United Tiptoes Back to Overseas Flying With July Schedule Boost

(Bloomberg) -- United Airlines Holdings Inc. will add back some international flying in July, saying demand has “risen modestly” in some markets after the Covid-19 pandemic all but wiped out travel.

Flights will resume or increase on 40 international routes in July, United said in a statement Friday. The Chicago-based airline will serve only 27 foreign routes in June. United has said its overall schedule will be down about 75% from a year earlier in July, compared with a 90% reduction currently.

The plan to increase flying reflects a modest rebound in demand for all U.S. airlines as travel restrictions ease and economic activity picks up. Daily passenger numbers during the past seven days were only 12% of their level a year ago, according to the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. But the average tally of 293,982 a day rose 22% from the previous week.

United's schedule in July will include flights from Washington's Dulles airport to Brussels, London, Munich and Zurich, and from San Francisco to Tel Aviv and Delhi. The company will add five weekly flights between Chicago and Tokyo's Haneda airport, and offer daily service between its hub in Newark, New Jersey, and Tokyo's Narita airport.

The airline also will add back flying between Houston and Latin America, and resume some service to the Caribbean from Houston and Newark. The extra flights will be added to the schedule this weekend.

United also plans to resume three routes to China as early as next month, pending regulatory approval. That would be for service from San Francisco to Beijing and Shanghai, and between Newark and Shanghai.