The 15 Most Exciting New Routes Coming To The United States in 2022

For the past few years, I’ve compiled the most exciting new routes coming to the United States in the upcoming year. This past year has been quite odd when it comes to new routes, because so much of the world was closed off, which consequently meant that airlines had to get creative in where they would send their aircraft. For example, United, instead of sending their 787s from to Singapore or Chengdu, sent them to destinations such as Athens or Accra, based on shifting demand and countries that were open to US visitors. Similarly, Hawaiian Airlines sent their A330s to Orlando and Austin, because of their surplus of such aircraft they had which weren’t flying to Asia.

For the upcoming year, airlines have kept becoming creative, as some airlines plan to launch routes, especially to Europe, during the summer season. With traffic to Asia still being out and business travel only slowly resuming, probably still for most of the upcoming year, airlines are continuing to turn more toward leisure long-haul routes for the indefinite future. While it’s possible and potentially even likely that long-haul travel will be down for the next couple months due to the Omicron variant, due to the cyclical nature of the virus, it’s still looking quite likely that Summer 2022 will still be a fairly big travel season to Europe, and even South America and Africa. While some of these routes may not launch, I’d predict that most of them indeed will, largely due to people’s continued longing and recent (and current) hindrances to travel.

In the list, you will notice some trends, most prominently being that United Airlines by far tops the list with the most new routes. Back in October, United announced their annual new intercontinental routes, adding eight new city pairs. This is due to two reasons; firstly, in recent, history, United has been more bullish in their international expansion than their peers, which is due to a difference in competitive strategy. Secondly, while American and Delta retired much of their long-haul fleets in 2020 (all of American’s A330s, 767s, and 757s, and all of Delta’s 777s and some of their 767s), United didn’t retire a single long-haul aircraft. While many of their 777s have been grounded due to their Pratt & Whitney engine issues, they still have a larger long-haul fleet than both American and Delta, allowing them to add more routes. Plus, they had the largest Asian presence before COVID, so they have more aircraft (especially with the looming return of their PW 777s) that need to be taken off Asia and can be placed on other routes.

One thing to note is that I tried not to include routes that were announced before the pandemic and only are now scheduled to begin next year (largely for sake of avoiding repetition from previous years’ posts), so most of the routes mentioned were only announced this past year. On top of this, it’s important to note that ITA Airways will be launching flights to the US out of Rome next year, though I didn’t include them as they are for the most part continuations of Alitalia’s previous service. Lastly, I only included long-haul international routes in this article. This is mostly because I find long-haul routes to be significantly more exciting than standard domestic routes. In recent years, I have included new long-haul domestic routes (in particular to Hawaii), though no airline has announced new long-haul domestic flights for 2022 yet.

15: Los Angeles to Paris Orly on French Bee

While Los Angeles to Paris is a route that already has a couple of airlines flying it, French leisure/low-cost carrier French Bee has decided to start flying between the two cities this year, starting on April 9. French Bee is based out of Paris Orly, the secondary airport of Paris, and operates a fleet of five A350s to only a handful of destinations aimed at leisure travelers, including Reunion, Newark, and Tahiti via San Francisco, making Los Angeles their fifth destination. Currently, only two airlines fly between Los Angeles and Pairs, Air France and Air Tahiti Nui, meaning that this flight has the potential to shake up the market and hopefully drive prices down across the board. This flight should therefore offer a cheaper alternative to Air France for passengers from either city looking to travel to the other.

French Bee will operate their Los Angeles flights 4x weekly and year-round onboard one of their A350-900s. Their A350-900s are equipped in a two-class configuration, with 35 premium economy seats on-board in a 2-3-2 configuration, and 376 economy seats in on-board in a 3-4-3 configuration (these seats are awfully narrow though, as industry standard for A350s in economy is a 3-3-3 configuration). The outbound flight will depart Paris Orly at 2:50 PM and arrive in Los Angeles at 5:15PM, while the return flight will depart Los Angeles at 7:45 PM and arrive back in Paris at 3:35 PM the next day, making the flight blocked at 12h 25m westbound and 10h 50m eastbound.

