United Airlines wants to go one step further and become a dominant player on the world stage.
On Tuesday it announced ten new international routes. United will be the only U.S. airline operating on eight of these routes.
Five of the routes will be operated by the Airbus A321XLRUnited’s newest plane. It is a single-aisle aircraft with an extended range, allowing for long-haul destinations that would not fill enough seats on a wide-body aircraft.
The new routes are:
- San Francisco to Okinawa, Japan
- Washington Dulles to Toulouse, France (XLR)
- Newark to Luxembourg (XLR)
- Newark to Marseille, France (XLR)
- Newark to Ibiza, Spain (XLR)
- Newark to Valencia, Spain (XLR)
- Newark to Terceira, Portugal
- Newark to Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Newark to Olbia, Italy
- Newark to Catania, Italy
The new routes are scheduled to launch next spring, starting with Okinawa on March 27. The Spain and Portugal routes will be the last to launch, with a planned start date in early June.
Business Insider toured one United A321XLR at last month’s Farnborough Airshow. In addition to 20 Polaris business class suites and 12 in Premium Plus, it also features a European-style premium class, which blocks out a middle seat with a shared table to give customers extra room to move around.
Although United is already the largest airline in the world, with more than 1,100 aircraft, it is aiming for a leading role globally.
At a media event on Tuesday, United chief executive Scott Kirby told reporters more about his ambitions.
He said he wanted to create an airline that all Americans “view as the national airline of the United States,” according to an X-post by Tim Jue, an aviation journalist.
“Just like someone in it Dubai is proud of EmiratesI want US citizens to feel the same way about United Airlines,” Kirby reportedly added.
A Polaris suite on United’s Airbus A321XLR. Pete Syme/Business Insider
While most countries designate one or two airlines as national carriers or flag carriers, the US defines all of its internationally operating airlines as flag carriers.
This makes it harder for any of the Big Three – United, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines – to gain clear supremacy.
However, Kirby has explored the possibility of a massive merger.
Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that United approached Delta about a merger, but the talks did not progress beyond the preliminary stages.
Following a similar report in April, American Airlines released a statement saying it is “not involved in or interested in discussions regarding a merger with United Airlines.”
While expanding internationally will help raise United’s profile, there is still a way to go before the company can reach Emirates’ level, with a huge global network and world-class first class suites.
“The truth is that those airlines in Asia and the Middle East have a better product than any airline in the Western world, including United,” Kirby told Live and Let’s Fly last Thursday.
