- United Airlines will add a new route between Boston and London later this year.
- The start date is still unknown, as travel between the countries is limited due to the pandemic.
- JetBlue Airways, which has just expanded a partnership with American Airlines, will also fly from Boston to London this year.
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United Airlines is expanding its trans-Atlantic presence later this year with a newly announced route between Boston and London, UK.
Only one daily flight will serve the route with an overnight departure from Boston Logan International Airport at 22:00 and arriving at London Heathrow Airport at 09:35 the next morning. The return flight then departs at 17:00 for London for a 7:30 hour arrival in Boston.
“We are delighted to offer travelers a convenient, uninterrupted option between Boston and London with this addition to our global network,” said Patrick Quayle, United’s vice president of international networking and alliances.
The Boeing 767-300ER, a wide-body aircraft with an ultra-premium three-class interior, will steer the flight. Passengers can choose between the Polaris business class, Premium Plus premium class and economy class of the airline.
The route is aimed at business travelers, with 46 seats in a cabin that uses most of the aircraft. All business class seats are fully bedded and have United’s Saks Fifth Avenue bedding to get the most sleeping space at the intersection.
The premium-configured Boeing 767 is the same aircraft that United planned to use for relocating transcontinental flights between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and the West Coast cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. However, this similar premium service has been pushed back twice until at least March.
Does the friendly air fly?
A new Boston-London route is a strange addition for United, which rarely deviates from its intercontinental hub-and-ghost route network with these kind of point-to-point routes. For example, all of the airline’s continental American intercontinental flights in 2019 departed only from United hubs in Newark; San Francisco; Chicago; Washington DC; Los Angeles; Houston, Texas; and Denver, Cirium data show.
United has made shifts by offering additional flights to Florida and Latin America from non-hubs, but this is the first place for an intercontinental route addition during the pandemic.
And while United’s former slogan may ‘come flying with the friendly air’, the air above the North Atlantic will be on the verge of becoming much more hostile to one airline. The new route comes just as rival JetBlue Airways plans to launch its daily flights to Europe from Boston and New York.
JetBlue had to delay route launch due to the pandemic, but still plans to launch London flights in 2021, just two years after the announcement was made. The airline’s goal is to disrupt fares on the route by introducing a cheap, inexpensive option with a new Mint business class seat and service offering.
United’s announcement also comes days after JetBlue and American Airlines announced an expanded partnership that sees the world’s largest pre-pandemic and New York’s’ hometown airline partner on, among other things, new routes, schedules and scheduled flights. . JetBlue does not join American’s transatlantic partnership with European airlines.
And while United answered the call to fly from Boston to London, did London actually call?
Americans arriving in the United Kingdom are subject to mandatory quarantine, which impedes travel between the two countries. Most Britons are also unable to enter the US due to travel restrictions dating back to March 2021 when former President Donald Trump closed US borders to Europe and later Ireland and the UK to halt the spread of coronavirus.
United in turn insisted on a travel bubble between the US and London and even tested COVID-19 free flights between Newark and London through pre-departure testing. But with restrictions not to be lifted any time soon, it remains to be seen when this flight will actually be launched.
“We will continue to monitor demand recovery and travel restrictions as we will finalize a start date for this service later in 2021,” Quayle said.