14: Boston to Tel Aviv on Delta

Starting on May 26, 2022, Delta will begin flights to Tel Aviv, Israel, from Boston Airport. This flight will be the second nonstop flight between the two cities, as El Al currently also flies the route. This flight will also be Delta’s second destination out of Tel Aviv, as they currently fly to New York JFK Airport to Tel Aviv. This route marks Delta’s growing presence in Boston, as Delta’s second or third largest transatlantic hub. Delta has been adding more transatlantic route out of Boston in recent years, including this flight, along with the later mentioned Athens flight, growing beyond the standard transatlantic routes to Paris, London, and Amsterdam, which Delta only offered a few years ago.

This route also represents the growing competition in the market of nonstop flights from the US to Israel, which up until a few years ago had been dominated by an El Al with an aging fleet, in addition to only a couple of flights out of New York on Delta and United (formerly Continental). However, nowadays, Tel Aviv is served by four destinations on United, two (soon to be three) by American, soon to be two by Delta, while El Al has continued to add new destinations in the US (such as Chicago or Las Vegas) and has updated its fleet with modern 787s, which really represents a drastic transformation in this market from just five years ago.

Delta’s Boston to Tel Aviv flights will be operated three times weekly by the A330-900neo, which is one of Delta’s newest planes. Their A330-900s feature 29 of Delta’s Delta One Suites in business class, closed suites in a 1-2-1 configuration, along with 28 premium economy seats in a 2-3-2 configuration, and 224 economy class seats in a 2-4-2 configuration. The outbound flight will depart Boston at 4:20 PM and arrive in Tel Aviv at 9:35 AM, while the return flight will depart Tel Aviv at 11:50 AM and arrive back in Boston at 4:45 PM, making the flight blocked at 10h 15m eastbound and 11h 55m westbound.

13: Chicago to Milan on United

The first of many of United’s new routes to be featured in this article is a flight from Chicago O’Hare to Milan Malpensa Airport, which is slated to begin on May 6, 2022. This route will be United’s second to Milan, as they currently fly to Milan only from Newark. The route is also part of a larger expansion to Italy from United, in part probably to challenge a weakened flag carrier of Italy, shown by this, along with adding a second flight to Rome out of Newark and new flights to Bergamo from Newark (though this was announced pre-pandemic).

I’m not sure if Milan has ever had Chicago flights before, but United will not be facing any direct competition on this route when it commences. This route is also in line with United’s strategy during COVID in adding more seasonal flights to Europe for American tourists, as they will likely largely rely on tourists traveling to Milan and northern Italy for this route to be a success. One interesting fact about this route is that Milan will be (I believe) the only European destination that United serves out of Newark and Chicago, but not out of Washington Dulles (United usually adds Dulles flights for European destinations before Chicago).

United’s Milan flights will operate daily onboard a Boeing 787-8, though the flight will only operate summer seasonally. United’s 787-8s are equipped with 28 seats in Polaris Business Class (with the “new” Polaris seats) in a 1-2-1 configuration, along with 21 Premium Plus seats, 36 Economy Plus seats, and 158 economy seats. The outbound flight will depart Chicago at 9:15 PM and arrive in Milan at 1:10 PM, while the return flight will depart Milan at 3:10 PM and arrive back in Chicago at 6:00 PM, making the eastbound flight blocked at 8h 55m and the return flight blocked at 9h 50m.

12: Seattle to Helsinki on Finnair

Starting on June 1, 2022, Finnair will start flights from Helsinki to Seattle Tacoma Airport, making Seattle the fifth US destinations served by Finnair, after New York JFK, Chicago O’Hare, Miami, and Los Angeles. It’s likely that the reason why Finnair will begin these flights is because of Seattle’s new position as a OneWorld hub, after Alaska joined the alliance last year and American started launching long-haul flights out of Seattle. Given their partnership with Alaska Airlines, this flight should provide ample connectivity to the West Coast out of Seattle. Finnair has historically been more focused on flights to Asia, though with Asian markets still being down due to travel restrictions, it’s no surprise that Finnair is adding more transatlantic flights.

