Given the fact that many people take their biggest trips in the summer, most airlines have routes that they run only in the summer months.
Journeys between smaller European cities popular with tourists and regional U.S. cities, in particular, see very high demand between May and September that can instead be met with transfers from metropolitan centers such as London and Paris when the months turn colder.
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But with the explosion of post-pandemic travel, some destinations are seeing high demand even during times when it has traditionally been low. As part of its network planning for the summer, United Airlines (UAL) -) announced that it would be launching new flights to Reykjavik, Rome, Brussels, Malaga and the Portuguese city of Faro as well as starting nine of its summer routes early.
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Many of United's summer routes are starting early (here's where they go)
"United has the most flights to the most destinations across the Atlantic and we're now giving our customers even more flexibility and choice when planning their trips abroad," Patrick Quayle, SVP of United's global network planning and alliances, said in a statement.
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Some of the routes starting early include those to Lisbon, Barcelona and Italy from Washington Dulles International Airport. United will start running what were traditionally summer flights on Feb. 15.
Routes from Chicago's O'Hare to Italy's Rome and Milan will start running on March 30 along with a flight to France's Nice from Newark International Airport.
Other summer flights from New York/Newark include a route to Naples, Italy starting on April 5 and a flight to Spain's Malaga that is restarting a bit earlier than expected on May 2.
The decision to start these routes early comes down to the 33% increase in travelers crossing the Atlantic that United says it saw from spring 2022 to 2023. All the new flights will operate on Boeing 757-200 (BA) -) planes and, according to United, give travelers "more time and options to explore Europe."
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"Whether customers are looking to travel during peak season or shoulder season, visit the most popular tourism destinations or discover a hidden gem, the scope and scale of our network makes United the easy choice for transatlantic travel," Quayle said.
While the airline has not committed to any specifics beyond the new flights from San Francisco and Manila that it announced earlier this spring, United said that it also plans to expand its coverage to Asia by 30% with more non-stop flights.
Quayle's mention of "peak and shoulder season" refers to the traditionally more and less popular times to travel. With the explosion of low-cost airlines and new routes from larger ones giving travelers more options, one can score deals at different points in the year even if July is still the most expensive time to go to Europe.
One calculation by Investopedia found that the same average flight to London's Heathrow from New York went from $711 in mid-May to $1,123 in July to $705 by early August, while the prices in the winter were in line with what is seen in May and August.
