatly expanding its international reach in 2025, landing at some of the world’s more unusual destinations-fast becoming the new alternative to old familiar favorites, such as Paris, Rome, and Tokyo. Among those are Senegal, Mongolia, Greenland, and Palau.
Starting May 21, United will also introduce three weekly flights from its Newark, New Jersey base to Palermo, Sicily. On May 16, the airline will start four weekly non-stop flights from its New York/Newark hub to Faro, in Portugal’s Algarve region, followed by three weekly services to Madeira Island starting June 7. A new nonstop service from New York/Newark to Bilbao, northern Spain starts May 31, while providing further strong connections to United’s existing services to Italy, Spain and Portugal.
The new route of most importance is, probably, to the capital of Greenland, Nuuk. Available as from June 14, “The savvy traveler has flown so often to Paris, Rome, and Madrid that they are looking for something different,” said Patrick Quayle, United’s Senior Vice President of Global Network Planning and Alliances.
United’s strategy sets it apart from many of its U.S. and international competitors, which focus almost exclusively on hub-and-spoke routes. Quayle says, “We skate where the puck is going.” He pontificates as a statement of United’s commitment to diversity in the services it offers to customers. The airline will begin service between Dulles International Airport in Washington and Dakar, Senegal, with daily nonstop May 23. It will also initiate flights from Tokyo’s Narita International Airport to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, May 1.
Despite past failures—the announced end of one route to Bergen, Norway, in 2023 for lack of demand—Quayle is hopeful that the airline can find new ways to innovate and grow into some lesser-traditional markets. He said a diverse network can encourage customer loyalty and bring in further revenue through incentives offered by such networks. United also aims to grow operations from its West Coast locations, though specifics remain unknown.
