United Airlines will add five daily Heathrow-US flights next spring taking its total services to 22 a day after seeing corporate bookings for London soar.
US carrier United announced the new flights today, unveiling plans for two additional daily services between Heathrow and New York Newark, additional daily flights to Denver and San Francisco and a new daily service to Boston.
The services will launch in March, with United claiming it will then offer more flights between London and New York than any other US carrier.
The carrier reported London was the most-booked international destination by United business customers in October and forecast the trend would continue into 2022.
United senior vice-president of international network and alliances Patrick Quayle said: “United has provided a critical link between the US and London for nearly 30 years, maintaining service throughout the pandemic.
“London is an integral part of United’s network and we’re confident demand will continue to grow as international business travel returns in 2022.”
United currently operates seven daily US services to and from Heathrow – two flights a day to New York Newark and Washington DC and one flight each to Chicago, Houston and San Francisco.
Its daily services will increase to 10 from December with additional flights to New York Newark and Chicago.
Then the carrier’s schedule from March 2022 will see the New York Newark service go to seven a day, providing an hourly service from Heathrow in the evening, plus a third daily flight to San Francisco and the resumption of a daily service to Los Angeles.
Its Denver service, first launched in March 2018 and suspended during Covid, will return on March 5, 2022, and increase to twice-daily from March 27.
United will operate 12 daily flights from Heathrow next spring, more than half the total, on Boeing 767-300ER aircraft which offer 58 Polaris lie-flat business class seats rather than the standard 42. This aircraft also features 22 Premium Plus seats, 47 Economy Plus and 52 economy seats.
The carrier also plans to reopen its Polaris lounges at New York Newark, Chicago and Houston by the end of this year, and open the remaining lounges by early 2022.
United passengers can check destination travel requirements and schedule Covid-19 tests through the carrier’s app and website.