The flight will be operated by summer seasonally 3x weekly by an Airbus A330-300. Finnair’s A330-300s are equipped with 32 business class seats in an alternating 2-2-1 and 1-2-1 configuration (using the popular Thompson Vantage seat), along with 40 extra legroom economy seats and 217 standard economy seats. The outbound flight will depart Helsinki at 5:55 PM and arrive in Seattle at 5:40 PM, while the return flight will depart Seattle at 7:20 and arrive back in Helsinki at 2:50 PM, making the flight blocked at 9h 45m westbound and 9h 30m eastbound.

11: New York JFK to Doha on American

American Airlines is planning on starting flights to Doha, Qatar from New York JFK Airport on June 4, 2022, which will become American’s second destination in the Middle East, the first outside of Tel Aviv. This route is somewhat interesting due to Qatar obviously being the home to Qatar Airways, which, since United cancelled their flights to Doha, has been the only airline to fly to the US from Qatar. This flight does make some sense as Qatar Airways is in the OneWorld alliance, along with American Airlines, which will provide a large amount of connectivity to American Airlines passengers. Since Qatar isn’t the largest tourist destination, besides for a month late next year, I think it’s safe to assume that the primary reason why this flight will operate is to provide feed into Qatar Airways’ network.

This route is also interesting because Qatar Airways, of course, has a huge presence in the US already and flies to JFK Airport twice a day. Given that Qatar Airways has a much better passenger experience than American Airlines across the board, one has to wonder what will make passengers choose American over Qatar Airways when connecting into their feed. This is good news for American Airlines elites who now can use their elite perks to upgrade on at least half of their travel connecting into the Qatar Airways network, but besides that, I don’t know why anyone would choose American over Qatar.

American’s Doha flights will use a Boeing 777-300ER, which is American Airlines’ flagship aircraft, equipped with all four cabin classes. First Class features eight open suites in a 1-2-1 configuration (notably no where near as private as Qatar Airways’ Business Class), while Business features 52 reverse herringbone seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. 28 Premium Economy seats are also available in a 2-4-2 configuration, while the aircraft is also equipped with 28 Main Cabin Extra and 188 regular Economy seats. The outbound flight will depart New York at 1:00 AM and arrive in Doha at 8:30 PM, while the return flight will depart Doha at 1:35 AM and arrive back in New York at 8:30 AM. The flight is blocked at 12h 30m eastbound and 13h 55 minutes westbound.

10: Raleigh to Reykjavik on Icelandair

Icelandair will begin service to Raleigh–Durham International Airport from Reykjavik Keflavik Airport on May 12. I’ll be honest, I was somewhat surprised when Icelandair announced this route because they have been more conservative in their growth since their competitor WOW Air shut down and since COVID, though the route does make some sense. This flight will be the third transatlantic flight out of Raleigh, after American’s flight to London and Delta’s flight to Paris. The greater Research Triangle area is a fairly large market, making this flight appeal to tourists looking to fly to Iceland, along with passengers connecting to Europe via Iceland fairly cheaply with Icelandair.

This flight will be operated 4x weekly summer seasonally onboard a 737 MAX 8, which has better economics than Icelandair’s 757s, which may have made this route more feasible. Icelandair’s 737 MAX 8s are equipped with 16 recliner seats (more like domestic first class) in business class, along with 144 seats in economy class. The outbound flight will depart Reykjavik at 4:45 PM and arrive in Raleigh at 7:30 PM, while the return flight will depart Raleigh at 8:30m PM and arrive back in Reykjavik at 6:30 AM, making the flight blocked at 6h 45m westbound and 6h eastbound.

9: New York JFK/Newark to Ponta Delgada (The Azores) on Azores Airlines/United

Perhaps not coincidentally, both Azores Airlines and United will launch flights between Ponta Delgada and New York (JFK on Azores Airlines and EWR on United) this year. There have for a long time been flights on Azores Airlines from Ponta Delgada to Boston and Toronto, though I don’t believe that they have never flown nonstop between the Azores and New York. However, oddly, because it hasn’t historically been a hub or operating base for them, Azores Airlines did fly to New York JFK from Funchal, Madeira this past summer season. Additionally, Delta used to fly to Ponta Delgada from New York JFK in 2018 and 2019, though they cancelled the route just before COVID. This will also be the first time that United has ever flown to the Azores.

