- United Airlines will add a new route between Boston and London later this year.
- The start date is still unknown, as travel between 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.
- Visit Insider’s Business section for more stories.
United Airlines will expand its transatlantic presence later this year with a newly announced route between Boston and London, UK.
There will be only one daily flight on the route with an overnight overnight stay from Boston Logan International Airport at 10:00 PM arriving at London’s Heathrow Airport at 9:45 AM the next morning with return flight departing London at 5:00 PM for a 7 hour flight. : 30am arrival in Boston.
“We are delighted to provide travelers with a convenient, non-stop option between Boston and London with this addition to our global network,” said Patrick Quayle, United’s vice president of international network and alliances.
The flight will be operated by United’s Boeing 767-300ER, a wide-body aircraft with an ultra-premium three-class interior. Passengers can choose from the airline’s Polaris business class, Premium Plus premium economy class and economy class.
The route is aimed at business travelers with 46 business class seats in a cabin that occupies most of the aircraft. All business class seats are completely flat and fitted with United’s Saks Fifth Avenue bedding to help you get the most sleep on the crossing.
The first-class configured Boeing 767 is the same aircraft that United planned to use to relaunch transcontinental flights between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and the west coast cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. However, that comparable premium service has already been postponed twice to at least March.
Flying through the friendly air?
A new Boston-London route is a strange addition to United, rarely straying from its intercontinental node-and-spoke route network with point-to-point routes like this. For example, all intercontinental flights from the airline’s mainland US in 2019 departed from United hubs in Newark only; San Francisco; Chicago; Washington, DC; Los Angeles; Houston, Texas; and Denver, Cirium data shows.
United has made shifts by offering additional flights to Florida and Latin America from non-hubs, but this is a first for an intercontinental route addition during the pandemic.
And while United’s former slogan may have been “come fly through the friendly air,” the skies over the North Atlantic are about to become a lot more hostile to one airline. The new route comes just as competitor JetBlue Airways plans to launch its first-ever non-stop flights to Europe, from Boston and New York.
JetBlue had to delay launch of the route due to the pandemic, but still has plans to launch flights to London in 2021, just two years after the announcement was made. The airline’s goal is to disrupt fares on the route by introducing a low-cost, high-fringe option complete with a new Mint business class seat and service offering.
United’s announcement also comes just days after JetBlue and American Airlines announced an expanded partnership, partnering the world’s largest pre-pandemic airline and New York’s ‘hometown airline’ on new routes, schedules and frequent flyer programs. among other things. JetBlue does not join American’s transatlantic partnership with European airlines.
And while United has answered the call to fly from Boston to London, did London actually call?
Americans arriving in the UK are subject to mandatory quarantine, which hampers travel between the two countries. Likewise, most Britons cannot enter the US due to travel restrictions dating back to March 2021, when former President Donald Trump closed the US borders to Europe and later Ireland and the UK to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
United, for its part, has pushed for a travel bubble between the US and London, and has even tested COVID-19 flights between Newark and London through pre-departure tests. But with restrictions that won’t be lifted anytime soon, it remains to be seen when this flight will actually launch.
“We will continue to monitor the recovery in demand and travel restrictions as we finalize a start date for this service later in 2021,” said Quayle.