United Airlines has agreed to an order of 270 new aircraft from both Boeing and Airbus as part of long-term fleet plan to increase premium seating and cut down use of 50-seat regional aircraft, the carrier announced.
The new order includes 150 Boeing 737 Max 10 aircraft and 50 737 Max 8 aircraft as well as 70 Airbus A321neo aircraft. Added to its previous orders, United now has more than 500 new narrow-body aircraft on the way, including 40 that will be introduced in 2022 and 138 in 2023.
"It's a nose-to-tail plan for the future that we've been working on for many years," United EVP and chief commercial officer Andrew Nocella said during a media call on Monday. "We're building an airline that can compete with anyone across a range of product types."
The fleet overhaul will increase total seats per departure by about 30 percent, an average of 30 seats per flight, on North American flights by 2026 and will significantly boost premium seating availability. The Max 8 aircraft includes 16 United First and 54 Economy Plus seats, and the larger Max 10 aircraft, which United plans to debut in early 2023, will have 20 United First and 64 Economy Plus seats. The A321neo aircraft will begin service in 2023 as well and have premium seating similar to that of the Max 10 aircraft, according to United.
Economy seating will not get tighter on the new aircraft, Nocella said.
"This is not an opportunity for United to densify our aircraft," he said. "We're keeping the same comfort standards we have today."
As it adds new aircraft, United will retire older mainline jets and at least 200 single-class regional jets. While the 50-seat regional aircraft will still be used to fly to smaller markets, "we will no longer use them to fly to large communities," Nocella said.
By having more larger aircraft in its narrowbody fleet, United also can add capacity in markets where runway constraints make it difficult to add more flights, specifically Newark and San Francisco, he said. The Max 10 aircraft largely will be used from those airports, he said.
With better fuel efficiency and aerodynamics than the older fleet, the new aircraft will cut carbon emissions per seat up to 15 percent by 2026, according to United.
In addition, the new aircraft will feature larger overhead bins capable of housing one carry-on bag per passenger, fast in-flight Wi-Fi capable of streaming video and Bluetooth technology to connect wireless headphones and seatback entertainment screens. Along with the new aircraft, United is retrofitting its current mainline narrowbody fleet to meet similar standards by 2025, which will bring the "same, consistent experience" across the mainline network, Nocella said.