On October 10, United Airlines revealed an array of highly different, creative, and exciting new destinations. They included three more European airports: Bilbao, Madeira, and Palermo. (I have not included Nuuk, as Greenland is geographically part of North America.)
Combined with Faro’s delayed start, the current plan, as of October 11, is that United will serve 32 European destinations next summer—the first time it has ever had more than 29. (It would have been 33 had Tenerife not been cut.) And who knows? Perhaps it will announce more places.
32 European airports in S25 (for now)
Airlines make the most money in Q3 (July-September). The following figure shows how the number of European airports served in those three months have varied between 2005 and 2025. United’s portfolio has benefited from multiple additions in recent years:
2021: Dubrovnik 2022: Nice 2023: Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Ponta Delgada, Tenerife South (but it is ending) 2024: none due to the US FAA review of United’s activities, prompted by a series of operational incidents (Faro was due to begin but was delayed for this reason) 2025: Bilbao, Faro (see above), Madeira, Palermo
Source of data: Cirium. Figure: James Pearson
As is usually the case, multiple airports have been removed from its network in the past few years: Bergen in 2022 (it only lasted for one season), Glasgow in 2019, Hamburg in 2018, Manchester in 2020, Prague in 2019, and, coming in April 2025, Tenerife South.
Image: GCMap
A summary of the three new destinations
They are shown in the following table. None of the airport pairs have ever been served, which is impressive but unsurprising.
Bilbao, in Spain’s Basque Country, is particularly unusual. It has never had US flights, transatlantic service, or long-haul operations. United must have negotiated substantial financial and other incentives or conditions, perhaps including revenue guarantees for such a new route.
United’s routes
Start date
Frequency and equipment
Times to Europe (local)
Times from Europe (local)
Newark-Bilbao
May 31, 2025
Three times weekly 757-200ER
UA633, 21:15-10:45+1 (7h 30m)
UA634: 12:30-15:00 (8h 30m)
Newark-Madeira
June 7, 2025
Three times weekly 737 MAX 8
UA522: 21:50-09:40+1 (6h 50m)
UA523: 11:30-14:00 (7h 30m)
Newark-Palermo
May 21, 2025
Three times weekly 767-400ER
UA735: 16:15-07:15+1 (9h)
UA736: 09:45-14:15 (10h 30m)
What about Bilbao’s traffic?
Booking data shows that Bilbao-Greater NYC had 29,000 roundtrip passengers in the year to July 2024. That is a reasonably good base to build on, and demand should easily be stimulated by 50%+ with non-stop flights and hopefully strong promotions on both ends. When the wider US is included, Bilbao traffic exceeded 108,000, growing to 150,000+ for the US, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
Photo: Angel DiBilio | Shutterstock
What about Madeira?
While Newark-Madeira and Palermo have never been served, it is different if Greater NYC is considered. Madeira got its first-ever JFK flights (and the first-ever to the US) in November 2021, with Azores Airlines utilizing its A321neos. Flights are not currently scheduled in summer 2025. When United begins, it will be its longest European Boeing 737 MAX 8-operated service, surpassing Newark-Ponta Delgada.
Then there’s Palermo…
Sicily has recently been doing exceptionally well in attracting US services, helped by Southern Europe performing well for demand and fares relative to the continent’s northern half. First, Neos launched JFK flights in June 2024; Air Italy last served the market in 2017.
Photo: Neos
Then, Delta announced a rather excessive daily service from JFK to Catania (which has never had US flights) to begin in May 2025. And now, United has revealed Newark-Palermo, starting in the same month. It is unclear if Neos will continue to operate.
Palermo-Greater NYC is a bigger market (64,000) than Catania (46,000), but get ready for good demand stimulation. However, it seems like an excessive amount of capacity so quickly. Meanwhile, Pisa—which serves the ever-popular Florence and wider Tuscany—still has no US service after Delta ended JFK flights in 2016.
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Publish date : 2024-10-11 06:38:00
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