Azores’ Airlines flight will begin their Ponta Delgada to New York flights on June 1, 2022, and the flight will be operated by an Airbus A321neo. Azores Airlines’ A321neos are equipped with 16 recliner seats in business class, along with 174 seats in economy class. The outbound flight will depart Ponta Delgada at 6:00 PM and arrive at JFK Airport at 7:55 PM, while the return flight will depart JFK at 9:20 PM and arrive back in the Azores at 6:25 AM, making the flight blocked at 5h 55m westbound and 5h 5m eastbound.

Meanwhile, United’s flight to Ponta Delgada from Newark will commence on May 13, 2022 and will be operated by a Boeing 737 MAX 8. United’s 737 MAX 8s are equipped with 16 seats in business/first class, along with 54 economy plus seats and 96 economy seats. Notably, however, this flight will not feature United’s Polaris Business Class, which is currently available on all transatlantic flights. Rather, United’s 737 MAX 8s are equipped with United’s standard domestic business class seats (though on the MAX 8 with personal TVs, unlike most other aircraft in their fleet), which United is marketing simply as United Business, like they do with most of their flights to Central America. The flight isn’t longer than a transcontinental flight, and it’s the industry standard, so it’s not too surprising that United won’t have Polaris on this route.

United’s flight will operate summer seasonally and 3x weekly in May, though will become daily in June. The outbound flight will depart Newark at 10:55 PM and arrive in Ponta Delgada at 8:40 PM, while the return flight will depart Ponta Delgada at 10:45 AM and arrive back in Newark at 12:55 PM, making the flight blocked at 5h 45 minutes eastbound and 6h 10m westbound.

8: Boston and Baltimore to Reykjavik on PLAY

Tied for spot 8 in my ranking are two routes on a brand new Icelandic airline looking to fill the void of WOW Air. PLAY Airlines will commence flights from Reykjavik (KEF) to Baltimore (BWI) and Boston (BOS) on April 20 and May 11, respectively. Like WOW Air, PLAY is an ultra-low-cost carrier, meaning that from the consumer’s side, prices will be cheaper than full service carriers, although the base fare won’t include add-ons such as baggage or seat selection.

PLAY launched flights from Iceland to Europe this year, though with launching US flights, they will be able to, like Icelandair and formerly WOW Air, connect passengers to and from Europe via Iceland to numerous destinations on both sides of the Atlantic. While presumably a lot of passengers who will fly PLAY will do so to visit Iceland (cheaply), a lot will probably also stopover in Iceland in order to connect on to some of PLAY’s destinations in Europe, which include cities such as Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, London, etc. PLAY will be competing against Icelandair, which currently flies to Dulles and will resume flights to Baltimore this year, on their Baltimore flight, and they will also compete directly against Icelandair and Delta on their Boston flight.

Both flights will be operated daily year-round onboard one of PLAY’s Airbus a321neos, which is one of two aircraft types in their fleet, the other one being the slightly smaller A320neo. PLAY’s A321neos are equipped with 192 economy class seats in a one class configuration. Their outbound Baltimore flight will depart Reykjavik at 3:05 PM and arrive at 5:50 PM, while the return flight will depart Baltimore at 7:00 PM and arrive in Reykjavik at 5:00 AM, making the flight blocked at 6h 45m westbound and 6h eastbound. Meanwhile, their outbound Boston flight will depart Reykjavik at 3:30 PM and arrive at 5:35 PM, while the return flight will depart Boston at 7:00 PM and arrive in Reykjavik at 4:30 AM, making the flight blocked at 6h 5m westbound and 5h 30m eastbound.

