United Airlines opens up reservations on 8 new transatlantic routes

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Around two weeks ago, United Airlines announced a series of new routes for the northern hemisphere summer season next year. At the time of the announcement, the flights had yet to be loaded into the booking system and we didn’t have all the details surrounding the flight timings and the aircraft that United plans to use on these routes.

Now, for eight of the new routes, bookings are open, and the schedules have been published.

United’s new routes for Summer 2025

Bilbao

Between 31 May and 23 September 2025, United Airlines will operate a new route between Newark and Bilbao on Spain’s north coast 3x/week, and this is the planned schedule:

UA633 EWR 21:15 – 10:45+1 day BIO (Tue, Thu & Sat)
UA634 BIO 12:30 – 15:00 EWR (Wed, Fri & Sun)

The airline will use its Boeing 757-200 aircraft to operate this route which means that the frontmost cabin will feature Collins Aerospace Diamond Parallel seats arranged in a 2-2 configuration, which convert into 76″ long fully flat beds and which offer 20.6″ of width.

There won’t be a Premium Economy product on offer (just Economy Plus in a 3-3 layout with seats offering 37″ of pitch, just 17.1″ of width and 6″ of recline).

The Economy Class cabin will feature 118 Collins Pinnacle seats arranged in a 3-3 layout and offering just 31″ of pitch, 17.1″ of width and 5″ of recline.

Dakar

From 23 May 2025, United Airlines will operate a new year-round service between Washington D.C. and Dakar (the capital of Senegal on the west coast of Africa). As things stand, the route will operate 3x/week on the following schedule:

UA461 IAD 18:30 – 07:00+1 day DSS (Tue, Thu & Sun)
UA460 DSS 09:05 – 13:55 IAD (Mon, Wed & Fri)

The route will be operated by a widebody 767-300ER aircraft which offers lie-flat Business Class seats with 20.6″ of width, Premium Economy seats with 38″ of pitch and 18.7″ of width, Economy Plus seats with 18.5″ of width and 34″ of pitch, and regular Economy Class seats with 18.5″ of width and just 31″ of pitch (Note: Seats A & B in rows 49 and 50 offer considerably more legroom and even come with extendable leg rests).

Faro

Between 16 May and 22 September 2025, United Airlines will operate a new route between Newark and Faro on Portugal’s south coast 4x/week on the following schedule:

UA281 EWR 21:40 – 09:50+1 day FAO (Mon, Wed, Fri & Sun)
UA282 FAO 11:45 – 15:05 EWR (Mon, Tue, Thu & Sat)

As with the Bilbao route, United will use a Boeing 757-200 aircraft to operate between Newark and Faro so the premium cabin will offer lie-flat seating in a 2-2 layout, there won’t be a Premium Economy cabin offered, and the Economy Class cabin will offer seats with only 31″ of pitch and 17.1″ of width (se

Funchal

Between 7 June and 23 September 2025, United Airlines will offer a new service between Newark and Funchal on the Portuguese island of Madeira. The route is set to operate 3x/week on the following schedule:

UA522 EWR 21:50 – 09:40+1 day FNC (Tue, Thu & Sat)
UA523 FNC 11:30 – 14:00 EWR (Wed, Fri & Sun)

Passengers on this route will be subjected to flying in one of United’s 737MAX8 aircraft which offer 16 domestic First Class seats, 54 Economy Plus seats, and 96 regular Economy Class seats with a knee-crushing 30.3″ of pitch.

Nice

Between 24 May and 24 September 2025, United Airlines will fly between Washington D.C. and Nice on France’s Côte d’Azur. The new route is scheduled to operate 4x/week on the following schedule:

UA242 IAD 17:20 – 08:00+1 day NCE (Mon, Wed, Fri & Sat)
UA243 NCE 10:05 – 13:55 IAD (Tue, Thu, Sat & Sun)

Just like the Dakar route, the service between D.C. and Nice will be operated by a United Airlines 767-300ER which, assuming the current seat maps are correct, will feature the following cabin/seat options:

• 30 lie-flat Business Class seats
• 24 Premium Economy seats
• 32 Economy Plus seats
• 117 regular Economy Class seats

At the time of writing, this aircraft offers United’s Panasonic IFE system and Panasonic Ku-band wi-fi.

