United Airlines is restoring about half of its domestic schedule in August as well as some international routes, particularly in Latin America, the carrier announced.
In all, the carrier will triple the number of flights compared with June, adding about 25,000 domestic and international flights in August. That will bring United to about 40 percent of what its schedule was last August. The carrier will operate 48 percent of its domestic schedule, compared with 30 percent in July, and 25 percent of its international schedule, compared with 16 percent in July.
The domestic growth will concentrate largely on United's hubs in Chicago, Houston and Denver, as demand growth currently is slower in its coastal hubs, VP of domestic network planning Ankit Gupta said in a media call on Wednesday. The growth also will double United's flights from Newark, return about 90 aircraft into service and restore some service to Hawaii.
United is basing that growth on an "uptick in demand," Gupta said. The carrier cited U.S. Transportation Security Administration statistics showing that more than 600,000 passengers went through security checkpoints on Monday, which was the first time volume has reached a quarter of that seen on the commensurate weekday in 2019.
While the schedule caters to leisure travelers seeking "socially distant vacation options," such as mountains and national parks, United expects to see some business travel returning as well.
"We've seen companies begin to relax travel policies in the last few weeks," chief communications officer Josh Earnest said. "Hopefully, that's a leading indicator that demand from business travel will begin to increase."
Gupta noted that business demand growth is coming largely from small and midsize businesses, while the larger corporate sector still is lagging. United's sales team has been soliciting feedback from its corporate customers in terms of the routes they will need the most as service is restored.
"There are several factors that go into the decision to add routes, but some was based on the feedback we've had from corporate clients," Gupta said. "Definitely, the corporate client's voice has been heard loud and clear."
New international routes in August will include 35 routes to the Latin America and Caribbean region, including service between Houston and Lima, between Newark and São Paulo and between Mexico City and each Chicago, Newark and San Francisco. The carrier also is restoring service to San Salvador and Guatemala City and is adding service to Cancun, Guadalajara and Leon in Mexico as well as Panama City and three destinations in the Dominican Republic: Santiago, Santo Domingo and Punta Cana.
New transatlantic routes include restoring service between San Francisco and London, between Chicago and both Brussels and Frankfurt and between Newark and each Brussels, Munich and Zurich. While the European Union has extended its ban on U.S. visitors as Covid-19 intensifies its spread in several U.S. states, United VP of international network and alliances Patrick Quayle said the restored service in Europe already was based on current restrictions. The destinations largely coincide with hubs of the Lufthansa Group, United's partner, and is meant to provide further connectivity beyond those hubs, he said.
"What we're seeing added is very gradual, and any loosening of [restrictions] will only make things get better in terms of demand," Quayle said.
United in August also plans to resume service between Delhi and both San Francisco and Newark, should travel restrictions to India be lifted.
On transpacific routes, United plans to restart service three times per week to Tahiti in August. The carrier will be restarting some other transpacific service in July, including service between Chicago and Tokyo's Haneda Airport, between San Francisco and Hong Kong with continuing service to Singapore, service to Seoul and between San Francisco and Shanghai.
While repatriation remains the primary driver of international demand, Quayle said there is some business demand on international routes, particularly China where there has been "effectively no capacity since February."