7: Boston to Athens on Delta

In addition to flights to Tel Aviv, as mentioned above, Delta will start flights from Boston to Athens, starting on May 27, 2022. This flight will be the third airport that Delta serves Athens from, in addition to Atlanta and New York JFK. With this flight, Boston will be the seventh airport to have transatlantic service to Athens, after New York JFK, Newark, Chicago O’Hare, Washington Dulles, Atlanta, and Philadelphia, although Newark is the only airport served year-round (on Emirates, of all airlines). This route is a testament to last year’s big transatlantic success on routes to European leisure destinations, especially Athens, and the expectation that this next summer will be just as big in terms of European leisure travel.

This flight will operate 3x weekly onboard an Airbus A330-300. Delta’s A330-300s have 34 seats in Delta One (business class), though the aircraft doesn’t have Delta’s latest Delta One Suites; rather, they are equipped with reverse herringbone seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. In addition, Delta’s A330-300s are equipped with 259 economy class seats. The outbound flight will depart Boston at 6:55 PM and arrive in Athens at 12:30 PM, while the return flight will depart Athens at 2:45 PM and arrive back in Boston at 7:15 PM, making the flight blocked at 10h 30m eastbound and 11h 30m westbound.

6: Washington to Berlin on United

This route is interesting to me, in particular, because it is probably the route that I have been hoping for for basically my entire life. I live in Washington DC and have family an hour or two away from Berlin, so this is a route I’ll probably end up taking a fair amount. It also is quite interesting because the capitals of the US and Germany haven’t been connected nonstop in recent history (or maybe ever). Berlin isn’t a big business market and Berlin Brandenburg Airport isn’t really a hub for any airline (meaning there won’t be very many connections), but given its political importance and fair amount of tourism, there definitely are solid grounds for this route to succeed.

United has never flown to Berlin Brandenburg Airport, given its relatively recent opening, but flew to Berlin Tegel Airport before the pandemic. United will resume flights to Berlin from Newark on March 5th and then will start the flight from Washington on March 6th. As stated earlier, Berlin Brandenburg Airport isn’t really an intercontinental hub for an airline; its largest carriers are EasyJet and Ryanair. Berlin lost intercontinental hub service when AirBerlin ceased operations in 2017, and Lufthansa’s subsidiary Eurowings only has a smaller intra-European focus city in Berlin. In fact, Berlin hasn’t had nonstop transatlantic service since before the pandemic, so Washington will only be the second nonstop transatlantic flight since 2020.

United’s Washington to Berlin flight will be operated by a Boeing 767-400, the stretched (and very unpopular among airlines) variant of the 767. Unfortunately, this is the only aircraft in United’s fleet to not have any aircraft with United’s “new” Polaris seats. Instead, the 767-400s are equipped with Collins Aerospace Diamond seats in a 2-1-2 configuration, meaning that not all seats have direct access to the aisle, making this this flight less optimal for passengers flying in business class. Economy class, however, is in a relatively spacious 2-3-2 configuration, which is standard for 767s, though the seats are more spacious than those on 777s or 787s. The 767-400s also are unfortunately not equipped with Premium Plus (premium economy).

The outbound flight will depart Washington Dulles at 5:45 PM and arrive in Berlin at 8:20 AM, while the return flight will depart Berlin at 11:05 AM and arrive in Washington at 2:25 PM. The flight will, somewhat surprisingly, operate daily and year-round.

5: Washington to Amman on United

Another one of United’s 8 new routes announced in October, United will fly from Washington Dulles to Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport. This route came as a bigger surprise to me, given that United has (I believe) never flown to Jordan before and will mark United’s return to the Middle East–besides Israel–since it lost out on a government contract and ceased its two tag flights from Washington to Dubai/Doha/Bahrain/Kuwait in 2016. United will be the second carrier to fly between the United States and Jordan; Royal Air Jordanian currently flies between Amman and New York JFK, Chicago O’Hare, and Detroit.

Something else that I find interesting is that this will be the third new (and third in total) intercontinental destination (the others being Accra and Lagos) United will operate that is solely operated out of Washington Dulles, which historically hasn’t been the case for United. Usually United has launched new transatlantic destinations out of Newark first, though that this flight will operate out of Dulles isn’t very surprising, given Washington’s government traffic and that Royal Jordanian already flies to New York from Amman.