Nuuk

Between 14 June and 24 September 2025, United Airlines will operate one of the more interesting routes in its network when it offers a service between Newark and Nuuk (the capital of Greenland). The route is scheduled to operate twice/week on the following schedule:

UA080 EWR 11:30 – 18:45 GOH (Tue & Sat)
UA081 GOH 09:00 – 10:30 EWR (Wed & Sun)

Unfortunately, this is another of United’s routes which will be operated by a 737MAX8 aircraft and that means that the premium cabin will only offer standard domestic First Class seats with 36.7″ of pitch, 20″ of width and 5″ of recline.

Further back, the Economy Plus seats will offer 33.5″ of pitch, 17.5″ of width and 3″ of recline while passengers in the regular Economy Class seats will be asked to put up with a little over 30″ of pitch, 17.5″ of width and just 2″ of recline.

Palermo

Between 21 May and 24 September 2025, United Airlines will fly between Newark and Palermo on the Italian island of Sicily. The new route (presumably designed to connect a significant number of New Jersey residents with their heritage) is expected to operate 3x/week on the following schedule:

UA735 EWR 16:15 – 07:15+1 day PMO (Wed, Fri & Sun)
UA736 PMO 09:45 – 14:15 EWR (Mon, Thu & Sat)

The new service between Newark and Sicily will be operated by a United Airlines 767-400ER which will feature the following cabin/seat options:

• 34 lie-flat Business Class seats (Safran Optima all aisle access seats with 20.6″ of width)
• 24 Premium Economy seats (2-2-2 layout, 18.7″ of width and 38″ of pitch)
• 48 Economy Plus seats (2-3-2 layout, 18.5″ of width and 34″ of pitch)
• 125 regular Economy Class seats (2-3-2 layout, 18.5″ of width and 31″ of pitch)

Seats A & B in rows 52 and 53 in the regular Economy Class section offer considerably more pitch (43″) and come with extendable leg rests.

Venice

Between 24 May and 24 September 2025, United Airlines will fly between Washington D.C. and Nice on France’s Côte d’Azur. The new route is scheduled to operate 4x/week on the following schedule:

UA242 IAD 17:20 – 08:00+1 day NCE (Mon, Wed, Fri & Sat)
UA243 NCE 10:05 – 13:55 IAD (Tue, Thu, Sat & Sun)

Just like the Dakar route, the service between D.C. and Nice will be operated by a United Airlines 767-300ER which, assuming the current seat maps are correct, will feature the following cabin/seat options:

• 30 lie-flat Business Class seats (Safran Optima all aisle access seats with 20.6″ of width)
• 24 Premium Economy seats (2-2-2 layout, 18.7″ of width and 38″ of pitch)
• 32 Economy Plus seats (2-3-2 layout, 18.5″ of width and 34″ of pitch)
• 117 regular Economy Class seats (2-3-2 layout, 18.5″ of width and 31″ of pitch)

Seats A & B in rows 49 and 50 in the regular Economy Class section offer more pitch (43″) and come with extendable leg rests.

Bottom line

United’s new summer routes to Bilbao, Faro, Funchal, Nice, Nuuk, Palermo, and Venice are now open for bookings as is the airline’s new year-round route between Washington D.C. and Dakar.

The routes out of D.C. all feature widebody aircraft with lie-flat all-aisle-access seats in Business Class and seats with good width in Economy Class, and three of the five new routes out of Newark will get widebody service as well.

Unsurprisingly, the relatively short route to Greenland will only be seeing narrowbody service from a 737 MAX8, but it’s disappointing to see that the same aircraft will also be employed on the longer route to Funchal (the ~30″ of pitch in Economy Class on the MAX8 looks horrendous).

What do you think of United’s new routes and the aircraft it plans to use?

[HT: AeroRoutes for the schedules]