United Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 on the ground
United Airlines has announced four new European destinations, which it plans to serve seasonally, as well as capacity additions at other Asian and European airports, as it looks to expand its international network during the upcoming summer 2026 season.
On October 9, 2025, United Airlines said that it would begin offering flights between Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and Bari, Italy’s Karol Wojtyla Airport (BRI), Scotland’s Glasgow Airport (GLA), Spain’s Santiago de Compostela Airport (SCQ), and Croatia’s Split Stint Jerome Airport (SPU), as well as South Korea’s Seoul Incheon International Airport (ICN).
According to the carrier, it will be the only airline to offer flights between EWR and BRI, GLA, and SPU, with Patrick Quayle, the Senior Vice President of Global Network Planning and Alliances at United Airlines, remarking that the carrier already has “an unmatched international network.”
“With the addition of these new flights and the return of all of our new routes from last year, United now flies to 46 cities across the Atlantic – more than any other airline – and is the clear flag carrier of the US.”
The New and Revived Routes
Cirium’s Diio Mi showed that during the last summer season before the pandemic in 2019, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines both offered flights from either EWR or New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to GLA.
Glasgow’s main gateway said United Airlines would return to the airport with daily Boeing 737 MAX 8 flights, hailing the route as a “landmark achievement.”
During the summer 2025 season, Italy-based Neos operated one weekly flight from JFK to BRI, while in the past decade, no other airline flew directly between New York and Santiago de Compostela and Split.
United Airlines has seasonally served another Croatian destination, Dubrovnik Airport (DBV), since 2021, directly competing with Delta Air Lines’ JFK-DBV service that also launched the same year.
In addition to the new European gateways, United Airlines said that it would begin flights between Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Reykjavik Keflavik International Airport (KEF). The 757-200 daily service will complement its EWR and Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to KEF flights.
The carrier is also launching daily 787-9 flights from EWR to ICN, saying that it would be the only US-based airline to offer a direct connection to the South Korean capital. The New York-Seoul connection has also been flown by Air Premia, Asiana, and Korean Air, three South Korean airlines, Cirium’s Diio Mi showed.
Lastly, United Airlines is upping its capacity from EWR to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV) by offering additional four weekly departures starting March 28, 2026, with the airline already operating two daily departures on the route.
In addition to offering flights to Israel from EWR, the airline has additional departures from ORD and IAD to Tel Aviv (TLV). The extra frequencies to TLV reinforce its “position as the largest US carrier to Israel,” United Airlines concluded.
All nine new routes that it began during the summer 2025 season are also returning for next year’s peak travel period, including the Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT) to Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar Chinggis Khaan International Airport (UBN) flights.
The Bottom Line
United, in its United Next Strategy, focuses on preference and premium class travel, expanding its international network significantly in recent years. Â The strategy is working, as United and Delta lead the industry in profitability in the US, and have each successfully introduced new international routes. Â New services to smaller airports with 737 MAX and soon with 150 seat Airbus A321XLR models with large Polaris premium cabins will enable further expansion of routes to smaller European destinations that could not support wide-body operations.
Enabling international reach for business travelers to and from smaller cities without intermediate connections commands a premium, and United is capitalizing on its strategy for both business and premium leisure customers. Â Financial results continue to be sound, despite a downturn in low price economy customers in transatlantic markets amidst geopolitical uncertainties in the United States.
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