United will begin this route on May 5th of 2022 and will be operated by a Boeing 787-8, which are now all equipped with United’s “new” Polaris seats and Premium Plus. Polaris is in a staggered 1-2-1 configuration, while Premium Plus is in 2-3-2 configuration and Economy and Economy Plus are in a 3-3-3 configuration. The flight will operate year round at a frequency of 3x weekly. The outbound flight will depart Washington Dulles at 10:00 PM and arrive in Amman at 3:55 PM, while the return flight will depart Amman at a very late (or early) 1:15 AM and arrive back in Washington at 6:30 AM.

4: St. Louis to Frankfurt on Lufthansa

This route is in particularly exciting because it will be the first nonstop route from St. Louis to mainland Europe in roughly two decades. St. Louis used to actually be a major transatlantic hub in the days of TWA, though most service went away when it was bought by American Airlines in 2001. Since then, St. Louis briefly had transatlantic service to Iceland in 2018 with WOW Air, though it didn’t last, as WOW Air went bankrupt the next year.

This route also really surprised me, mostly because, as aforementioned, St. Louis hasn’t recently had transatlantic service. Also, Lufthansa historically hasn’t added service to destinations in the US that don’t currently have transatlantic service. Similar routes have however been generally only added by British Airways (i.e. with their Nashville and Charleston flights) and historically also by Norwegian. While Lufthansa has added service to some less traditional transatlantic markets in the past (i.e. Austin or San Diego), not in recent history have they added service to an airport that doesn’t have any service transatlantically.

What makes this flight even more interesting is that it will be receive roughly 5.5 dollars in subsidies by the St. Louis Port Authority and a regional business group, Greater St. Louis Inc, which most likely was a large reason for starting this route. This would not on its own necessarily make the route profitable, though I certainly hope that there will be enough traffic on this route. I’m not sure how much travel there will be directly between St. Louis and Frankfurt, but given Frankfurt’s status as one of the largest European hubs, there hopefully will be sufficient connecting traffic to make this route plausible.

Lufthansa will begin St. Louis flights on June 1, 2022 and will operate it 3x weekly year-round. They will use an Airbus A330-300 for this flight, which features Lufthansa’s standard long-haul cabins: business class in a (sub-par) 2-2-2 configuration, premium economy in a 2-3-2 configuration, and economy class in a 2-4-2 configuration. The outbound flight will depart Frankfurt at 10:45 AM and arrive in St. Louis at 1:45 PM, while the returning flight will depart St. Louis at 3:45 PM and arrive back in Frankfurt at 7:45 AM, making this flight 10 hours westbound and 9 hours eastbound.

3: Newark to Bergen on United

The last three routes I am including all roughly would go in the same category: seasonal tourist flights to European cities without any current transatlantic service. These three routes, I would say, all have a fairly good chance of only lasting one or two seasons, though even if so, they probably make sense, as more Asian routes will likely come back later (taking up more of United’s fleet in the 2023 and beyond seasons), meaning that it will be at least a partial long-term success if only one or two of the three routes end up being a success.

Next summer, United will fly from Newark to Bergen, which currently does not have any transatlantic service, though I believe Norwegian flew to Newburgh/Stewart Airport from there with a 737 a few seasons ago when they were still flying transatlantically. The flight will be primarily aimed at tourists looking to visit the Norwegian fjords, many likely on cruises. This will, somewhat oddly, be only United’s second flight to Scandinavia; they only currently fly to Stockholm, though their partner SAS also flies from the US to Oslo, Copenhagen, and also Stockholm, so there’s not much need to fly to those other destinations. However, I believe that United used to fly to Oslo seasonally, so this won’t be United’s first flight to Norway.

This flight will operate 3x weekly summer seasonally and with a 757-200, starting on May 20th, meaning that there won’t be much capacity for this route, which makes sense, given that it’s not a huge market. United’s 757-200s have 16 seats in business class in a 2-2 configuration, though they aren’t equipped with United’s “new” Polaris seats. Economy class is, as usual for 757s, in a 3-3 configuration. The outbound flight will depart Newark at 8:40 PM and arrive in Bergen at 10:05 AM, while the return flight will depart will depart at 11:55 AM and arrive back in Newark at 2:25 PM. The outbound flight will be 7h 25m, while the return flight will be 8h 30m.

