It’s been another busy week for new flight news.
This week United Airlines announced additional flights on its transcontinental routes, as well as the addition of the new 787-10 Dreamliner to flights between New York and Los Angeles and San Francisco. The 787-10 will begin service on January 7, 2019, on select flights between New York - Newark and Los Angeles and New York - Newark and San Francisco, making United the first North American airline to operate the aircraft, United said. The 787-10 is the newest member of the Dreamliner family, and, at 18 feet longer than its predecessor, the 787-9, it can carry more passengers and cargo while using 20 percent less fuel. The new aircraft will have 44 United Polaris seats, 21 United Premium Plus seats which will initially be sold as Economy Plus, 54 Economy Plus seats and 199 United Economy seats.
United is also increasing its transcontinental schedule starting in 2019. In total, the airline will operate 27 daily flights between New York and Los Angeles and San Francisco, adding more than 700 daily seats and 125 daily premium seats to the route, as well as giving customers more choice in flight times.
United Airlines also began operating flights from Denver to Monterey, California, this week, on 50-seat regional jet aircraft twice daily.
Also this week, United began offering year-round daily nonstop service to Key West from New York - Newark on United Express 70-seat Embraer E170 regional jets. Additionally, from February 14 through June 5, 2019, the airline will add a second daily flight for the peak travel season. United is also planning to add daily seasonal service to Key West from Chicago O’Hare, which only offers nonstop weekend service as of now. The increased Chicago service will run November 25, 2018, through January 5, 2019. The airline will resume its Chicago–Key West nonstop weekend service on Saturdays and Sundays January 6 through February 13, 2019, and resume daily nonstop service February 14 through June 5, 2019.
American Airlines also announced plans to add flights to Key West this week, including the first nonstop service from Philadelphia, which will run weekly on Saturdays. The airline is also adding weekly nonstop service on Saturdays from Chicago O’Hare. Both flights are set to begin February 16, 2019, and run through August 31, 2019, on 76-passenger Embraer E175 aircraft.
In addition, on December 24, American is to resume nonstop winter and spring 2019 service from Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) — increasing connectivity into Key West from the Midwest and West Coast — with daily flights through April 1, 2019, on E175 regional jets.
American also is extending its DFW daily nonstop service between June 6 and August 19, 2019, with flights available for sale beginning October 8. The service is being continued due to strong performance with its summer seasonal nonstop service on the same route, the airline said.
American also announced a 2019 schedule this week that includes new international flights to Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Mexico. The airline will operate a new daily flight from Miami to Santiago de Cuba starting May 3, 2019, as well as new service from DFW to Durango, Mexico, starting June six, making it the only U.S. carrier to serve the two airports. The new flight to the Dominican Republic will operate from Charlotte on Saturdays, starting June 8, 2019, and the new flight to Honduras will operate four times weekly from DFW from June 7, 2019, through August 17, 2019.
Also in the Caribbean, this week both American Airlines and Air Canada announced plans to add additional flights to Grenada. From December 22 through March 30, American Airlines is adding an additional flight on Saturdays out of Miami. Starting December 18, Grenada will have three direct flights per week from Canada’s Toronto Pearson International Airport on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
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