United Airlines (UA)

Departing from New York-Newark, United will launch eight new European air connections: Ibiza and Valencia in Spain, Olbia and Catania in Italy, Marseille in France, Terceira in the Azores, Ljubljana in Slovenia and Luxembourg. From Washington-Dulles, the airline will also launch a daily air connection to Toulouse starting 26 April 2027. The tenth new destination will be Okinawa, Japan, served from San Francisco starting 27 March. Several of these new routes will be operated with United's new Airbus A321XLR, notably those to Luxembourg, Toulouse, Ibiza, Valencia and Marseille.

United is not content simply to add new destinations. The airline also plans to reinstate several air connections inaugurated in 2026 for summer 2027, including services departing from Newark to Split, Bari, Glasgow and Santiago de Compostela. Some of the new services will be seasonal and will continue through September or October, while the Newark-Luxembourg air connection will operate year-round. This expansion confirms United's determination to develop its transatlantic network and connect the United States directly with European cities that have so far been less well served.

United is making life easier for Travellers after a disruption. In its app, the airline now allows them to join the waitlist for up to three earlier flights.

The service is available to customers who have already been rebooked on a later flight. They keep their confirmed reservation until they accept the change. If a seat becomes available, United sends an SMS.

The system is intended for United flights serving the same destination airport. It also avoids back-and-forth with the desk or in the app during a missed connection, cancellation or delay.

Launched ahead of Labor Day weekend, this service arrives during a particularly busy period in the United States. United expects more than 3.4 million passengers between 3 and 8 September, or approximately 300,000 more than in 2025.

To reduce atmospheric warming, researchers are conducting tests (Boeing ecoDemonstrator programme) on a Boeing 737-10 in the United Airlines fleet. The tank is divided into two, with sustainable aviation fuel in one section and conventional kerosene in the other, in order to measure the emissions produced by each fuel as well as contrails. SAF is supplied by World Energy for these tests. The project is also supported (scientifically and financially) by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, GE Aerospace, and the German Aerospace Center. The programme is also being extended to Explorers aircraft for shorter tests on specific projects. Through this partnership, Boeing is committed to providing commercial aircraft that will be 100% compatible with this new sustainable aviation fuel by 2030. The tests are being conducted on the largest single-aisle aircraft in Boeing’s fleet, with the aim of reducing emissions by 20% while keeping fuel consumption in check.

In order to make booking easier, the airline United Airlines and the Department of Transportation have decided to introduce several solutions. The first is to add a filter to indicate whether the aircraft is suitable or not for people who use wheelchairs. If a customer has to pay more for a flight to comply with safety regulations, the difference will be refunded to them. These measures are due to come into effect at the beginning of 2024. These changes are the result of Engracia Figueroa filing a complaint against United after her wheelchair was damaged on one of its flights in 2021. She had to remain in a manual wheelchair that was not suited to her body, which reportedly led to emergency surgery. She died 3 months later. Her family hired lawyers to file a lawsuit against the airline and force it to introduce new regulations to improve accessibility on board aircraft.