2: Newark to Tenerife on United

The second of United’s more exotic transatlantic routes will be to Tenerife South Airport in the Canary Islands, Spain, which I guess technically will be United’s fifth route to Africa, geographically speaking, or somethingth route to Europe, politically and economically speaking. There hasn’t been a nonstop flight from the US to Tenerife in (I believe) decades, but I somewhat remember that there used to be, in the not so distant, albeit pre-COVID, past, nonstop flights from Caracas to Tenerife North Airport on Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas.

This route will cater mostly to American tourists looking to go to Tenerife and the Canary Islands. Like the next route to Mallorca, I’m not sure how many people will actually fly this route, because historically, I don’t believe that Tenerife has been that much of a tourist destination for Americans. It’s generally just much easier for Americans to go to the Caribbean or Florida if they want a beach/warm outdoors vacation. Then again, I’m not entirely sure about the popularity of Tenerife with Americans, and I guess United will hope that this route will be able to generate demand to Tenerife, as it historically hasn’t been the easiest of destinations to get to from the US.

The flight will also operate 3x weekly summer seasonally and will commence on June 2. The route will also be operated by a Boeing 757-200, which has the same cabins as mentioned above for the Bergen route. The outbound flight will depart Newark at 9:50 PM and arrive in Tenerife at 9:55 AM, while the return flight will depart Tenerife at 12:00 PM and arrive back in Newark at 2:55 PM. The outbound flight is scheduled to take 7h 5m, while the return flight is scheduled for 7h 55m.

1: Newark to Mallorca on United

Lastly, United will begin flights to Palma de Mallorca Airport on the island of Mallorca, Spain, from Newark, next summer. This route will also become the first flight to Mallorca from the US in recent history (potentially ever?). I also don’t believe that there have been transatlantic flights out of Mallorca in recent history (earning this route spot 1 in my ranking), so this might very well be a first nonstop transatlantic flight to Mallorca ever.

This route, like the last two, will primarily cater to American tourists. While Mallorca is very popular with Europeans, especially Northern Europeans, like Tenerife, it just isn’t that popular with Americans. Again, here are just too many destinations much closer to the US that aren’t necessarily worse places to visit than an island like Mallorca, and historically, it hasn’t been easy to get to from the US. Again, United probably will be trying to generate some demand with this route, but it’s not hard to see why it’s not guaranteed to succeed.

The flight will also operate 3x weekly summer seasonally and will commence on June 9. It will be operated by one of United’s stanard configuration 767-300s, which have 30 Polaris seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, 46 economy plus seats, and 138 economy class seats, both in a 2-3-2 configuration. The outbound flight will depart Newark at 8:55 and arrive in Mallorca at 11:00 AM, while the return flight will depart Mallorca at 12:55 PM and arrive back in Newark at 4:10 PM. The flight will ergo be a bit longer than the Bergen and Tenerife flights, being scheduled at 8h 5m on the outbound at 9h 15m on the return. The increased flight duration, along with the larger aircraft, makes this route a bit more risky and more likely to fail than the Bergen and Tenerife routes, due to the flight’s greater costs and greater load factor needed to create profitability.

Honorable Mentions:

• Seattle and Detroit to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines: Ordinarily these routes would have handily made my list, but Turkish Airlines hasn’t announced official start dates for these routes or put them on sale, which is one of the criteria to make it on my list.
• San Diego to Munich on Lufthansa: Prior to the pandemic, Lufthansa served San Diego from Frankfurt, though starting in 2022, they will serve it from Munich.
• New York JFK to Stockholm on Delta: Delta served this route until 2017, so this is only a fairly recent route resumption. Plus, with SAS and United already serving the market, Delta probably won’t significantly shake things up.
• Denver to Munich on United: Lufthansa already serves this route, but this means that Denver to Munich will go 2x daily.
• Boston to London Heathrow on United: This was announced back in 2019, but this will be the first transatlantic route in a long time that United will serve that’s not out of one of their hubs.